Musical Theatre

Digital systems for live multimodal performance in Death and the Powers

by Peter Torpey

published in 'International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media'

The opera Death and the Powers by Tod Machover tells the story of a man, Simon Powers, who evades death by... more The opera Death and the Powers by Tod Machover tells the story of a man, Simon Powers, who evades death by transferring his essence into his environment as his corporeal body dies. To realize the effect of the theatrical environment coming alive as the main character, the Opera of the Future research group at the MIT Media Lab developed new technologies and control systems for interactive robotics, sound and visuals in live theatre. A core component of this work is the technique of Disembodied Performance, a method and associated technological infrastructure that translates the live performance of the offstage opera singer into multimodal representations onstage. The author was principally responsible for the control architecture and Disembodied Performance software implementation, as well as the design of the visual language used to represent Simon Powers. These digitally-enabled elements were created in order to support the story of the opera and facilitate the process of crafting and rehearsing the staged experience. This article reflects on the dialogue between the design of the technological systems in conjunction with the development of the story and scenography of the opera. Several design principles are presented for the role of new technologies in digital opera and music-driven performance contexts that arose during the course of this work. The discussed methods of cuing, authoring, organizing and collaborating suggest an approach for scoring the multimedia elements of digitally augmented stagecraft.

Surrender (to) Dorothy: Imperialism and the subaltern in the Oz of past, present, and future

by Hui Min Annabeth Leow

Published in Bitch #53: Underground

The Art of Glorification: A History of Pastiche, and its use within Sondheim's 'Follies'

by Helen Smith

Published in British Postgraduate Musicology, vol. 2, October 1998

Από το Χόλυγουντ στην Αθήνα, Το μιούζικαλ αλλάζει την ελληνική θεατρική και μουσική ζωή

by Manolis Seiragakis

στο Βλαστός Γιώργος (επιμ.) Πρακτικά του Συνεδρίου ‘Ελληνική μουσική δημιουργία του 20ού αιώνα για το λυρικό θέατρο και άλλες παραστατικές τέχνες’, Μέγαρο Μουσικής Αθηνών 27 - 29 Μαρτίου 2009, Σύλλογος Οι φίλοι της Μουσικής, Αθήνα 2009, σσ. 414-420

The american musical film and its influence in the Greek theatre life. The peculiar reaction of the Greek State, the... more The american musical film and its influence in the Greek theatre life. The peculiar reaction of the Greek State, the intellectualls and the actors.   

Et Vian! Dans la gueule du four

by Yan Hamel

Jeu. Revue de théâtre, no 135, automne 2010.
Compte rendu critique de la pièce Et Vian! dans la gueule, présentée au Théâtre du nouveau monde

«Παυσίλυπα θεάματα, Το Θέατρο και ο Κινηματογράφος στα χρόνια της οικονομικής κρίσης (1929-1931). Η κρατική παρέμβαση»

by Manolis Seiragakis

«Παυσίλυπα θεάματα, Το Θέατρο και ο Κινηματογράφος στα χρόνια της οικονομικής κρίσης (1929-1931). Η κρατική παρέμβαση», περιοδικό Παράβασις, Επιστημονικού Δελτίου του Τμήματος Θεατρικών Σπουδών του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών, τόμος 8, ERGO, Αθήνα 2008, σ. 444-448.

Sedative spectacles Theatre and cinema
during the crisis years (1929-1931).
The role of the State
In... more Sedative spectacles Theatre and cinema
during the crisis years (1929-1931).
The role of the State
In the Interwar period theatre felt a strong threat by the
tremendous expand of the new art of cinema. Things became
worse after the crisis of 1929; lack of money made a lot of
people prefer going to the cinema, as it was cheaper. Things
were different in Greece of the 1930’s; new theatres were built
and older ones were rebuilt or renovated. Finally, open-air
cinemas often invited touring theatre groups to play in small
scenes set in front of the cinema screen. During these years
imports were prohibited in Greece, but for some curious reason
foreign films were still coming in. Film import cost a lot the
Greek economy. The financial loss could be reduced only by the
local theatre production, capable to compete successfully with
the foreign films. Unfortunately, the government didn’t realize it
and consequently didn’t try to support the Greek theatre
production. The main reason was this; the most popular theatre
of the period was Revue, a genre connected by definition with
political criticism. Therefore, governments from 1931 to 1936
preferred to impose strict censorship upon the light musical
theatre. Unlike his predecessors, the dictator Ioannis Metaxas
(1936-1941) forced the Revue to become part of his propaganda
mechanism. Revue was thus silenced and this made light
musical theatre fans abandon it and turn to cinema. They had
decided that only the latter could offer them what they really
wanted, two hours of pure entertainment.

