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[l1s1a]

My personal experience

Hi! Today I am going to talk about my personal experience with musical shows.

I had the chance to go to New York twice and of course I always took the opportunity to watch a show on Broadway.

I was introduced to the musical world when  I was young because I watched the TV show: Glee. A lot of performances were from different shows on Broadway. I fell in love with the song Defying Gravity from Wicked, and since that moment I always wanted to watch it in live in New York. 

So of course when I went to New York I watched Wicked. When I made my researches for the post about the importance of Broadway for the city or about the advertisement strategy etc, I compared the posts that I found with my experience and it was very close to the reality.

I bought my ticket in a random gift shop which proves how musical shows plays a big part in the tourist economy. And also when I wanted to have informations about the interior of the theater it was quite impossible to found something accurate, so it reflects how the shows are kept secret.

The show started at 8am, and I was impressed to see how many people there was 2 hours before. I had the opportunity to talk with the people sitting next to me, and they said that they came by train to  see the show and  that they would  go back home when it ends. At that moment I understood how musical shows have an important place in the popular culture of the United States.

Of course the show was amazing, and at multiple times I saw the bodyguard meet people and to stop them from recording. He even made them erase the video in front of him. The policy of keeping the shows secret is something that you can not play with. But still, I managed to record my three favorite songs without being caught ( yes so wicked of me ;-) ).

What i also liked is when the show ended. We went out of the theater and the street were full of people going out of the different theaters. I liked the fact that we all experience something different but at the same time something together. It touched my to see the sparkle in each eyes that I came across.

The second time that I went to Broadway was the same experience, except that  I watched the show alone. It didn’t bother me at all, it was very pleasing, an experience with myself. I watched Chicago which was different from Wicked because that show is very old. But again there was a lot of people even if the show has not the same popularity than the others.

I also watched Wicked in Zürich, and it was a total different experience. The professionalism of the actors and the dancers was as important as in Broadway. But something felt different. The vibe was not the same. Maybe because I already watched it or maybe because the Broadway aura was not here. But anyway the show is very well done and the price was much lower.

I was to go to London in May with my friends, but with the virus it has been canceled… We planed to watch 2 musicals. I was very excited to discover the theater experience in an other country but I will do that an other time.

It was compensate with the production of Hamilton on Disney +. So my quota of musical shows per years was not empty this year. 

 My question today is: If you had the opportunity to watch a musical show in a theater would you do it ? Is it something that interest you ? And if not, tell me why, I am very curious.

Good luck for the exams :)

[l1s1a]

The West End

Hello ! Today I am going to talk about the difference between the musical industry in London and in New-York.

For those who may not know, the  musical industry in London has also a big role in the musical world.  As in New York, the musical theaters are all located at the same place: “The West End“. The catalogue of shows is quite large, the most popular shows on Broadway can be found in London.

Many shows are on tour in the world (the closest musical theater from us is located in Basel), but London seems to be as important as Broadway. They seem so much important that on the Playbill Website, (the website about the actualities of all the musical in the world) there is a category for shows on Broadway and for shows in London. The other shows in the rest of the world are in the category entitled “Tour“.

That fact rang a bell to me, the chapter on Geography in the Negus. The musical world is dominated by the industry of Broadway and apparently by the one in the West End.

And it is, I think true that most of the shows are created in both of those institutions. I did not found in my research a show that was created in a different country. (maybe there is some, I’ll keep searching..)

Now, with what I said, you might think that the shows on Broadway and in the West End are equal, well… no.

Let’s take for exemple the ticket prices for Wicked (see my first post). In Broadway the price of the seats start around 90$ to100$, and let’s be honest, the seat will not be very great. In the West End for the same show, the price for the seats start at 22£ ! When I discovered that, let me tell you that I was shock. ( and I still am today)

The difference of the prices tells us many things. We can see that the musical world is more accessible in London. With a price that low you are able to watch 4 shows for the price of one in New York. But why is there such a big difference ?

