Musicals vs Operas
Mon, 10 Sept 2001, 12:39 amWalter Plinge26 posts in thread
Musicals vs Operas
Mon, 10 Sept 2001, 12:39 amJust to kick-start this brand-spanking new section (thanks Granty!), I thought I'd pose the toughest question there is in this area..... just what the hell is the difference between a musical and an opera?
Given that we are all eargerly awaiting the arrival of "Les Miserables" at the Regal (some more eagerly than others though, I have to say), and that that production features opera-type dudes like David Dockery and Justin Freind right alongside your more musical-theatre-type broads like Amanda Chesterton and Gillian Binks, I was wondering where people drew the line.
Is "Les Mes" an opera? Is "Threepenny Opera" a musical? Or vice versa? Or neither?
Thoughts, people!
D.M.
Given that we are all eargerly awaiting the arrival of "Les Miserables" at the Regal (some more eagerly than others though, I have to say), and that that production features opera-type dudes like David Dockery and Justin Freind right alongside your more musical-theatre-type broads like Amanda Chesterton and Gillian Binks, I was wondering where people drew the line.
Is "Les Mes" an opera? Is "Threepenny Opera" a musical? Or vice versa? Or neither?
Thoughts, people!
D.M.
RE: Tommy
Wed, 12 Sept 2001, 04:54 pmIn a previous life when I had another brain cell - poasibly somewhere in around the 70's - I only ever got into surface viewing and wondermentÂ’s - although nothings changed, except the oportunity?
An Opera to me was a musical show where even the dialogue is set to music, you only ever saw 'wooden warm props' who were obviously trained to could sing , the others were all musicals. These alternative type musical shows eventualy became operettas, with the passage of time. So all musical shows eventualy, when they became old enough, would become 'A Classic' and/or an 'Opera'.
‘Tommy’, to me, could be classified as an opera, if my memory serves me correctly, there is very little if any dialogue that is not set to music - in fact I think only the word "Tommy" is said without music?
Then ,in an-aside life, I had a thought? - possibly when the word opera was first coined or assigned to musical ‘story’ shows, it was possibly done by the ‘have’s’ and ‘toffee nosed’ of the time. So as to distinguish it between the peasants musical performances and thier more structured music, produced by thier own music appreciation society - a bit like how now Shakespeare is viewed by some of or esteemed society today. Like - a present day farce as opposed to say the ‘merry wives of Windsor’ which was writ for the masses, who could just afford the price of entrance to stand on dirt floors, for the whole performance or those who could afford sit -.
Isn’t it rather funny, when I was a wee kid, the ‘Gods’ were always the cheapest?
That’s my two short 'thick' bits of wood ‘n nails worth!!!
Joe
An Opera to me was a musical show where even the dialogue is set to music, you only ever saw 'wooden warm props' who were obviously trained to could sing , the others were all musicals. These alternative type musical shows eventualy became operettas, with the passage of time. So all musical shows eventualy, when they became old enough, would become 'A Classic' and/or an 'Opera'.
‘Tommy’, to me, could be classified as an opera, if my memory serves me correctly, there is very little if any dialogue that is not set to music - in fact I think only the word "Tommy" is said without music?
Then ,in an-aside life, I had a thought? - possibly when the word opera was first coined or assigned to musical ‘story’ shows, it was possibly done by the ‘have’s’ and ‘toffee nosed’ of the time. So as to distinguish it between the peasants musical performances and thier more structured music, produced by thier own music appreciation society - a bit like how now Shakespeare is viewed by some of or esteemed society today. Like - a present day farce as opposed to say the ‘merry wives of Windsor’ which was writ for the masses, who could just afford the price of entrance to stand on dirt floors, for the whole performance or those who could afford sit -.
Isn’t it rather funny, when I was a wee kid, the ‘Gods’ were always the cheapest?
That’s my two short 'thick' bits of wood ‘n nails worth!!!
Joe
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