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musical

Musical

United States · 1900s
HappyRomanticSentimentalEpicDancing
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Description

Musical (musical theatre) is a narrative stage form that integrates songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance to tell a story. Its core aim is dramatic storytelling in which music advances plot, deepens character, and shapes emotional arcs, often through recurring motives and reprises.

Developed primarily on Broadway (New York) and later the West End (London), the genre blends operetta’s melodic lyricism, vaudeville’s variety entertainment, revue’s song-driven showcase, and Tin Pan Alley’s popular songcraft. Musicals range from intimate chamber pieces to large-scale "megamusicals," and from traditional book musicals to rock, hip‑hop, and concept-driven works. The musical’s songbook has fed the Great American Songbook and popular music at large, while the stage craft has influenced film, television, and concert performance.

History
Origins (late 19th–early 20th century)

Musical theatre crystallized in the early 1900s United States, drawing on European operetta (Offenbach, Gilbert & Sullivan), ballad opera, and German Singspiel, as well as American vaudeville, revue, minstrel shows, and Tin Pan Alley popular songwriting. Early figures like George M. Cohan and Irving Berlin shaped a briskly paced, song‑forward commercial theatre centered on Broadway.

Toward the integrated book (1920s–1940s)

Show Boat (1927, Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II) signaled a shift to the “integrated” book musical, where songs and dances serve character and plot. Oklahoma! (1943, Rodgers & Hammerstein) codified this model with cohesive storytelling, recurring motifs, and dance as drama.

Golden Age (1940s–1960s)

Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe, Bernstein, Porter, Berlin, and the Gershwins defined an era of melodically rich, structurally integrated shows (Carousel, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, West Side Story). The era produced standards that migrated to jazz and traditional pop repertoires.

Experiment, rock, and concept (1960s–1970s)

Hair (1967) ushered rock idioms onto the stage. Stephen Sondheim advanced the “concept musical” (Company, Follies) with sophisticated harmony, complex lyrics, and fragmented narrative. A Chorus Line (1975) popularized documentary and ensemble-driven storytelling.

Megamusicals and globalization (1980s–1990s)

A British “invasion” (Cats, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera) emphasized spectacle, leitmotifs, and through-composed scoring, exporting Broadway globally. Disney’s entry (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) reconnected stage and screen, while jukebox and film-to-stage adaptations proliferated.

21st century diversity (2000s–present)

The genre absorbed hip‑hop (Hamilton), contemporary pop (Dear Evan Hansen), and genre hybrids (Hadestown). Small-scale chamber musicals and boundary-pushing works coexist with commercial blockbusters, and the ecosystem spans Broadway, West End, touring circuits, regional theatres, and school/community stages worldwide.

