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All
material copyright Yellowbrick Publications 2008
On this site you will find musical plays,
play scripts, comedy play scripts, musical scores and backing tracks. Our material is available in a number of formats either
to download instantly (in PDF, MP3 or WAV) or to order in printed copy. Popular plays abound, such as Peter Pan, Robin Hood,
Snow White, Cinderella, Ali Baba, Treasure Island , The Wind in the Willows, Puss in Boots, Dick Whittington,
King Arthur and many more. Whether you are looking for a school play script or a new comedy for a professional production,
there is something on this site for everybody.
Interesting Musical Theater Facts: The three main components of a musical are the music,
the lyrics, and the book. The book of a musical refers to the story of the show – in effect its spoken (not sung) lines;
however, "book" can also refer to the dialogue and lyrics together, which are sometimes referred to (as in opera) as the libretto
(Italian for “little book”). The music and lyrics together form the score of the musical. The interpretation of
the musical by the creative team heavily influences the way that the musical is presented. The creative team includes a director,
a musical director and usually a choreographer. A musical's production is also creatively characterized by technical aspects,
such as set, costumes, stage properties, lighting, etc. that generally change from production to production (although some
famous production aspects tend to be retained from the original production, for example, Bob Fosse's choregraphy in Chicago).
The 20th century "book musical" has been defined as a musical play where the songs and dances are fully integrated into a
well-made story, with serious dramatic goals, that is able to evoke genuine emotions other than laughter.[2] There is no fixed
length for a musical, and it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length (or
even a multi-evening presentation); however, most musicals range from one and a half hours to three hours. Musicals today
are typically presented in two acts, with one intermission ten to 20 minutes in length. The first act is almost always somewhat
longer than the second act, and generally introduces most of the music. A musical may be built around 4-6 main theme tunes
that are reprised throughout the show, or consist of a series of songs not directly musically related. Spoken dialogue is
generally interspersed between musical numbers, although the use of "sung dialogue" orrecitative is not unknown, especially
in so-called "sung-through" musicals such as Les Misérables and Evita. A Gaiety Girl (1893) was one of the first hit musicals.
Musical theatre is closely related to another theatrical performance art, opera. These forms are usually distinguished by
weighing a number of factors. Musicals generally have a greater focus on spoken dialogue (though some musicals are entirely
accompanied and sung through, such asJesus Christ Superstar and Les Misérables; and on the other hand some operas, such as
Die Zauberflöte, and most operettas, have some unaccompanied dialogue), on dancing (particularly by the principal performers
as well as the chorus), on the use of various genres of popular music (or at least popular singing styles), and on the avoidance
of certain operatic conventions. In particular, a musical is almost never performed in any but the language of its audience.
Musicals produced in London or New York, for instance, are invariably sung in English, even if they were originally written
in another language (again, Les Misérables, originally written in French, is a good example). While an opera singer is primarily
a singer and only secondarily an actor (and rarely needs to dance at all), a musical theatre performer is usually an actor
first and then a singer and dancer. Someone who is equally accomplished at all three is referred to as a "triple threat".
Composers of music for musicals often consider the vocal demands of roles with musical theatre performers in mind, and theatres
staging musicals generally use amplification of the actors' singing voices in a way that would normally be disapproved of
in an operatic context. Some works (e.g. by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim) have received both "musical theatre" and
"operatic" productions. Similarly, some older operettas or light operas (such as The Pirates of Penzance byGilbert and Sullivan)
have had modern productions or adaptations that treat them as musicals.Sondheim said: "I really think that when something
plays Broadway it's a musical, and when it plays in an opera house it's opera. That's it. It's the terrain, the countryside,
the expectations of the audience that make it one thing or another."[3] This article primarily concerns musical theatre works
that are distinctively "non-operatic", but there inescapably remains some overlap between lighter operatic forms and the more
musically complex or ambitious musicals: a grey area, in which production styles are almost as important as actual musical
or dramatic content in defining into which art form the piece falls. In isolation, at least, none of these features is truly
"defining", and in practice it is often difficult to distinguish among the various kinds of light musical theatre, including
"operetta", "comic opera", "light opera", "burletta", "musical play", "musical comedy", "extravaganza", "burlesque", "music
hall" and "revue". A "book" musical's moments of greatest dramatic intensity are often performed in song. Proverbially, "when
the emotion becomes too strong for speech (or recitative) you sing; when it becomes too strong for song, you dance." A song
is ideally crafted to suit the character (or characters) and their situation within the story; although there have been times
in the history of the musical (e.g. the 1890s and 1920s) when this integration between music and story has been tenuous. As
New York Times critic Ben Brantley described the ideal of song in theatre in reviewing the 2008 revival of Gypsy, "There is
no separation at all between song and character, which is what happens in those uncommon moments when musicals reach upward
to achieve their ideal reasons to be."[4] A musical often opens with a song that sets the tone of the show, introduces some
or all of the major characters, and shows the setting of the play. Within the compressed nature of the musical, the writers
must develop the characters and the plot. Music provides a means to express emotion. However, typically, many fewer words
are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore there is less time to develop
drama than in a straight play of equivalent length, since a musical usually devotes more time to music than to dialogue. The
material for musicals is often original, but many musicals are adapted from novels (Wicked and Man of La Mancha), plays (Hello,
Dolly!), classic legends (Camelot), historical events (Evita) or films (The Producers and Hairspray). On the other hand, many
familiar musical theatre works have been the basis for musical films, such as The Sound of Music, West Side Story, My Fair
Lady, Beauty and the Beast and Chicago. India produces numerous musical films, referred to as "Bollywood" musicals, and Japan
produces Anime-style musicals. Another recent genre of musicals, called "jukebox musicals" (Mamma Mia!), weaves a popular
artist's songs into a story.Source: www.wikipedia.com
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