Well, I personally think that people in New York are not really paying for a show, but for the location. Some purist would say that on Broadway a show would appear to be more authentic, which could be true, because there is a vibe created etc. But is it honest from the industry to do this ?

The musical industry is not that much implanted in London. I think that we can agree that people don’t go to London to watch a musical. Of course the industry plays a big role in the city, if not there wouldn’t be so many shows. But Th West End is not the first touristic attraction. Whereas in New York, the industry is more important for the economy of the city.

So my question to you is: Do you understand the difference of prices or should the price be the same everywhere ?

[l1s1a]

Women in the musical industry

Hello ! Today my post will not be to long, because it would be a sort of discussion. 

I would like to talk about the question of women in musical shows. It occurs to me that, plenty of shows are led by women. Not all of course, there is a majority of musicals in which the leading part is performed by a woman. It’s (unfortunately ) true that a man has a better chance to found a job than a woman, but in the industry of musical, it seems that it is not same.

Broadway always appeared “avant-garde“ to me. I feel that in many shows an amount of social issues are represented, and so the issues for women is one of them. We found a lot of independent women in the different plots singing about the issues to live in a misogynistic society.

But I also think that it is quite hypocrite, especially for the old shows. I think it’s great to talk about the harassment on women and that they have a major place in that industry. But in an other hand, this industry is so cruel to them. The work conditions are sometimes rude, some of them have to control their diet etc. Plus we have to remember that most of the time the directors are men. So how can they talk about the issues that women are facing every day if they aren't in a position to talk ?

All these thoughts came to me when I rewatched Chicago: The musical. Especially during the performance “Cell Block Tango“. In big words, this musical is about 2 women (Velma and Roxie) who are in jail because they killed their boyfriends. The performance of “Cell Block Tango“ is very powerful (I love it). There is a vibe of girl power that is produced that is very enchanting.

When I watched the performance for the first time I was like “jas gurl“, because it’s always great to see women being free from their abusive boyfriends/husbands. But then, it appeared to me that, they are prompting women in those situation to commit murder, which obviously will sure free them from their abusers but it will also confine them in jail.Besides, the whole performance is in underwear…

So is it the right thing to do ? Furthermore, I come-back to my previous words about men directing shows about the issues that women are facing, because it's the case here.

I still love the show, I am happy that there is a story about women who are rebelling against the system. But what I love more about this show is that the debate behind is quite stimulating.

I would love to have your opinions about this topic.

[l1s1a]

Advertisement strategy on Broadway

Hello ! Today I am not going to talk about one particular show, but about the advertisement of those ones on Broadway.

Broadway is one of the biggest avenue in New-York (21km), going from the South to the North. But one of the major stops of this avenue is Times Square, were all the theaters are.

I tend to say that a show it’s like a music album. There is a list of songs, a release date and also an image to represent the “cover“. That thought came to me while reading the chapter on Mediation in the Negus. And it’s true that it brings a +1 for the show if the poster catch the eye of the spectator.

But the difference between a music album and a show on Broadway, is the fact that the poster of the musical is going to be at least 1 year (for a new show) on the billboards of Times Square. For exemple, the poster of Wicked is hang up there since its creation.

But what suprises me when I did my researches on the posters of the musicals, is that they all look quite simple. Most of the time there is the title, and one or two elements linked to the plot. Why ? There is no concrete answer, but it’s quite understandable. We have to remember that those posters are going to be hung on the place were thousands of ads are circulating on the screens everyday. If all the poster would be totally detailed, it would be “visual cacophony“, and the spectators would not catch the name of the musicals. And also, one particular thing with the Broadway community (that annoys me a lot) is that the show in itself has to be “secret“. There is a want that the spectator discovers everything at the moment he/she enters in the theater. This idealogie justfies the lack of videos on the social-medias. It’s a great risk to not let people share their experiences on a support that would help a lot for the promotion of a show. But it also creates the curiosity of the audience, to come in New-York and watch the show that everyone is talking about on the social-medias without any videos or images of it.

