2. FEATURES OF A ROCK/POP MUSICAL /OPERA
a rock/pop opera is a musical theatre piece that contains songs belonging to the rock
and pop genre’s. musicals that fall into the category of a rock/pop opera include:
jesus christ superstar, spring awakening, bare, 35mm, we will rock you, jersey boys,
phantom of the opera, american idiot and many others.
rock/pop operas can overlap to other genres. for example book, film extravaganza
and burlesque musicals can all share themes of the rock, pop opera genre.
vocal style features:
rock and pop styles are used in the these musicals. physical manifestations of the
rock genre appears in these musicals often in the form of costume. for example in
we will rock the characters are seen wearing very punk rock clothing this would be
typical of artists of the type of music associated with the musical. features like
references to pop culture within the musical’s dialogue for example in we will rock
you the characters are named after rock figures. the subject matter of such musicals
are often very dramatic, featuring themes of love, religious devotion and obsession
3. ORIGINS OF THE ROCK/POP MUSICAL /OPERA (WIKIPEDIA)
“The rock musical became an important part of the musical theatre scene in the late
1960s with the hit show Hair. Styled "The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical," the
anti-war free-love hippie-themed, nude-scened Hair premiered in 1967 as the first
production staged at The Public Theater. It moved to Broadway in October 1968.[1]
Your Own Thing also opened in 1968 and featured a gender-switching version of
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. However, the first musical to hint at what was to
come had been the final edition of the Ziegfeld Follies in 1957.[2] This production
featured one rock and roll number, "The Juvenile Delinquent". The song was
performed by fifty year-old Billy De Wolfe. This was followed by another precursor to
the rock musical, Bye Bye Birdie (1960)."[3] Although rock and roll would have to wait
for seven more years before returning to Broadway, these early, tentative infusions of
rock into musical theatre paved the way for Hair and its progeny.[4]”
4. CONT INUED
Jesus Christ Superstar, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim
Rice, began as an album musical in 1970. The money made from album
sales was used to fund the subsequent stage production in late 1971.[5]
This show and some other rock musicals that have no dialogue or are
otherwise reminiscent of opera, with dramatic, emotional themes, are
sometimes styled "rock operas".
The sixties brought with them the rock and roll craze. with different social
movements and trends like the hippy movement and Beatlemania. inspired by
the music of the time. the theatre industry embraced the movement and
advanced along with it in order to supply demand for more psychedelic and rock
based entertainment. the artists of the time got with the programme of the
popular music scene and created things that reached out to the passions of their
generation
5. EXAMPLES OF ROCK/POP OPERAS
awakening: a rock musical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JCoA92y24A
superstar: a rock opera: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N7lidG6uLg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5tvVu0r_PQ&index=3&list=PLAACB872395737496
exhibition using pop music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
