What is a Musical?

A musical is a kind of play where the story gets told with songs. So the actors sing, but they also talk, dance, and act out a story. The singing and dancing parts are important for telling what’s going on and showing how the characters are feeling and changing.

How Musicals Work

The key thing about musicals is how the songs and dances are all tied into the story. They aren’t just thrown in randomly. Instead, each song has a reason for being there. It could be to:

Move the story forward
Tell us more about a character
Show how a character is feeling or changing

The same goes for the dance numbers. They use movement and rhythm to express things that are happening in the story.

It Takes a Big Team

Putting on a musical is a huge project. You’ve got the main people like the actors, director, and writer. But you also need:

Songwriters to create the music and lyrics
Choreographers to make up the dances
Musicians to play the songs
Set designers to make the stage look right
Costume makers to get the actors looking their part
And a whole bunch more behind-the-scenes folks

It’s a real team effort to make a musical happen.

The Early Days of Musicals

Musicals have been around for a long time. The first ones showed up in the 1800s. Back then, they were usually pretty short, more like musical comedies. And the songs were often popular tunes that people already knew, with new words to fit the story.

Things really took off in the early 1900s on Broadway in New York City. That’s when full-length musicals with all original songs started getting popular. Shows like “Showboat” and “Oklahoma!” set the stage for the modern musical.

Musicals Go Big

As musicals caught on, they got bigger and fancier. Think bright lights, elaborate sets, and over-the-top dance numbers. The 1950s and 60s saw some of the most famous musicals of all time, like:

“West Side Story”
“The Sound of Music”
“My Fair Lady”
“Fiddler on the Roof”

These shows had it all – epic love stories, amazing songs, and really impressive staging. People couldn’t get enough.

Musicals on the Silver Screen

With musicals being so popular on stage, Hollywood wanted in on the action. They started making movie versions of hit Broadway shows. A lot of times, they’d get big movie stars to play the lead roles to really pack in audiences.

Some musicals were written just for the movies, like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The Wizard of Oz.” These shows used the magic of film to do things you could never pull off on a stage, like indoor rainstorms and flying monkeys!

Musicals Today

These days, musicals are still going strong. You’ve got all kinds of different styles:

Flashy, upbeat shows like “Hairspray” and “Mamma Mia!”
Hip-hop influenced musicals like “Hamilton”
Rock operas like “Rent” and “Spring Awakening”
Movie-to-stage adaptations like “The Lion King” and “Mean Girls”

And with shows streaming online, musicals are reaching more people than ever before. Even if you can’t make it to Broadway, you can still get a taste of that musical magic.

So Why Do We Love Musicals?

Musicals have stuck around for so long because they give us something special. They let us:

Escape into a world where people burst into song
Feel the rush of a big, bold dance number
Connect with characters as they sing out their deepest feelings
Experience a story in a bigger, brighter way

In a musical, emotions are heightened. Joy is more joyful. Sad is more heartbreaking. And love is more powerful. It’s like real life, but with all the feelings dialed up to eleven and set to amazing music.

The Power of Music and Story

At their heart, musicals are about the power of music to tell stories and touch our souls. There’s just something about music that speaks to us in a deep way. It can:

Lift us up
Make us think
Help us feel things we’ve never felt before

When you pair that with a great story and characters we can root for, it’s pure magic. A good musical can make you laugh, cry, and dance in your seat. Sometimes all in the same show!

Musicals Bring People Together

Maybe the best thing about musicals is how they bring people together. When you’re sitting in a theater, sharing in the songs and the story, you feel connected. Connected to the actors, the audience, and the whole human experience.

Musicals remind us that no matter how different we are, deep down we all yearn for the same things. We all struggle and dream and hope and hurt. And music has the power to express all of that in a way that words alone can’t.

The Future of Musicals

As long as there are stories to tell and feelings to feel, there will be musicals. Sure, the style might change over the years. The songs might sound different. The dances might look different. But that core idea – telling stories through song – that’s not going anywhere.

We’ll always need art that makes us feel deeply. That helps us understand ourselves and each other a little bit better. And that’s exactly what a good musical does.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or stuck, or just in need of a little magic, go see a musical. Let yourself get swept up in the songs and the story. Laugh, cry, feel all the feels.

Because that’s what musicals are all about – feeling things fully and connecting with each other. And that’s something the world could always use a little more of.