So how does a musical attracts its audience ? If there is one big poster on Times Square, there is also many tiny ones in the streets of New-York, on the taxi cabs, in the subway etc. Also, if the show is wealthy enough, the trailer of it can be put on TV.

One major TV show that plays a big role on the advertisment of a musical is Good Morning America. The studio is on the middle of Times Square surrounded by windows, so the viewers can see the billboards. This TV-Show welcome the artists on their set to perform one or two songs and to talk about the plot. And sometimes, they organise the performances outside in the middle of Broadway for an open audience.

Do you think that this strategy of advertisement is enough ? Or should the shows be more open ?

( My topic is going to be: The denunciation of the society in musicals performed on Broadway)

[l1s1a]

“Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Love...”

Trailer of the movie 

Hello ! Today’s post is going to be about one of my favorite movie: Moulin Rouge.

Moulin Rouge, in contrary of the other musicals that I talked before, is a movie that became later a show on Broadway. It was released in 2001, and was the first musical movie to be nominated for the Oscar of the best movie, 10 years later after the nomination of Beauty and the Beast. It’s popularity lead to the opening of the show on Broadway in 2018.

The plot is said to be inspired by the novel La Dame aux Camélias, written by Alexander Dumas, but it has never been confirmed. It tells the story of Christian, a young writer who falls in love with the “diamond“ of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan Satine.

Their love story would not be easy because Satine would have to choose between the pure love of Christian and the fame and money proposed by the Duke. This dilemma represents the society at the beginning of the XXème. It shows that some women were ready to make some sacrifices to have a good life, even if they had to marry the person that their aren’t in love with.

The abuse on women is a lot exploited in this show. We understand that if a woman wanted to be in good health or in security etc, she had to be taken in charge/controlled by a man. During the whole show Satine is always under the influence of a man: Her boss, Christian and the Duke. There is one moment where she is alone and it’s to perform her song “one day i’ll fly away“, which illustrates a lot the situation for women who struggled to live.

Like in Mamma Mia, the soundtrack is also made by popular songs. There is only one original song during the show called “come what may“. Here the process of using popular songs differs from the aim of Mamma Mia. The songs that were chosen are from all kind of period and genre. It goes from Nirvana to Madonna to Marylin Monroe to Queen etc.

Those songs aren’t sing individually but in mash-up. The aim is to add those songs harmonically together to construct one “song“.

I think that the use of mash-up was very clever for that musical. Knowing that the  predominant theme is “love“, I assume that it’s a interesting way to speak about all kind of “love“ with different songs that are treating the same theme but in a different way. I would rather say that the audience that went to the theaters to watch that movie aren’t fans of a particular singer (like for Mamma Mia), but fans of music in its whole.

Also I found that mash-ups are like a game where you have to recognise which song is sung or which artist composed it. It could be a factor to explain why we are having a good time while watching it.

And you, what do you think about mash-ups ?

My favorite performances: 

Elephant Love medley 

Diamonds are girl’s best friends 

Because we can 

[l1s1a]

“Thank you for the music...”

Trailer of the show 

Trailer of the movie

Hello ! Today I am going to talk about a very popular musical: Mamma Mia.

Mamma Mia is constituted of the songs of the famous worldwide group ABBA. It was written by two of its members (Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson) and also by Catherine Johnson. It premiered in London on the 6th April 1999. Since then, it got produced in more than 50 country in the whole world. Its debut on Broadway were well-welcomed by the audience.

The story takes place on the fictional Island of Kalokairi in Greece. It tells the story of Sophie, the daughter of Donna, who is about to get married. Unfortunately Sophie never met her father before. That’s why after she found the secret diary of her mother, she took the decision to invite the three men that her mother dated at the time of her conception.