Directors and the New Musical Drama: British and American Musical Theatre in the 1980s and'90s (review)

by Laura MacDonald

Review of Showtime by Larry Stempel and South Pacific: Paradise Rewritten by Jim Lovensheimer

by Derek Miller

Forthcoming in TDR: The Drama Review

A review of two recent books on musical theater. A review of two recent books on musical theater.

Polyvocally perverse, or the disintegrating pleasures of singing along

by Derek Miller

Studies in Musical Theatre 6, no. 1: 89-98

Contemporary philosophies of voice, like theories of the musical, rely on integration. But sound resists... more Contemporary philosophies of voice, like theories of the musical, rely on integration. But sound resists contextualization, integration and wholeness. Embracing the exhilarating possibilities of vocal play, I read Stephen De Rosa’s performance of a community theatre troupe’s version of ‘The Baseball Game’ from Falsettos as a sign of the inherent multiplicity of voice. In De Rosa’s vocal agility, I hear a transgression of the integrated voice and the assumption of a polyvocality in which voice refuses the claims of a singular, corporeal identity. But, like the musical, voice can find strength in disintegration. Singing along to cast albums – which, although they separate the sound from the show, permit the musical to reach a broader audience than productions alone – fans find pleasure in a cacophonous polyvocality that our voices are always ready to unleash, if only we set them free.

Bellino_AAJI_Festival Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo

by Francesca Odilia Bellino

Bellino_AAJI_Landschaft mit entferten Verwandten il teatro musicale sulla natura del conflitto politico secondo Goebbels

by Francesca Odilia Bellino

Bellino_AAJI_Il bestiale teatro musicale di Mauricio Kagel

by Francesca Odilia Bellino

“Does anybody see what I see?!” 1776 and Hair re-examine the American dream

by Laura MacDonald

“'Where Do I Go?': The Commercial Renewal of the American Musical”

by Laura MacDonald

New England Theatre Journal, Vol. 21, (2010), pp.71-97.

This article considers three musicals which engaged intensely with American history,
politics and social change,... more This article considers three musicals which engaged intensely with American history,
politics and social change, and found enormous box office success. Cabaret (1966),
Hair (1968) and 1776 (1969) enjoyed long runs on Broadway while they responded to
issues facing contemporary American society. How did their creators and producers
prepare and sustain them on a commercial market? Together, what do they reveal about
shifting audience demographics and popular taste?

“Consuming ‘Little Girls’: How Broadway and New York City Capitalized on Peggy Sawyer and Little Orphan Annie’s Big Apple Dreams”

by Laura MacDonald

Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Spring 2009), pp. 67-89.

REMINDER: ABSTRACTS DUE 12 MARCH - CFP Song, Stage and Screen VII: The Musical’s Global Conquest

by Laura MacDonald

2-5 July 2012
Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG)
University of Groningen (The Netherlands)

The New York Times has frequently reported on the increasingly global musical theatre community. Broadway flops are... more The New York Times has frequently reported on the increasingly global musical theatre community. Broadway flops are finding success in Europe and China's economic power is stimulating a musical theatre industry aspiring to enter the global market. This conference invites papers investigating the range of global contexts within which stage and film musicals are created, circulated and consumed. While much growth has occurred in recent decades, musicals have been circulated transnationally for more than a century, and forms such as the American musical developed out of a range of cultural influences. Stage and screen musicals also make the global local, with, for example, Rodgers and Hammerstein choosing foreign settings for their stage musicals, culturally-specific narratives becoming global commodities (Les Misérables, Billy Elliot), and Bollywood films bringing exotic locations to domestic film audiences. Globalization is also a story musicals tell, as demonstrated by one of Broadway's newest musicals, Once, about an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant. With the explosion of media technologies offering ever more platforms and dimensions, musical theatre and film find new expression and distribution, shrinking the global stage onto our cellphones, laptops and Ipads.

