Broadly speaking, all art forms that use the combination of music and drama as the main means of expression belong to the category of "musical drama", such as Western operas, Chinese operas and so on. But "musical theatre" is not short for "musical theatre", the name refers to a particular form of musical theatre.
In English, musicals are called Musical. Anyone who knows a little English knows that this is obviously not a noun, but an adjective, meaning "musical", "sweet to the ear". In the early stages of musical theatre development, there was no unified name for Wei. Musical is only used as a prefix for compound nouns such as "Musicalcomedy", "Musicalplay", "Musicalromance" and "Musicalfarce". Converting this adjective to a noun and using it as a generic term for "musical theatre" is something from the 1940s onwards.
Musical theatre originated in Britain and the United States at the end of the 19th century. At that time, some of the lighter forms of European classical opera were already quite prosperous, such as the so-called comic opera, operetta and operetta. Compared with grand operas, these forms are relatively popular and closer to the public, but because they are branches of opera, their musical language is basically still in the category of classical music, and the dramatic structure and music writing techniques are still relatively rigorous. Such as Strauss' "Bat", French composer Offenbach's "Beautiful Helen" and Italian composer Donizetti's "Don Pasquale", although the plot and music are relatively relaxed, but far from ordinary The general public still has a certain distance.
In addition to opera, there were various forms of entertainment cabaret in urban life at that time. The music is mainly based on popular music at that time, and the stage vision pursues gorgeous and bright sensory effects. The forms of these performances are more casual, in addition to singing and dancing, juggling and jokes are often added. Some shows have a certain theme or run through the plot, some have no plot at all. The venues for performances are also diverse: theaters, karaoke halls, bars, and even open-air stages. The films "Moulin Rouge" and "Showgirls" show Paris, France in the late 19th century, and Las Vegas casinos in the United States in the 1980s, respectively. the life of a cabaret. This type of performance still exists today, but the current performance is much more luxurious and "cleaner" than it was back then. In the song and dance performances at that time, there were many vulgar and even yellow things, even in the open United States, they could not be on the stage - "only for adult men to watch".
In this context, a musical that can be "watched by the whole family", has a relatively complete dramatic plot, and has music with a sense of the times, can meet the entertainment needs of the middle-class and middle- and lower-class citizens. and was born.
Early musicals were developed and established in two ways: first, by injecting elements of entertainment cabaret into traditional comedies or operettas to make them modern; To restructure the entertaining cabaret performance into an organic unity in form. In terms of plot, some emphasize a lighthearted and lively comedy atmosphere, while others are keen on lingering sentimental romantic stories. The 1892 "Musical Farce" "In Town" and the 1893 "Musical Comedy" "The Happy Girl" are considered to be the earliest musicals, both of which were staged at the Happy Theatre in London.
Britain is the first country in the western countries to carry out the bourgeois revolution and the industrial revolution. The economy is relatively developed, and it also has a solid tradition of civic music and drama. As early as 1728, a "Beggar's Opera" appeared in England. The music of this work brings together many folk songs that were widely circulated at that time, and the plot makes a bitter mockery of the political and judicial system, the ruling class and the Italian-style opera that the upper class was keen on at that time. It is one of the contemporary musicals. important pioneer. In the 19th century, although British classical music was not very prosperous and could not be compared with Germany, Austria, Italy, France and other countries, the operettas created by Gilbert and Sullivan, their golden partners, had a very broad mass base. The "music halls" in major cities were also important hotbeds of early pop music. It is not surprising that musicals are born on such soil.
However, it is the United States that truly separates musicals from comic opera and entertainment cabaret, forms an independent artistic style and form of expression, and develops into "the most important dramatic form of the 20th century".
The developed economy, the rapidly expanding city and its demand for entertainment life provide a broad space for the survival and development of musicals, and the early American popular music represented by jazz and country music provides a solid foundation for the growth and development of musicals. resource. The rich social ecology presented by cultural diversity, social changes and various contradictions in the process of economic development has laid the foundation for the realistic orientation of musicals.
Most of the musicals performed in the United States in the 20th century were imported from the United Kingdom. But it wasn't long before American artists created fully American musical theatre productions, which they continued to develop and refine. In the course of nearly a century of development, there have been several important milestones.
Performed in 1927, "The Showboat" is a work with a complete and coherent structure, a moving plot, and a touching music. The theme of this work is not to provide entertainment, but to deeply touch the various social contradictions in the United States at that time, which is thought-provoking. "Showboat" has been on the screen three times (1929, 1936 and 1951), and is recognized as the "first mature masterpiece" in the history of American musicals.