How to make a track in this genre
Dramaturgy first
•   Define a clear book (story, structure, and character arcs). Identify song moments where music can externalize inner want, conflict, or turning points. •   Common placements: Opening number (world + stakes), the “I Want” song (protagonist’s desire), charm/comedy song (relief and character color), act finales (cliffhanger/culmination), 11 o’clock number (late dramatic catharsis), and reprises (show character change).
Musical language
•   Melody: Singable, character-specific contours; use motifs/leitmotifs to tag characters, ideas, or relationships. Reprise motifs to show transformation. •   Harmony: Diatonic with expressive modal shifts and borrowed chords; use secondary dominants and modulations (especially up-keys for climaxes). For more modern shows, incorporate pop/jazz extensions (maj7, add9), rock harmonic loops, or hip‑hop grooves. •   Rhythm & groove: Match idiom to story world—waltz or patter for period settings, Latin or jazz swing for mid‑century urbanity, rock backbeat or hip‑hop flows for contemporary narratives. Dance numbers demand clear, countable phrases (8s/16s).
Lyrics & prosody
•   Prioritize clarity, character voice, and scansion. Rhyme should aid memory and wit without contorting syntax. Use internal rhyme and patter for comic velocity; plain speech‑song for vulnerability. •   Keep each song’s objective singular; trim anything that doesn’t move plot or deepen character.
Orchestration & arranging
•   Typical pit palette: woodwinds (doublers), brass, strings, rhythm section (piano/keys, guitar, bass, drums/percussion). Contemporary shows may rely on keyboards + guitar-based rhythm sections with click and tracks. •   Orchestrate to support lyrics: thin textures under patter; bloom to full ensemble for emotional peaks. Use instrumental tags, dance breaks, and underscoring to bridge scenes.
Staging, dance, and form
•   Choreography should advance story and motif; integrate dance breaks and musical buttons for applause and transitions. •   Plan seamless scene-to-song transitions; use underscored dialogue and vampable intros for timing flexibility.
Workflow tips
•   Outline the book and song map first; draft lyric and melody together to respect prosody. •   Demo at the piano, then expand arrangement; workshop with actors to test clarity and pacing. •   Build reprises and motif returns early—they are structural glue in a musical.
Main artists
Influenced by
Operetta
Operetta is a light, theatrical form of musical drama that blends spoken dialogue with tuneful, dance-inflected numbers and comic plots. It favors memorable melodies, witty wordplay, and a buoyant orchestral palette over the heavy dramatic weight of grand opera. Emerging in mid-19th-century Paris and quickly flourishing in Vienna and beyond, operetta draws on popular dance rhythms (especially the waltz and march), satirical or romantic storylines, and clear, lyrical vocal writing. It serves as a bridge between opera and modern musical theatre, balancing classical technique with popular appeal.
Opera
Opera is a large-scale theatrical genre that combines music, drama, and visual spectacle, in which the story is primarily conveyed through singing accompanied by an orchestra. It unites solo voices, ensembles, and chorus with staging, costumes, and often dance to create a total artwork. Emerging in late Renaissance Italy and flourishing in the Baroque era, opera developed signature forms such as recitative (speech-like singing that advances the plot) and aria (lyrical numbers that explore character and emotion). Over the centuries it evolved diverse national styles—Italian bel canto, French grand opéra, German music drama—while continually experimenting with orchestration, harmony, narrative structure, and stagecraft.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville is a late‑19th to early‑20th‑century American variety stage tradition whose musical side blends comic songs, patter numbers, novelty tunes, sentimental ballads, ragtime interludes, and ensemble finales. It emphasized catchy melodies, memorable refrains, and clear diction so songs could land immediately with live audiences. Typical accompaniment was piano (often with a small pit ensemble of strings, reeds, and light percussion). Song forms favored verse–chorus and 32‑bar AABA structures, with simple diatonic harmony embellished by secondary dominants and ragtime‑style syncopation. Lyrics leaned into topical humor, character monologues, dialect turns (now recognized as historically problematic), and direct audience address. Unlike bawdier burlesque, vaudeville marketed itself as “family entertainment,” integrating music with comedy, dance, specialty acts, and novelty performance. Its stages and circuits incubated the American popular song, connected sheet‑music publishers with performers, and supplied early film and radio with talent and repertoire.
Revue
A revue is a plot-light, multi-act stage entertainment that strings together songs, dances, comedy sketches, and specialty acts around a loose theme or topical satire. Unlike a book musical, a revue prioritizes spectacle and variety over narrative, showcasing chorus lines, star turns, witty patter songs, and lavish costumes and sets. Its musical numbers often reflect popular styles of their day (e.g., Tin Pan Alley, jazz age foxtrots) and can be easily excerpted as standalone songs.
Music Hall
Music hall is a 19th- and early-20th-century British form of popular entertainment centered on comic songs, patter, novelty acts, and audience participation. It grew out of pub concert rooms and purpose-built halls where singers and comedians performed short, catchy numbers with memorable choruses. Its songs typically feature everyday themes, double entendre, and local dialects, supported by piano or small ensemble accompaniment. The style blends sentimental ballads with jaunty patter songs and marches, designed for communal singing and lively theatrical showmanship.
