Description The Musical will involve the examination of the history and development of the stage musical in its social and cultural context. The unit will also explore the structure of the musical as a 'text' and performance genre, looking closely at narrative structure, the structure of songs and the construction of character types and interaction. 'The Musical' will also involve students in the critical analysis of the representation of gender and race in the stage musical.
School Humanities & Comm Arts
Discipline Performing Arts
Student Contribution Band HECS Band 2 10cp
Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.
Level Undergraduate Level 2 subject
Restrictions Successful completion of 40 credit points of study in currently enrolled program.
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the history and form of the stage musical genre
apply analytical and critical (post-structuralist) skills to the stage musical, particularly through the analysis of race and gender
apply skills in the analysis of narrative structure (schematic/plot structure, narrative point of view etc), song (lyrical) structure (poetic features etc), character construction (as semiotic formation within fictional worlds) and some account/concern for musical structure (most centrally melody, phrase and passage structure) and style (hybridized forms from classical, operetta, music hall, black American etc) in order to more fully articulate the construction of multi-modal meaning in the musical genre.
- The history, development and structure of The stage musical
- The representation of gender and race in various musicals
- Close textual analysis of a series of musicals from early (Show Boat, Oklahoma) through to later 20th century musicals (My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Cabaret, and Jesus Christ Superstar) and contemporary adaptations/uses of the musical genre ('A Street
