Post by jackjackjack on Jul 24, 2006 1:41:07 GMT 11
The alert among you may have noticed that over the past year or so, it has begun to bug me a little that the first song after intermission always seems to be, well, kinda pointless. Kiss Me Kate, The Lion King, Dusty, The Pajama Game....
Well, in an effort to put the thing to bed, I have done an in depth analysis
of 43 two-act musicals to see if there was some sort of strategy to easing people back in after intermission. This could quite possibly only be interesting to me so feel free to ignore me.
I found, that while there were various strategies for restarting, we in Melbourne have been treated to a disproportionate proportion of shows that use pointless filler.
Of the 43 shows, 10 dove straight back into the plot, with some, like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Urinetown requiring a good deal of audience attention.
Another 8 shows re-started with solos that reminded us what we already knew about a charcter's feelings. Many of these songs, being my favourites in their respective shows such as On My Own and Another Night at Darryl's.
A further 5 shows saw a need to tie the two acts together with a sort of recap of what just happened. This strikes me as the cleverest option especially when done well in the likes of My Fair Lady and Sunday in the Park With George.
Of the rest, 9 shows have songs with theme rather than plot as their focus, 4 use a reprise and only 7 put in a song pointless to the narrative, the most forgivable of these being Oliver!, in which at least the plot is progressing while there's a pointless song on.
If you got this far, I applaud you, now all we need is musical and lyrical skill and we're ready to write our first second act.
James
Well, in an effort to put the thing to bed, I have done an in depth analysis
of 43 two-act musicals to see if there was some sort of strategy to easing people back in after intermission. This could quite possibly only be interesting to me so feel free to ignore me.I found, that while there were various strategies for restarting, we in Melbourne have been treated to a disproportionate proportion of shows that use pointless filler.
Of the 43 shows, 10 dove straight back into the plot, with some, like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Urinetown requiring a good deal of audience attention.
Another 8 shows re-started with solos that reminded us what we already knew about a charcter's feelings. Many of these songs, being my favourites in their respective shows such as On My Own and Another Night at Darryl's.
A further 5 shows saw a need to tie the two acts together with a sort of recap of what just happened. This strikes me as the cleverest option especially when done well in the likes of My Fair Lady and Sunday in the Park With George.
Of the rest, 9 shows have songs with theme rather than plot as their focus, 4 use a reprise and only 7 put in a song pointless to the narrative, the most forgivable of these being Oliver!, in which at least the plot is progressing while there's a pointless song on.
If you got this far, I applaud you, now all we need is musical and lyrical skill and we're ready to write our first second act.
James