Musical Theatre Essay

1. Musical Theatre Essay
There are many different types of musical theatre, some of which include; book musicals,
revue musicals, jukebox musicals, film musicals, concept musicals and pop and rock
musicals. An example of a theatre musical that is based on a book would be the musical
Matilda. An example of a jukebox musical is the musical Mamma Mia, this is because the
entire story is based around the music written by ABBA. The three musicals I have chosen to
study are Hamilton, Wicked and Matilda. Matilda is a book musical based on the Roald Dahl
children’s book Matilda. The musical Hamilton is a book musical as it is based on a
biography, however it is also known as a sung-through musical as it is a musical that has no
spoken dialogue as the stories are told through song, or in this case rap. And lastly the
musical Wicked is also a book musical which is based on the book Wicked, The Life and
Times of the Wicked Witch Of The West.
In musical theatre productions, there are many themes that can be presented through the
storyline either through spoken dialogue, miming or song. Many musicals contain themes of
love, conflict, religion, race and social issues, however there are many other themes that
are used in musicals too, for example in Hamilton, as the main theme in Hamilton is History
and Legacy, presented through the historic storyline of the founding father Alexander
Hamilton.
The main theme in the musical Matilda is bullying (social issue), which is presented through
primarily the adults in the musical, however bullying in general is a huge issue in schools
now days which is why the musical focuses on the consequences of bullying, in order to
teach the audience a lesson making Matilda an education musical too. The bullying theme is
presented in many scenes, one of which is one of the first scenes in Act 1 in which Matilda’s
father, Mr Wormwood, dismisses her love for reading and she is treated horribly by her
father, mother and brother as they frequently mock and verbally abuse her. In Act 1 the
headteacher Miss Trunchball shows bullying by picking on many of the school children like;
when she grabs a small girl ‘Amanda Thripp’ and throws her across the playing field by her
pigtails for absolutely no reason and forces Bruce Bogtrotter to eat a whole chocolate cake
in front of the whole school as punishment for him stealing one slice of her personal cake,
and when he finishes the cake she drags him to the Chokey. These examples clearly present
the main theme of bullying in the musical Matilda.
The main theme presented in the music Hamilton is History and Legacy with the storyline of
the musical being based on the historic founding father of America Alexander Hamilton. The
theme of history and legacy is presented in one song in particular from the musical ‘Who
Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story’ which is all about the lengths Eliza went to make
Hamilton’s legacy a reality. However, Lin-Manuel Miranda (the creator of the musical
Hamilton), also made sure to include many other themes into the musical such as love,
conflict and race, through his use of a multi-racial cast as well as the mentioning of
immigrants within the storyline of the musical.
The musical Wicked’s main theme is evil in which the musical presents evilness within good
and bad people showing how good and evil can reside within the same person. In the

2. musical one of the main characters Elphaba is seen as evil to the other characters as she is
framed by the Wizard and Madame Morrible for crimes she supposedly committed on the
Wizard’s orders. The Wizard is strongly seen as evil in the musical as he frames Elphaba and
then sends his guards to hunt her down and turns everyone against her. The character
Madame Morrible is seen as the main villain in the musical and is the character that
presents theme of evil the most in my opinion, due to her crushing the Wicked Witch of the
East (Elphaba’s Sister) with a house and like the Wizard, trying to frame Elphaba. These
three musicals all have different themes, however Wicked also includes the bullying theme
as the Wizard and Madame Morrible almost bully Elphaba away by framing her for crimes
she didn’t do. The theme bullying is also presented in the musical Wicked through the way
all of the characters are discriminative towards Elphaba for having green skin. The theme of
bullying is also presented in the musical Hamilton in the song ‘the room where it happens’
as Hamilton is considered not worthy by the other characters and is shut out. All of these
musicals attempt to teach the audience a lesson whether its teaching them an actual
historical lesson, or a lesson of how bulling can affect people.
The typical structure of a musical follows the structure of; overture, act 1, intermission, act
2, curtain call and exit music, all of which are included in the three musicals I have chosen
to study. A typical element of a musical theatre performance is the 11 o’clock number,
which is the theatre term for a big number that is often sung by the main character and is
usually situated in act 2.
The musical Wicked runs for 2hrs 45mins and has a 20 minute interval in the middle,
therefore there are two acts in the musical. Wicked starts with a flashback scene which
helps to give the audience the relevant information they need to know about the
characters therefore helping them to understand the storyline better. In the musical
Wicked, the 11 o’clock number I would say is the song ‘For Good’. This song is sung by the
two main characters of the show Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the
Good Witch of the South), in which they are saying goodbye to each other and Elphaba
gives Glinda the Grimmerie and tells her that it’s up to her to continue Elphaba’s cause. The
lyrics of the song talk about how Elphaba and Glinda have been changed by their friendship
with each other. This piece has a unique, powerful and meaningful insight to how
friendships make people grow. The showstopper number in Wicked is the song ‘Defying
Gravity’. This song is the finale for the shows first act, when Elphaba discovers that the
Wizard of Oz is not the heroic figure she originally believed him to be. The climax in the
show is the scene in which Elphaba’s love Fiyero is killed, as this is the worst thing that
could happen to Elphaba which means that things can’t get any worse for her, so she
becomes more evil. The resolution of the show is the part at the ned of the musical in
which Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch, however it turns out it was all just a plan, and
Elphaba is really alive and runs off into the sunset with Fiyero (who is now the scarecrow),
this concludes Elphaba’s evil days.
The musical Matilda is 2 hours and 35 minutes with a 20 minute interval. In the musical
Matilda, the 11 o’clock and the showstopper number is the song ‘Revolting Children’, in
which the children stand up and revolt against the mean principle Miss Trunchbull. This
number shows the turning point in the show when the children are sick of being treated