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley refers to the late‑19th- and early‑20th‑century New York music‑publishing hub that industrialized the creation and promotion of American popular song. Centered around West 28th Street in Manhattan, publishers and song pluggers churned out catchy tunes for mass sheet‑music sales and vaudeville performance. Musically, Tin Pan Alley songs favored memorable melodies, clear hooks, and singable ranges, often set in 3/4 waltz time or 4/4 with light syncopation picked up from ragtime. The prevailing 32‑bar AABA form became a defining template, with diatonic harmony enriched by secondary dominants, circle‑of‑fifths motion, and occasional modulations. Culturally, Tin Pan Alley fed Broadway revues, vaudeville circuits, and later radio and film, laying the foundation of the Great American Songbook. Its output ranges from romantic ballads to novelty numbers and uptempo dance songs, shaping the language of American popular music for decades.
Cabaret
Cabaret is an intimate form of stage entertainment centered on songs, witty monologues, satire, and character pieces, typically presented in small rooms with table seating and a master of ceremonies. Performers address the audience directly, and the atmosphere is conversational, risqué, and often politically or socially pointed. Musically, cabaret blends the French chanson tradition with Weimar-era “Kabarett” and, later, American torch-song and jazz idioms. Arrangements are usually piano-led with small ensembles (accordion, violin, clarinet, upright bass, light percussion), supporting nuanced storytelling and dramatic delivery. Vocal approaches range from parlando (speech-like) delivery to a smoky croon. Common grooves include waltz and musette-inflected 3/4, tango and habanera patterns, foxtrot, and slow blues; harmonies are tonal with chromatic color and expressive rubato. Lyrics favor irony, double entendre, longing, and social commentary.
Ballad Opera
Ballad opera is an English-language theatrical form that combines spoken dialogue with songs set to familiar popular tunes, folk melodies, and dance airs, often with newly written, satirical lyrics. It arose in early 18th-century London as an anti-elitist response to imported Italian opera seria. Musically, numbers are short, strophic, and tuneful, supported by light, diatonic harmonies and a small pit ensemble. Dramatically, the plots feature contemporary, often lower- or middle-class characters—thieves, tavern-goers, soldiers—allowing pointed social commentary. The best-known exemplar is John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), with arrangements by J. C. Pepusch, which set the template for the genre’s blend of popular song, satire, and spoken play.
Singspiel
Singspiel is a German-language musical stage genre that alternates spoken dialogue with musical numbers such as arias, ensembles, choruses, and finales. Unlike through‑composed opera, the plot advances through spoken scenes, which makes the style theatrically agile and accessible to broad audiences. Musically, Singspiel blends tuneful, folk‑like melodies and clear Classical‑era harmonies with theatrical flair. Subjects range from domestic comedy to adventure, exoticism, and magic (Zauberoper), and the tone can move from light and humorous to noble and sentimental. It flourished in public theaters across German lands and Austria, where it became closely identified with Viennese stages in the late 18th century.
Ragtime
Ragtime is an African American–rooted piano style that flourished from the 1890s to the 1910s, characterized by lively syncopation in the right hand against a steady, march-like “oom‑pah” accompaniment in the left hand. Typically written in 2/4 or 4/4 time and notated with straight (unswung) eighth notes, classic rags unfold in multiple 16‑bar strains, often in the form AABBACCDD. The music draws on cakewalk rhythms, marching-band forms, and popular song, and it became a sensation through sheet music, piano rolls, and parlor performance. Scott Joplin, known as the “King of Ragtime,” helped codify the genre’s refined, compositional approach, calling for moderate tempos and a clear, singing melody. Beyond solo piano, ragtime was arranged for small ensembles and orchestras, found a home in vaudeville and dance halls, and laid essential groundwork for early jazz, stride piano, and much of 20th‑century American popular music.
Minstrelsy
Minstrelsy is a 19th‑century American theatrical music genre centered on variety shows that combined songs, dances, comic banter, and skits. It is historically associated with blackface performance and traffic in racial caricature, which makes it a profoundly problematic yet influential part of U.S. popular music history. Musically, minstrel troupes favored a small, lively ensemble built around banjo, fiddle, bones (clappers), tambourine, and occasionally concertina or guitar. Songs typically used simple, memorable melodies and strong chorus hooks in verse‑chorus form, often with call‑and‑response patterns and danceable rhythms. The repertoire drew on Anglo‑Celtic balladry and parlor song while adopting syncopations, timbres, and participatory practices that originated in African American music.
NĂłta
Nóta (often called magyar nóta) is an urban Hungarian popular art-song tradition that crystallized in the late 19th century. It blends authored, strophic songs with the performance practice of Romani (Gypsy) string bands, yielding a style that is both salon-refined and folk-rooted. Typically sung in Hungarian with sentimental or patriotic texts, nóta features highly ornamented melodies, rubato delivery (parlando–rubato), and characteristic scales associated with Central European Romani practice. Performances are led by a primás (lead violinist), supported by cimbalom, brácsa (viola), and double bass, creating a lush, responsive accompaniment around the voice. While distinct from traditional peasant folksong (népdal), nóta became a potent symbol of urban Hungarian identity, flourishing in cafés and restaurants and shaping how the world heard “Hungarian” music.
