Musical Theatre Vs Straight Plays
July 25th, 2008 by NathanLadies and Gentlemen,
The time has come to broach one of life’s oldest, deepest and and most perplexing of questions, namely: “Whasss bettaah: musicals or straight plays?”
There is, as Harry Hill might concede, only one way to settle it… FFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHTTTT!
In the blue corner, weighing in with a gargantuan yearly turnover of approximately £330 million, the undisputed queen of the West End, the utterly fabulous ‘Iron Music’-al Theatre!! (the crowd go grazy: whoops, cheers, applause)
In the red corner, weighing in with a positively trim and sprightly turnover of £72 million, the brooding prince of theatreland, the methodically serious Straight ‘and irate’ Dramatic Plays!!! (gracious applause, nods of approval, deeply pensive looks)
So, who’s your money on? The glittery showmanship of musical theatre, with her big and bulshy back catalogue? Hits like Hairspray, We Will Rock You big enough for you? Or what about the undefeated, unbroken 22 year run of The Phantom of the Opera?
Quite a formidable opponent I think you’ll agree?
On the other hand there’s straight drama. With a back catalogue that includes… oh crikey, little known works by some chap that goes by the name of Billy Shakespeare? Ever heard of him? Hamlet, MacBeth, King Lear? Any of these ringing any bells at all?… no, me neither.
Then, jumping forward a tad, there’s Nobel winning writers like George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. Throw in a handful of other household names: a dash of Albee, a squirt of Tennessee Williams, bake for twenty minutes then drizzle liberally with a load of Alan Ayckbourn and you’ll have yourself a pretty meaty straight play pie.
Fairly hefty heritage no?
So, quite the clash of the Titans awaits us… But wait, is all this bloodshed really that necessary? Can’t musical theatre and straight drama work out their differences amicably? I mean, just because there’s songs peppered all the way through doesn’t mean that a musical can’t be dramatic does it? Or emotional, or funny, or inspired, or beautiful, or accurate? None of these things are mutually exclusive. And can a ’straight’ play not be vibrant, inclusive and epic in scope? The answer is: what? of course not.
Theatre, when done well, is something sort of ethereal, immediate, shocking and even weirdly magical. The transcendent quality of theatre is what draws in audiences, the feeling of escape, of empathy, of journey and consequence; that surely is the pull of theatre, not its reliance on the odd ditty. To put things in crudely labelled boxes is just banal and, well, a little bit silly.
Blimey, I seemed to have gone from Don King to the Dalai Lama in all of about two and a half minutes. But I think the point still stands; pitting the different genres against one another proves very little doesn’t it? It’s like someone pulling a gun on you and demanding that you to chose between Ant and Dec. Which One! Choose! Mau! MAU!
Ah, I’m glad that’s over with… still, I reckon Steven Berkoff would give Andrew Lloyd Webber a right kicking don’t you?
Technorati Tags: alan aykebourn, andrew lloyd webber, ant and dec, drama in the west end, edward albee, hairspray, harold pinter, musical, musical theatre, phantom of the opera, plays, steven berkoff, we will rock you, west end, william shakespeareRelated Posts:
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