Lady Day deemed a play and Hedwig deemed a musical?

To the best of my understanding, it's this: A play can be about music, but a musical creates a world through music. The task of the lyricist and composer in a musical are unique, and quite different from that of a playwright writing about music or musicians.

Lady Day is a play that is about songs sung in the real world and the person who sang them. (Master Class is another example that comes to mind.) If one wrote a play about Beethoven and included the Moonlight Sonata, it would still be a play.

In contrast, Hedwig's songs create a world in and through the music and lyrics, in which an imaginary artist's story is being told. The fact that the character is the artist singing them doesn't change what the lyricist and composer had to do to create a world and story through music.

Updated On: 6/8/14 at 11:03 AM

Perhaps the test is this: Does its creation require a lyricist and composer? If yes, it's a musical; if no, it's a play.

Fair point. That may be precisely why people don't seem to respect revues and jukebox musicals as much. Perhaps they shouldn't be in the same category as works requiring a lyricist/composer. But they certainly aren't plays, and don't merit an award category of their own - hence the lumping with other musical genres.

I do think a musical uses music to create a world and convey character and action. That makes Bullets Over Broadway a musical, even though the music and lyrics are borrowed. Hedwig's music also does that - the songs demarcate his/her journey toward wholeness in a political, erotic and identity context that they create, even as Hedwig the character creates art before our eyes. In contrast, Lady Day's music is given meaning by the play, not the other way around.

Updated On: 6/8/14 at 02:15 PM