Paper topics might include, but are not limited to:
-The American stage and screen musical abroad
-Studies of developing or established domestic musical theatre and film industries
-Intercultural engagement within musical narratives
-International collaborations by musical creators and producers
-American appropriation of foreign styles and narratives
-The global training and circulation of performers
-Domestic reception of foreign musical theatre and films
-The colonial and post-colonial musical
-The musical and national identity
-The global musical marketplace
-Technology's role in the globalization of the musical

Proposals for twenty-minute papers or other presentation formats should be submitted electronically for blind peer review by Monday 12 March 2012 to songstageandscreen7@gmail.com. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words and sent as a Word attachment. For queries, please contact conference organizer, Laura MacDonald, at l.e.macdonald@rug.nl

Song, Stage and Screen is the annual conference of the academic journal, Studies in Musical Theatre, which is published by Intellect Press. Previous Song, Stage and Screen conferences have been held at the University of Portsmouth, UK (2006), University of Leeds, UK (2007), the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (2008), University of Maryland, College Park (2009), University of Winchester, UK (2010) and University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance (2011). It is expected that a selection of papers from this conference will be invited for submission to the journal.

Napoleon Lambelet, a composer from the East in Eduardian West-End (in Greek)

by Manolis Seiragakis

Εισήγηση στο Συνέδριο για την Επτανησιακή Όπερα στις Μουσικές Γιορτές του 2010. Εκδόθηκε πρόσφατα ηλεκτρονικά από το Τμήμα Θεατρικών Σπουδών του ΕΚΠΑ και είναι αναρτημένο στη σελίδα του Τμήματος. Αποτελεί συντομευμένη έκδοση ευρύτερης μονογραφίας για τον συνθέτη που αναμένεται να κυκλοφορήσει ως το τέλος του 2012

In 1897, two French from Smyrna, the singer Maurice Farkoa and A. Wilson Fyscher have just moved in London. The... more In 1897, two French from Smyrna, the singer Maurice Farkoa and A. Wilson Fyscher have just moved in London. The latter, in collaboration with an English businessman put on a musical in the commercial West End based on a play that Fyscher knew extremely well from homeland: Leblebidji Chorchor Agha. As musician partner they recruited a Greek from Corfu, Napoleon Lambelet, who has recently installed there and who also knew the play from Athens. The English writer and actor Seymour Hicks adapted the text with great audacity. The play has been significantly changed in compare to the original libretto. One of the main characters was the Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Hicks ridicules him at every opportunity. Thus, the Censorship Office of Lord Chamberlain marked many lines of it with its well-known blue pencil. The play under the new title Yashmak had a successful career in London, drawing attention both of Bernhard Shaw as a critic, who, despite his aesthetic contrast to the genre of musical comedy, prophesies its longevity, and James Joyce who, influenced by Orientalism, presents, in his Ulysses, Molly Bloom covered with a yashmak...

I Had a Dream: "Rose's Turn," Musical Theatre, and the Star Effigy

by Jason Fitzgerald

A Cultural History of the Chinese Language

by Sharron Gu

This book has been released last week. You can order it directly from the publisher, McFarland Publishers 800-253-2187, Barnes and Nobles, or Amazon.com.

It is the first multimedia history of the Chinese language and also the first book that compares the history of... more It is the first multimedia history of the Chinese language and also the first book that compares the history of Chinese with Greek, Latin, English and Semitic languages

Two Different Roads to New Musicals in 2011 London: London Road and Road Show

by Sarah Whitfield

Forthcoming in Studies in Musical Theatre, 2011

London Road, a collaboration between documentary playwright Alecky Blythe, composer Adam Cork and director Rufus... more London Road, a collaboration between documentary playwright Alecky Blythe, composer Adam Cork and director Rufus Norris, opened at the National Theatre in April 2011. Road Show, by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, directed by John Doyle, opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory in July 2011 (a transfer of the 2008 New York production). This article explores their production histories, considering the relationships to historical events within both performance texts, and the intricate relationship between content and form in both cases. It briefly discusses the questions of place which impact upon both the performance texts and the material spaces of production and reception. Finally, it considers the relationship between these works and the ‘imagined Broadway musical’, in the context of what both pieces represent for musical theatre production in contemporary London.