3. badly by Miss Trunchbull and therefore decide to revolt against her and channel their inner
‘Revolting Children’ as this is the word Miss Trunchbull uses to describe them. In this
number the children start messing with Miss Trunchbull and scare her into leaving the
school and leaving them alone making Miss Honey the new headteacher. The Climax in
Matilda is the scene where Matilda takes down Miss Trunchball by using her telekinetic
powers to threaten her with the chalk on the classroom board. The resolution of Matilda is
the scene in which Matilda discovers she has powers and uses them to stop certain bad
events happening and to take down Miss Trunchball.
The musical Hamilton is 2 hours and 50 minutes long and includes a 15-minute interval in
the middle which makes there two acts in the musical. The 11 o’clock number is the song
‘Burn’, as this song slows down the tempo and energy compared to the other songs in the
musical. In this song Hamilton hopes to salvage his professional legacy and admits to his
extramarital affair in a public pamphlet. Eliza ends up as collateral damage in the matter
and she takes control of the story by burning the love letters Hamilton write to her. The
Climax and the Resolution of the musical I would say are the scene, which is Burr and
Hamilton’s duel as this scene is the moment with the most tension. In this scene Hamilton
throws away his shot which he said he was not going to do, by being in this duel, which
shows how he has negatively changed over his life. The showstopper number in Hamilton is
said to be the song ‘The World Turned Upside Down’, which begins with Hamilton having
been promoted to a command position. It is revealed that Hamilton’s friend Hercules was
spying on the British to give information to the Americans. Also in this song, Hamilton
remarks on his wife and her pregnancy with their first child. After this, the Continental
Forces then proceed to begin fighting. The Americans assisted by the French, succeeded in
the battle with their opponents waving a white flag. Hamilton then describes the British
retreat saying that he heard “the drinking song they were singing”.
Often in musicals, a big dance number is used to signify a big dramatic moment in the
storyline. The dramatic moments used by the dance numbers are often used in happy
moments or moments of realisation for the main characters. For example in the musical
Matilda, the big dance number is used to show hoe the characters have changed and they
are finding their true selves and finally sticking up for each other.
In the musical Wicked, the big dance number is definitely the song ‘one short day’ in which
the two witches Glinda and Elphaba enter the Emerald City on their way to meet the
Wizard. The choreography in this number is very extravagant and energetic to give the
impression to the audience of the excitement and busy lifestyle of a city. This over the top
theme is also presented in the costumes that the characters wear. All of the dancers in this
scene are dressed in very elaborate emerald green clothing with big poofy dresses, giant
hats and very odd round sunglasses to give the effect that the whole city is made out of
emerald and is too bright for the human eye, which is why they wear sunglasses. Another
reason all of the characters are dressed in green is to make sure Elphaba and Glinda stand
out amongst the dancers, as their costumes are very minimal with Elphaba in a black dress
and Glinda in a white dress. Within this piece there are a lot of tricks that make the
choreography very over the top and exciting for the audience to watch. There is also a use
of many choreography techniques like canons and levels to make the piece look more
appealing than everyone doing the same thing as that way it would look like twenty people

