1. Theatre(what we know as musicals today) were used to express gods and the world around them, musicals as we know today began in ancient
Greece between 550 and 220 BC .Athens was the main centre for these theatrical traditions.
Theatre was part of the daily life of the Ancient Greeks. Greeks were very religious people who believed in worshipping several gods. What we
now call musicals originated from Greek theatre whose origins came from the cults of the god Dionysus, whose members would sing and dance
themselves to enjoy themselves in festival and riots. These singing and dancing festivals evolved over time, words were then added and it became
known as theatre.
Tragedy and comedy were the first genres to emerge in theatres. Theatres were built on a very large scale to accommodate a very large number
of people in the audience .Both women and men who were wealthy filled the seats up to watch the performance, meanwhile the peasants would
form parades outside and sing hymns to the gods.
The Greeks disliked using instruments and if they did use it, it was to accompany singers; most of their music came from people singing in the
chorus. The chorus in a Greek play was made up of twelve to twenty four amateur male musicians who were chosen to sing in a play as part of their
religious and civic education as Greek citizens.
In early plays directors, actors and dramatists were played by the same person after some time only three actors were allowed to perform on
stage, which then later developed into a few more actors who didn’t have a speaking role to perform on stage.
The main difference between the theatre in the ancient Greek era and the musicals of now was that there were only male actors who if need be
would dress as a women to play her part whereas now women are treated equally and are able to become actresses on stage if they wished to.
During this time there wasn’t any advanced technology like now where actors have head mikes, in order for everything to be heard by the
audience, ancient Greek actors had to emphasise and do grand gestures so that the audience could understand what was going on, the actors would
also use exaggerated costumes and masks that were made of linen or cork, so that’s why none of these costumes have survived till today.
In order to make sure everything was heard by the audience, their masks were shaped uniquely to help amplify their voice making it easier for the
actor’s voices to be heard.
Another difference between theatres from then and musicals in this moment in time is that now there is a blur of music and dancing combined
together whether it be soulful,opera even rock depending on the storyline, furthermore musicals today consist of a lot more actors performing on
stage ,interacting with audiences.