Comédie-Ballet
Comédie-ballet is a French Baroque theatrical form that fuses spoken comedy with music and dance in an integrated, plot-driven spectacle. It was devised to entertain courtly audiences with witty dialogue, elegant dancing, and richly scored intermèdes that commented on or extended the action. Developed by Molière in close collaboration with Jean-Baptiste Lully and choreographer Pierre Beauchamp under the patronage of Louis XIV, the genre balances dramatic scenes with sequences of airs, choruses, and court dances (gavotte, bourrée, sarabande, gigue), framed by the characteristic French overture. Its tone ranges from satirical to farcical, but its musical language remains refined, ornamented, and distinctly French.
GĂ©nero Chico
Género chico is a Spanish one-act musical theatre style that flourished in Madrid in the late 19th century. It is essentially the short, popular, and affordable counterpart to the larger-scale zarzuela (often called género grande). Typically lasting under an hour, género chico combines spoken dialogue with catchy songs, dances, and choruses rooted in urban life. Its stories portray everyday characters, local slang, and street settings (costumbrismo), often with topical satire and humor. Musically, it draws on fashionable dances and song-types of the period—such as chotis, habanera, and pasodoble—woven into tuneful, diatonic numbers that are easy to remember and sing. Because of its brevity, immediacy, and low ticket prices under the “teatro por horas” system, género chico became a mass urban entertainment, producing enduring classics and shaping Spanish popular stage music well into the 20th century.
GĂ©nero Grande
Género grande is the full-length form of Spanish zarzuela: a three-act musical theatre genre that blends operatic numbers (arias, romanzas, ensembles, and choruses) with spoken dialogue. It employs Romantic-era orchestration while drawing on Iberian folk idioms and dance rhythms. Unlike the one-act, lighter género chico, género grande favors broader narratives, historical or costumbrista (slice‑of‑life) subjects, and a more symphonic musical scale. Its scores feature lyrical romanzas for principal voices, vivid choral writing, extended finales, and danced interludes rooted in Spanish tradition (seguidillas, fandangos, boleros).
Opéra Comique
Opéra comique is a French operatic genre defined by the presence of spoken dialogue between musical numbers rather than by comic subject matter. Early works used popular tunes (vaudevilles) with newly written words, later evolving into fully original scores with arias, ensembles, finales, and orchestral writing. Originating in Paris fairground theatres, the genre developed at the Opéra-Comique institution into a flexible form that could encompass light, humorous plots as well as serious and even tragic stories. By the 19th century it ranged from graceful, classical elegance to full Romantic drama—so much so that a tragedy like Bizet’s Carmen is still called an opéra comique because it originally included spoken dialogue. Typical features include an overture, clear French prosody, memorable lyrical numbers (romances, couplets), conversational pacing, and finales that integrate multiple characters on stage. Harmony and orchestration track the broader shift from late Baroque/Classical clarity to Romantic color and intensity.
Opera-Ballet
Opera-ballet (opéra-ballet) is a French Baroque stage genre that blends sung opera with extensive, self-contained dance episodes. Typically organized as a prologue followed by several independent entrées linked by a loose theme, it favors variety, spectacle, and graceful movement over the strict tragic unity of earlier French opera. Emerging in Paris at the close of the 17th century, the form cultivated elegant divertissements, richly orchestrated choruses, and expressive French recitative, all designed to showcase star singers and dancers. Its subjects range from pastoral and mythological to exotic and festive, creating a refined, courtly entertainment that balances dramatic singing with choreographic display.
Kanto
Kanto is an Ottoman–Turkish urban stage song tradition that emerged in the late 19th century in Istanbul’s entertainment districts of Pera and Galata. It blends the modal vocabulary and melodic ornaments of Turkish classical (makam) and urban folk music with the showmanship, humor, and catchy refrains of Western music-hall, cabaret, and operetta. Typically performed by charismatic female stars (often of Armenian and Greek background) in tuluat (improvised) theatres, kanto features witty, sometimes risqué lyrics, lively dance rhythms (such as çiftetelli or 9/8 karsilama), and engaging call-and-response with the audience. Instrumentations mix Ottoman and Western instruments—oud, violin, kanun, clarinet, and percussion alongside piano or accordion—producing a theatrical, danceable, and cosmopolitan sound.
Cakewalk
Cakewalk is a late-19th-century African American dance-music style marked by a jaunty, strutting feel in duple meter, syncopated rhythms, and march-like bass patterns. Originally accompanying competitive dances where a cake was awarded to the winning couple, its music typically features multiple 16-bar strains (often AABBCC or AABBACCDD), bright major keys, and catchy, syncopated melodies. It was performed by solo piano, banjo-led ensembles, and brass bands, and became a staple of minstrel and vaudeville stages before feeding directly into the emergence of ragtime and early jazz.
