Serious dramas with music..hmmm

[tappedout]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 1:22am

we are doing a production of the seagull by chekhov @ my high school(I'm Irina yay!)and someone was talking about the seagull the musical..I started thinking that I have yet to see a serious drama with music. I don't know if the music would distract from the plot or help in furthuring it. What does everyone else think??

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 2:43am

it doesn't work. I did a production of The Little Prince A 'drama with music'. It made the play longer than it needed to be. Not to mention it got you in a nice mood and then you have no music, no lights. nothing special anymore. And then later when you finally appreciate the normal acting. They bring music back in. It's never a good idea to have a drama with music. It's too uneven.

[alterego]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 9:43am

I think (from memory) that the National Theatre of Great Britain's revival of An Inspector Calls (seen on broadway in 1996) had taped music. Though not a drama but light comedy, Ernest Thompsons West Side Waltz had piano and violin music throughout.

[BroadwayEnthusiast]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 1:28pm

WOudln't LEs MIserables COunt as a Drama With music? even though its all music?

[bob8rich]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 2:01pm

There is of course Tom Stoppard's "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" with music by Andre Previn. This is a great play and the music works well as it is an integral part of the plot - the play concerns two "patients" sharing a room in a mental hospital in the USSR, one of whom is a political dissident, while the other is a mental patient who believes he is an orchestral conductor and conducts music throughout the play.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 4:08pm

broadwayenthusiast. les miserables is a dramatic musical. not a drama with music

[theatremom2]

Posted: 1/3/04 at 4:57pm

There is frequently some Blues incorporated into August Wilson plays- and you can't get more serious then that.