I’m just starting my first blog post off with some of the basic stuff about musicals, the most common stages/theaters for them and famous scriptwriters/directors. 😀

Most of you probably know what a musical is, but for those of you who don’t, I’m here to tell you about the amazing magic that goes on onstage and what goes into making a musical. So what is a musical you may ask, well it’s acting including singing and dancing. Really? Yep it’s really shocking. You may not like singing or dancing or acting at all. (You should! I’ll explain in a different post later why)

 

SOME OF THE BASICS: 

The first thing you need to know though before we dive deep into it is, to get into a musical you have to audition. It’s really scary you have to audition in front of your director DUN DUN DuNnnnN. I’m just kidding the directors are usually really nice they will just watch and give you positive feedback. (most of the time).

It usually takes a while for the cast sheet to come back. A cast is the people in the production the ones performing. Directors will often use the term when telling everyone important info. (So try to remember that.) The cast sheet will tell you what role you’ve gotten it’s determined by your voice, energy, and memorization. (Which I’m sure you have at least the energy part).

Another important thing to know when your performing on stage is STAGE DIRECTIONS. It gets confusing sometimes not knowing where you should go with upstage and downstage, left and right. 

These are the “beautiful” stage directions. It took me a while to learn them so it might take some time for you too. Or maybe not you may be a fast learner. (Idk) You also might be wondering about another thing. About the upstage and downstage. Mini history lesson. In older times when the Romans were around, stages were tilted so the audience could see more. So in old times, upstage was actually up and we still use the same terms today. I guess it was too hard to make new ones. Remember though when your onstage your right and left are your right and left when facing the audience. But when in the audience your left is stage right and your right is stage left. See? Confusing. I don’t expect you to get it right away. 

You should also know what a right-wing and a left-wing are. The wings are what is covered by the curtains where you put props for upcoming scenes and where you wait to come onstage for your part. It’s very important you stay behind them so the people in the audience don’t see you. An important rule to remember is: IF YOU CAN’T SEE THE AUDIENCE THE AUDIENCE CANT SEE YOU. That doesn’t mean shut your eyes and pretend there not there. It means if you’re far enough behind the curtain in the wing you won’t be able to see the audience then they can’t see you either. 

Be careful with props and costumes as well. There expenvise and make the production interesting. You wouldn’t want to come to a musical with some random people on a stage standing there and just singing, would you? You come to a musical to enjoy the lights costumes and the occasional props that make the musical more interesting to move it along. 

 

STAGES:

There are many different types of stages, the one’s actors and actress use though the most are, Open-air theaters, Proscenium stages, and Hippodromes stages. 

This is an open-air theater. open-air theaters often don’t have a top but to protect the audience (from heat) they usually have a roof. Sometimes they even use the sunlight to help make the performance more interesting. I have actually went to one of these theaters before in Florida. There super cool!! I went to Beauty and the beast. They had tons of amazing singers and cast. Though the one I went to had a roof over the audience as well as the stage. 👌

 

 

 

 

The next theater I’m going to talk about is another one I’ve been to before as well. This is a Hippodromes stage. They are circular all around it has tons of seats pointed at the stage. I went to one of these in Chicago to see Beauty and the beast again. (This one was better though because it was more professional)

 

 

 

This is a Proscenium Stage. I’ve also been to one of these before too. I went and saw the Lion King at one of them but I don’t remember the state we went to to see it. It has an architectural frame and a huge arch with very detailed patterns/designs on it. It meets at the top and forms a huge dome. It’s pretty cool. 

 

 

But stages arent everything! They do make the production more effective and more attractive, but one of the most important things to make a musical is the writers, sure the directors are great too! But how do you direct if there’s nothing to direct?

FAMOUS DIRECTORS AND WRITERS LYRICISTS:

Who are some of my favorite musical scriptwriters, Lyricists, and directors you ask? Well for starters there’s:

• Lin-Manuel Miranda
• Laurence O’Keefe
• Benj Pasek
• Steven Levenson

 

Lin-Manuel Miranda – (He’s the one holding the microphone) Is very well known for many things he’s a lyricist, scriptwriter, rapper, producer, composer and actor. But hes most well known for writing the musical Hamilton!! My favorite song in Hamilton is “My Shot ” He’s a great writer and just YEeSsS. 

Laurence O’ Keefe – He’s known for writing Heathers. He is great! To me, he made an amazing musical! He won the award for the best new musical. And he’s also a composer and has been on tv. My favorite song in that is (IT’S SO HARD TO CHOOSE) “Meant To Be Yours”

Benj Pasek (in the photo) and Steven Levenson- They’re well known for script wrting (Steven) and songwriting (Benj). For the beautiful musical Dear Evan Hansen. The musical turned so popular it became a book written by Steven as well with the help of the other producers. My favorite song in Dear Evan Hansen is “For Forever”.

Come back to my blog to find more about the casts of musicals and musical reviews. Thanks for reading. :))))