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Musical theatre classifications

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In order to write a musical one must first have an idea to develop. Not unlike a play, novel, short story or screenplay, the writer will relay a series of events that unfold and develop to produce a plot that forms the basis of the musical's story. Many musicals fall into this categorization. Just as novelists and short story writers create plots that fit into certain genres (a genre being a specific category) so do playrights. Some plots may fit into more than one of these categories, however, staging, character-types and songs may play a role in aiding the development of the musical toward a specific vein.

Let us explore several examples of these categories by beginning with the musical comedy. A MUSICAL COMEDY is quite simply a musical designed to make the audience laugh (although it could contain some more serious moments throughout the storyline). An well known example of a musical comedy is "Mame" by Jerry Herman. By changing the format slightly to include broadly satirical comedy and an improbable plot the musical comedy becomes a FARCE. A farce can also involve funny chases and mistaken identities. If, however, the playright adds elements of humor that poke fun at customs or beliefs then the musical comedy would be a SATIRE.

Although musical comedies are a very popular genre, musical dramas are very common as well. MUSICAL DRAMAS may fall under the sub-heading TRAGEDY when the main character(s) sustain defeat or extreme loss resulting in a sad ending. It is not uncommon for one to find musical dramas containing lighter scenes designed to allow the audience a break from continuous heavy emotion just as it is equally common to find elements of serious drama interwoven into a musical comedy.

The "hiss and boo" style musical complete with its damsel in distress, its mean and dastardly villian and its bumbling but successful hero can contain elements of both musical comedy and musical drama and is specifically referred to as a MELODRAMA. Here action and plot predominate over the stereotypical characters and good always triumphs over evil. During the performance of a melodrama it is not uncommon for the audience to be encouraged to cheer for the "good guy" and boo the "bad guy".

There are also musicals that do not rely on plot as the main impetus to propel them along. In this designation one might find the ROCK MUSICAL, the CONCEPT MUSICAL and the REVUE. Rock musicals can fall under the comedy genre ("Nunsense" by Dan Groggia) or the drama genre ("Tommy" - the Who). A concept musical like "Company" connects different scenes on a common subject (in this case...marriage) together and explores the issue from many different perspectives. The revue is more of a variety show of sorts as it may contain songs, dances, comedy sketches and the like. The revue does not rely on a particular plot whatsoever .