The American composer Gershwin, who is famous for his "Rhapsody in Blue", wrote "Borg and Bess" in 1935. He used the authentic African American music in the musical language, and borrowed more from the form. It was praised as "the first true national opera in the United States". Although American musicals have not embarked on the road of "opera", the composer's efforts have opened a window for the expansion of musicals' expression techniques. In the so-called "Big Mac Musical" that emerged in the late 1970s, the opera's structural techniques have been more widely used.
The use of dance has always been emphasized in musical performances, but it was not until Oklahoma was staged in 1943 that the dance vocabulary in musicals truly reached the level of organic integration with the development of the overall drama, and became an important part of expressing the content of the drama. means, rather than simply showing off or even showing off. As a result, musicals are no longer just "musical" dramas, but become a highly integrated art form with stage means, and choreography has become a very important link in the overall drama creation and performance. This also makes musicals born out of urban entertainment cabaret have a more serious artistic quality. By the time West Side Story came out, this tendency was more fully manifested.
The rise of rock and roll in the late 1950s marked a revolutionary change in the field of Western pop music. "Long Hair" in the '60s responded immediately. Since then, there have been a series of musicals called "Rock Opera" such as "The Chorus" and "Tommy".
In fact, the main difference between musical theatre and other musical theatre forms is that it can quickly absorb the latest trends in the field of contemporary popular music, and use the most contemporary musical language as a narrative method. The emergence of "rock opera" has rejuvenated a musical that has been somewhat tired and gradually conservative and stylized after more than half a century of development. In addition, the musicals of this period were more closely integrated with contemporary social trends, reflecting the civil rights movement, anti-war, and hippies. There are also some new changes in expression techniques and formal structure. Such as narrative (rather than the endorsement in traditional drama), scattered structure, multi-series structure and the application of modern multimedia means of expression.
"Jesus Christ Superstar", which appeared in the early 1970s, was also a musical that used a lot of rock music. This work was written by a 23-year-old British young composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. The emergence of Weber changed the situation that the musical was dominated by Broadway in the United States. His "Evita", "Cat", "Ghost of the Opera" and other productions were staged in the West End of London and New York on Broadway respectively, and became the most performed and profitable musical productions of all time. Meanwhile, French composer Schoenberg's "Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon" were also hugely successful in the West End and Broadway.
Today, although there are still differences in the development level of musicals in different countries in the world, it is obviously biased to regard musicals as "American patents" and "British specialties". For example, in the case of the Japanese musical "Li Xianglan" and the Australian musical "Qiao Qiao Sang" (based on the opera "Mrs. Butterfly", which uses puppet performances), the artistic achievements they have achieved in this field and their performance Its originality cannot be ignored, and it cannot be replaced by European and American musicals.
An important reason why countries around the world have successively attached importance to the development of musicals is that it is a cultural industry with great potential. "Ghost of the Opera" grossed more than $2.7 billion at the global box office in the late 1990s.
Compared with the record industry, the production investment of musicals is much larger, and the production cost of a large-scale musical can easily reach tens of millions of dollars. Compared with the film industry, the market for musicals is much smaller and can only be performed in theaters. Therefore, it is possible to recover the cost only by guaranteeing a high attendance rate for a long period of time.
The musical in the modern sense appeared relatively late in China. "Fragrant Grass Heart" in the 1980s was the first musical in the new era, and the theme song "Little Grass" is still popular today. Although Yangko Romance, which was staged in the mid-1990s, did not arouse a corresponding response due to its immaturity in many aspects, there are still some very successful explorations worth noting. Some experts commented: When others are still struggling to transplant Hollywood's "thigh dance" (based on the Irish tap dance, with more exaggerated kick movements) into Chinese musicals, "Yangko Romance" Song has elevated the dramatic expressiveness of Chinese folk dance to a level comparable to that of Oklahoma. In addition, the successful introduction and performance of foreign classic plays such as "Instrument Salesman", "Whimsical", "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music" shows that my country's musical theater performance team has reached a certain level. Repertoires such as "Snow Wolf Lake" and "Angel Never Sleeps" created in Hong Kong and Taiwan in recent years have also been welcomed by the audience.
With the continuous improvement of our own economic and cultural level and the increasing frequency of international exchanges, musicals, the latest form of dramatic art developed in modern human civilization, will also take root in our ancient civilization.
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