The title is a reference of the song “Mamma Mia“ sung by ABBA. The whole playlist is composed by the song of the group.

The musical became even more famous in 2008, after the release of the film. The “golden“ casting contributed to its popularity ( Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosman, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried etc). It became the highest grossing live-action musical of all time after it was surpassed by Beauty and the Beast in 2017. It was also the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman (Judy Grammer), until it was surpassed by Wonder Woman also in 2017 (Patty Jenkins).

The success in the box office led to the realization of a sequel named Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. The second movie was released on the 20th of July in 2018. Because of the success of the first movie, people rushed in theaters the day of its release. It proved that the fandom is still “alive“ and that people still want to know more about the characters. Due to all those success, a third movie is in discussion. There is no informations about it yet, except that Judy Grammer is thinking a lot about it. In one of her interview she affirms that this franchise, was to be a trilogy.

To finish, I wanted to ask you about the reasons behind such popularity. Indeed, Mamma Mia, is made of ABBA’s songs that were at the top of the charts during their time. ( Dancing Queen was number one between 1976 and 1977 in the US and also in England). Does the musical became famous because of its plot, or because the playlist is composed by the most famous popular song of the 70s ?

In my opinion, I think it helped a lot. Usually, the musicals make their songs popular depending on how well-liked it is by the audience. Here it’s the opposite, people knew the songs and because of that the curiosity led people to go watch the show or the movie. Fortunately, the plot was also great otherwise it would have been a big disappointment for the fans.

But still, I think that with this exemple we can see how popular songs can influence the audience on a show or a movie.

My favorite performances: 

End credit scene from Mamma Mia 

End credit scene from Mamma Mia: Here we go again

Take a chance on me 

Does your mother know

[l1s1a]

21st-Century Broadway Musicals and the “Best Musical“ Tony Award: Trends and Impact. (Matthew Hodge, 10/05/2020)

I’ve found an article related to the impact that Tony Awards ceremony has on Broadway musicals. I enjoyed reading this article because I wanted to do a post on this ceremony, and the themes treated interest me greatly.

Firstly, the author presents the ceremony and explains the importance of being nominated. The Tony Awards were established in 1947, to reward the shows, the performers, the directors etc. But the most important award is the one that determines the “Best Musical“. A nomination in that category can have an important impact for the run of a show.

In the second part, the one that I enjoyed the most, he does an “overview“ of the History between the Tonys and Musicals. We can notice how important Broadway is for the American citizens but also for tourists. Broadway is fully part of the American culture. It’s not anymore just a street but an institution that incorporate different sides.

The Tonys  play a major role in that culture. Its creation impacted the musical industry, it helps people trying to choose which shows to watch.

Rewarding a musical will affect its future for many years. Winning, is considered the best achievement.

In the third part, we have an explication of how hard it is for a show to have a minimum of success. Only 25% of the shows on Broadway are profitable. The difficulty to become successful is due to the lack of money. Even if the sale of tickets yields a large profit, the production and all what comes with it costs a lot.

The production of less popular shows to the box office changed the industry. Indeed, we all know at least one musical because of its adaptation into a movie. But with this process, we can see that the Tonys may not play that big of a role. Musicals that haven’t been a lot rewarded like Mamma Mia or Chicago became very popular in the movie industry. But productions such as Cats, which is a multiple rewarded show, did not seem to conquer the public.

We can wonder if the awards are as important as is it said ?

Does the nomination in this category guarantee a prosperity for the shows ?

The answer is “no“. In the fifth part, we have a table that shows us the run length of the shows that were nominated for the best musical. The majority ran less than one year.

I think it’s kind of sad because they had potential if they were nominated. Except  for certain shows, the majority became a memory in the history of Broadway.