4. doing the same solo, with no interaction with each other which would be very boring for
the audience.
In the musical Matilda, the big dance number is the song ‘Revolting Children’ in which the
main character Matilda and her classmates stand up to the mean headteacher Miss
Trunchbull after she calls the revolting children. The choreography in this piece is very
strong with lots of punches and stopping of feet to represent the theme the children are
presenting of revolting children, to give the effect of the children becoming what Miss
Trunchbull says they are as a rebellion against her. As the scene is set in a school
classroom, there is lots of prop involvement with the children dancing on the tables and
chairs, jumping from one table to another, doing tricks over chairs and jumping off of the
tables to once again present that revolting theme. There are many parts in the
choreography where the characters work in pairs or smaller groups to give the effect of
them working together against the headteacher, and also to add choreographing
techniques to the routine.
The main dance number in the musical Hamilton is the song ‘Non-Stop’. Although this
piece has all three elements of musical theatre in it, a big majority of this piece is dance
based, especially amongst the ensemble characters. In this piece, the ensemble characters
act as Hamilton’s Jury in which they present themselves very confidently which strong
movements and good posture. The ensemble uses chairs and tables as props to create
different scenes in this routine, for example; when Burr is singing the line “Why do you
write like your running out of time”, the ensemble use the chairs and tables to set up a
desk like scene for Hamilton to give the effect that he is writing a letter. However, as the
ensemble are changing the set, they make sure to do it whilst dancing around the stage,
adding different levels, dancing with the props and changing who comes on and off the set.
This number has sections of primarily dance in which the ensemble dancers suddenly
cluster on to create a dramatic effect, in comparison with the scenes in this song of no
dance at all, just singing from Hamilton and Burr.
Big singing numbers are also used in musicals, often being a solo sung by the main
character to signify a change in the character, or as a choir with all of the characters
featured to signify the characters working together. A range of skills are used in the main
singing number like; tone, harmony, pitch and a wide vocal range. Harmonies are often
used in a choir singing piece to create a beautiful sound of different groups singing the
same lyric but in different octaves.
In the musical Wicked, the big musical number is Defying Gravity, which is sung by the main
character Elphaba as she discovers that the Wizard of Oz is not who she thought he was and
vows to do everything in her power to fight the Wizard and his plans. This song starts with
Elphaba and Glinda arguing with short sharp phrases to give the effect that they are actually
arguing like in real life. The key of the song quickly changes at the start of the song to give a
sense of unease to the audience. The song dramatically builds with Elphaba raising her voice
up an octave whilst being lifted up into the air by a harness as she transforms into the
Wicked Witch of the West for the first time in the show. The conclusion of the song ends
with a “loud and almost screamy” line in which she sings “Bring me down” which includes a
vocal riff. The emotion presented in the song Defying Gravity makes the audience feel

5. something with many audience members often crying during this song, which is similar to
the main musical number in the musical Matilda which is the song ‘When I grow up’. This
song explains what the children feel growing up will be like. There are also adults who are
included in this song who state that they also have not grown up yet, as they swing with the
children on swings over the audience. In the New York Times review of this musical, it states
that many adults cried during this song, due to the meaning behind it. The song starts off
with one boy swinging on one of the swings sharing what he wants to do when he grows
up, as the song progresses more and more children join sharing their dreams too. The
children are then joined by adults too which helps to build the harmonies in the song to
add more depth to the piece. The song then stops for a second, as Miss Honey and Matilda
walk onto the stage. Miss Honey then starts singing a solo until she gets to a long note she
has to hold whilst Matilda sings different lyrics over the top. The song stats off in a minor
tone with everyone singing about their dreams, until Matilda starts singing, bringing a
major tone into the song whilst dancing around the stage and swinging on the swings,
which concludes the end of the song.
In the musical Hamilton, the main singing number I would say is the song ‘My Shot’. The
song ‘My Shot’ is about Hamilton’s desire to be remembered, even if it means dying. Three
other revolutionaries were also included in this song who were named Marquis de
Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan, John Laurens and Aaron Burr, in which they all rap about their
hopes and reservations for the future. Burr warns the men; however they continue to rap
about the rebellion and encourage other Americans to rise up with them against the
British. This number includes interpolations of lyrics from the songs ‘Shook Ones’ by Mobb
Deep and ‘Going Back to Cali’ by The Notorious BIG. Due to the different characters
featured in this song, it uses a layering technique as the characters discuss their opinions
over the top of each other, almost like a debate. To build the drama of this piece, there is a
dramatic change in tempo changing from very fast and loud to almost no music at all.
Dramatic elements are used within musical theatre mainly through songs which include
changes in the plot and character development. Within the acting element of musical
theatre vocal and physical skills are needed including skills like; facial expressions,
projection, body language and movement. Facial expressions are an example of an
important acting skill as without facial expressions, it would be very difficult for the
audience to understand the emotions of the characters and would honestly be pretty
boring for the audience to watch. Depending on the style of the performance, most musical
theatre performances will be either naturalistic or melodramatic overall.
In conclusion, musical theatre uses a wide range of skills and techniques within the dance,
acting and singing elements, to tell a story to the audience in a unique way. By using all
three elements of musical theatre in performances, directors can differentiate their
productions to create completely different ideas on original work such as music or books.
The three musicals I have chosen to study are all based on books but are all completely
different to each other with different messages presented to the audience showing how
diverse the world of musical theatre can be.