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric‑dramatic genre that alternates spoken dialogue with sung numbers such as romanzas (arias), ensembles, and choruses. It blends courtly and popular musical idioms, weaving in Spanish dance rhythms (seguidillas, fandangos, jotas, chotis) and vivid costumbrista (everyday-life) scenes. Two principal formats emerged: the expansive zarzuela grande (multi‑act, operatic in scope) and the género chico (one‑act, agile, and often comedic). Across all forms, zarzuela prizes clear storytelling, tuneful melodies, rhythmic vitality, and a strong sense of place, often portraying Madrid’s barrios or regional Spain with humor, sentiment, and social observation.
Ballet
Ballet (as a musical genre) refers to orchestral music written to accompany choreographed dance on stage. It prioritizes clear tempi, strongly articulated rhythms, and memorable leitmotifs to support narrative, character, and movement. While rooted in court entertainment, ballet music evolved into a sophisticated, self-sufficient concert art: many ballets yield popular orchestral suites that are performed independently. Typical numbers include adagios, variations, codas, divertissements, character dances, and large ensemble scenes that mirror the dramatic arc of the choreography. Stylistically, ballet spans Baroque courtly idioms, Classical clarity, Romantic lyricism, and 20th‑century modernism and neoclassicism. It is predominantly instrumental (full orchestra), but can occasionally include choral or vocal parts when dramaturgy requires it.
Coon Song
Coon song is a late-19th- and early-20th-century American popular song style associated with vaudeville and the Tin Pan Alley sheet-music industry. Musically, it often features lively 2/4 or 4/4 meters, cakewalk- and ragtime-derived syncopation, simple diatonic harmonies (I–IV–V with secondary dominants), and memorable, comic chorus hooks. Performances ranged from solo singers with piano to small ensembles with banjo and brass. Historically, the repertoire propagated racist caricatures of African Americans through dialect writing and stereotyped imagery. While some Black performers and composers worked within or adjacent to the format (sometimes subverting it or reshaping it toward ragtime and musical theater), the genre today is studied as a critical, cautionary chapter in American popular music history rather than as a living style.
Chazzanut
Chazzanut (also spelled hazzanut) is the Ashkenazi Jewish art of cantorial singing: a virtuosic, highly ornamented solo vocal tradition devoted to leading the Hebrew liturgy. It blends age-old synagogue modal systems (nusach and shtayger) with European art-music and operatic aesthetics, yielding free-rhythm recitative, melismatic arias, dramatic cadences, and heightened emotional delivery. While grounded in prayer, it also developed a parallel concert tradition in which star cantors performed elaborate settings with choir and, in some communities, organ or orchestral accompaniment. Characteristic features include modal shifts tied to time-of-day and liturgical calendar, expressive ornaments such as krekhts (catch-breath sobs), extensive melisma, and improvisatory development that remains text-driven and devotional.
Parlour Music
Parlour music is a 19th‑century popular style written for amateur performance in the home, typically in the domestic “parlour” of middle‑class households. It centers on singable melodies with piano accompaniment and was disseminated primarily through inexpensive sheet music rather than professional concert culture. Musically it favors strophic or verse‑chorus song forms, simple diatonic harmony with occasional tonic–dominant–subdominant motion, and pianistic textures such as arpeggios, Alberti bass, and oom‑pah patterns. Themes are sentimental and domestic—love, home, faith, nostalgia, and bereavement—and the pieces are designed to be technically attainable, emotionally expressive, and socially suitable for mixed‑ability performers.
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a monumental 19th‑century French operatic form defined by large forces, spectacular staging, and serious historical or religious subjects. Typically laid out in five acts, it features extensive choruses, virtuosic arias and ensembles, full ballet sequences (the obligatory "divertissement"), and elaborate scenic effects that turn political and moral conflicts into public spectacle. Musically, grand opera expands the Romantic orchestra, favors accompanied recitative over secco dialogue, and uses coloristic orchestration, on‑ and off‑stage bands, and crowd scenes to heighten dramaturgy. It emerged at the Paris Opéra (Académie Royale/Impériale) in the late 1820s–1830s through works by Auber, Meyerbeer, and Halévy, and quickly became an international template for large‑scale operatic production.
Orchestral Music
Orchestral music is music written for and performed by an orchestra—a large ensemble built around strings (violins, violas, cellos, double basses) with woodwinds, brass, and percussion, and often augmented by harp, piano/celesta, and other color instruments. It emphasizes orchestration (the art of distributing musical ideas among instruments) to shape timbre, texture, and dynamics at scale. It encompasses many forms, including overture, suite, symphony, concerto, tone poem, and ballet score. Hallmarks include wide dynamic range, layered textures (melody, countermelody, accompaniment), register separation, and motivic development. Although rooted in the Western classical tradition, orchestral writing continues to evolve, powering concert hall repertoire as well as cinematic, game, and media music.
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