Themes for musicals - Page 2

[finebydesign]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 12:30pm

"How can you say that's not a Cinderella story? "

Sorry I should not have said that. What I mean't was, there may be a "Cinderella Story" in there but it's not theme, that's a story.

Cinderella depending on the version has themes. In Disney's version over arching theme is that good triumphs over evil.

Fiddler is a really great example of why Theme is the most important part of a musical. In developing that show they had no idea what it was about. TRADITION is a theme that can be used in a story by every character, in every song and every plot point.

Big Themes don't always work for a story. Little Mermaid has a good theme "paradise lost," but the story in the musical does not sustain it. The film works very well because much like the original tale, Ariel loses everything. Only when her father reconciles her loss of innocence do we get a happy ending. I know people will chide me for saying it is very close to the original but it is. The ending is different but the theme is the same. Ariel is a victim of her choices. In the musical she fights back which just doesn't work. * Also Eric should also be sacrificing something, Eve didn't act alone.

Musicals with these big themes work very well.

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 12:54pm

"Or to put it another way, it's closer to the stepmother chopping off the stepsisters toes and heels to win the prince."

Exactly, Sally Adams. Cinderella tales always need their cruel stepmother to make Cinderella's transformation into a swan seem earned. I think the final stripping of Madame Rose's power (when she finally faces her own need to be loved in Rose's Turn) is what fulfills the Cinderella template so satisfyingly.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 7/17/14 at 6:52pm

Other Cinderella themed shows might include EVITA, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, THE WIZ, WICKED, HAIRSPRAY, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, GYPSY and even BILLY ELIOTT! (No, Cinderella doesn't always have to be a girl.) None of these shows focuses chiefly on a boy-girl love-story as the main subject.

With respect, Someone, HAIRSPRAY DOES rely heavily on a "love conquers all" theme: love conquers racism and "fatism" and even the ennui of a middle-age marriage. The same is true of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN: in fact it is the primary theme of the show. (What else could it be since the plot depends on the romance of Annie and Frank?)

I'll give you THE WIZ, but the other shows you mention are not musical COMEDIES. I was careful to limit my remarks to musical comedies and operettas. The newer "musical play" is a somewhat different animal.