An other part, that I enjoyed reading is the sixth one. In this part the author point the controversy of the adaptation of movies into musical (like pretty woman, frozen etc). It’s controversial because for many purist of Broadway, adapting a movie  into a musical is very easy and change the initial goal (Broadway is not Hollywood). Its interesting to mention this conflict, because none of those genre of musical were nominated. So it reflect that these categories are very selective and might be influenced by the industry.

We also learn that the nomination depends on other factors that don’t seem to matter at first (such as the political context). In the Golden age, musicals were based a lot on the American dream or after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the shows that were nominated were based on the mental recovery of that period.

The author also wrote a part about the actual sanitary crisis, which I found striking. We are living something that can impact the future of Broadway, in the past Broadway had never been closed for so long. This closure will also impact the ceremony and the shows. When it will reopen people won’t be influenced by the award. It can be a chance for the shows that weren’t nominated to attract new audience. But only the future will tell us.

To conclude, the Tonys can be compared to the Grammy’s, which is a ceremony created to reward the songs of the year and the artists. It’s interesting to point out that the Tonys are older than the Grammys(1958) and that these ceremonies became important for society.

What do you think about these ceremonies ? Do we need to always find out the best of a group ? Does the best even exist, considering the fact we all have a different point of view ?

[l1s1a]

“History’s about to get overthrown“

Trailer of the show 

Today I am going to talk about a recent musical, that became quite popular in only 2 years: Six the musical.

The songs are performed by “the 6 wives“ of Henry the VIII, each of them sings her biography and her point of view of her relation with their common husband. The show isn’t as long as a regular show on Broadway, because it is more like a concert than a Musical. It was written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, and premiered in Edinburg in 2017. Since then, the show went from Scotland to London, and was to premiere on Broadway 6 months ago (but thanks to Covid19, it didn’t).

Like for Hamilton, the producers and the performers are part of the new generation; they took the risk to present something new, and it worked.

As I said, it’s more of a concert than a musical. The songs are pop and catchy. The singers are like rockstars on stage. It’s a whole performance, the costumes imitate the one that iconic divas from the XXIs century wear during their concerts.

The band is only composed by women, and “the queens“ are portrayed by different kind of profile (for exemple Catherine Parr, Anne of Cleves and Catherine of Aragon are black).

There is a lot to say about this show but I am going to talk about one major event linked to this musical. On the 31 August 2019, the cast organized a flashmob in front of the Tower of London.

A large amount of people were reunited to share this moment, the performers themselves were there. The fact that people answered to the call, testifies how an audience can influence the impact of a movement.

I am talking about “movement“ because this flashmob was not that innocent. When you look at the context it’s a bunch of people singing and dancing over a song that critics the British monarchy, at the location were some of those wives have been executed (Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard). The aim of that musical, is to point the maltreatment of the women in court. It gives a “voice“ to those women, who have been lost in history. People remember them as the wives of Henry the VIII and that’s all. We have an other version of History, and we learn a bit more about them. They finally have the tribute that they deserved.

A flashmob doesn’t seem like such a tribute, but the message from that musical, is to tell that in history and in the royal family, women aren’t respected and that it is still the case today. Elizabeth II’s jewelry is in the Tower of London, bringing this crowd together in front of it, is highly  symbolic. Because it’s like if the song was addressed to the Queen and the whole monarchical system.

Video of the flash mob 

Favorite songs:

Ex Wives

No Way 

Don’t Lose Ur Head

[l1s1a]

“History has its eyes on you“

Trailer of the show

To continue my quest on Musicals, today I am going to talk about Hamilton.

You may have heard about it this summer, due to its release on Disney +.

This musical tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers, and the construction of the United States after the revolution. It was written by Lin Manuel-Miranda and, premiered the 20th January in 2015. Since then, its popularity has grown more and more over the years, and has now become the most expensive show on Broadway (549$ to 849$ for the 200 best seats). The fact that Disney put the show on its platform, has been something very original. It is not common to film a live performance of a show on Broadway, so adapting the most expensive one amazed the theater nerds.

Hamilton is a breath of fresh air on Broadway, it’s different factors combined that create something very innovative. For 2h30 (without the interval) the actors rap the entire plot. The presence of dialogues is minimal. It is one of the main factors that justifies the popularity of the show. It was the first time that rap music was introduced in a musical. The fact that rap can be heard on Broadway, shows that the world of musicals, which usually targeted a smaller audience, is evolving and spreading to larger audiences.

But for me, the most interesting aspect of this show, is History. This show is a biography of a founding father, experiencing the dawn of what would be the world’s leading power. Lin Manuel-Miranda didn’t hesitate to titillate the US History, by casting people of color to interpret the old white founding fathers. It is quite funny and ironical to see Jefferson, a slave owner, portrayed by Daveed Diggs a black man extremely involved in the BLM movement.

My favorite line is the one that Hamilton says to Lafayette “Immigrants, we got the job done“. This simple quote carries the whole History of the United State. It blocks the arguments that racist people can have against people of color in the United States, and refers back to the very origin of the country and its founding people.

In conclusion, I will only quote Barack Obama on Hamilton : “Hamilton is not just for people who can score a ticket to a pricey Broadway show. It is a story for all of us, and about all of us“

Songs that I like:

Satisfied

You’ll be back 

Wait for it

Yorktown (The world turned upside down)

[l1s1a]

“Pink looks good with green“

Trailer of the show

Hi everyone ! I am going to talk about “musicals“ and particularly the ones that we can watch on Broadway (which is literally all of them).

Musicals can be described as theatrical performances that combine dancing, singing and acting. The aim of a musical is to transmit emotions and feelings throughout the plot. Next to the artistic aspect is the technical one that bears an important part because the combination of the two is what makes the plot evolve. The singing, acting and dancing are important but so are the visuals. (you have to be entertained)

For my first illustration, I will talk about my favorite musical: Wicked.

This musical can be chosen to represent what a good musical is. It was created by Stephen Schwarz in 2003, and is an adaptation of the novel of Gregory Maguire entitled Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is a rewriting of the well-known novel The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum.

This musical is the story of a witch, Elphaba who is smart, lonely, stoic and left out by her family. She is “different“ from the rest of the people of Oz due to her magical skills and her green skin. She is about to start high-school where she will meet her roommate Glinda (pronounced /g/ Linda) who is her total opposite, she is cheerful, naive and popular. The aim of the plot is to have an other version of the initial story told in the Wizard of Oz, with this musical we have the story of the vilain, and a justification for her behavior.

What I like about this musical is, of course the soundtrack, but also the message behind it. Musicals have this ability to do a satire of the society or to have a political message. In Wicked, we have topics such as racism, animal protection, family dramas, corruption and many more.

I also love the redemption of the character. For me it is always interesting to have a clear background of the vilain of a story. (spoiler: by the end of the show you’ll be totally on Elphaba’s side).

Moreover, racism is one main issues that Elphaba has to deal with due to her skin color. The reactions that she receives are always overdone by the people of Oz. Those exaggerated behaviors look totally absurd. The spectators usually laugh or have a rictus during those scenes. This process is interesting because it mimics how racist people act in the real society. And how absurd it is to denigrate someone just because this person is different.

For my conclusion, let’s have a look at the impact of Wicked on broadway. Wicked is the second most popular show on Broadway (the first one being the Lion King). It has made billions of dollars of profit since its opening. Lots of Wicked references can be spotted in songs, movies or TV shows. It is a must-seen if you have the luck to go to New-York. Its success can not be discussed. This show started little as an Off-Broadway to become one of the most iconic musical of all time. It conquered Broadway but also the whole world, lots of representation are made in Europe, opening up the show for a new and larger audience. 

Here some of my favorite songs. 

What is this feeling ?

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Defying Gravity (the best of the best)( best part 4:28):