Adam Blosse
MD - Lecturer - Music Systems
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
"Superstar"
B&PC MT Performance Contexts Module - Lecturer: Adam Blosse
Week 9
The Rock Musical "Superstar"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
How many musicals do you know from this image?:
Categorise these musicals using your own method.
- What defines the rock musical?
- Why did a shift of genre revolutionise musicals?
- What does rock bring, that other styles don't?
~Lecture Notes
Let's initialise our categories.
The Rock Musical - "Superstar"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Traditional Rock Musicals:
- Hair, Tommy, The Wiz, Jesus Christ Superstar
Juke-Box Musicals:
- Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia, All Shook Up
Pop-Musicals:
- Wicked, Godspell, Dreamgirls, Beauty and the Beast
Glam-Rock Musicals:
- Rocky Horror Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hip-Hopera:
- MTV's Carmen, A Prince Among Thieves,
Punk-Rock Opera [+Jukebox]
- American Idiot, Jagged Little Pill
Book: The Theater Will Rock: A History of the Rock Musical, from Hair to Hedwig - ILB
Four Rock Musicals
Simply put, a rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a dramatic story told over multiple songs in the traditional manner of opera. The songs are usually presented in the form of a record album unified by a common theme or narrative.
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Jesus Christ Superstar 1970, Webber - [3358 Performances]
People in Britain always think of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' as a musical - it wasn't." - Andrew Lloyd Webber
A timeless work, Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera set against the backdrop of an extraordinary and universally known series of events seen through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. The main characters are all familiar to anyone with a knowledge of the New Testament and this show follows the last week of Jesus Christ’s life. It contains hardly any dialogue and is quite gritty within the realm of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s canon.
Superstar was one of the first concept albums to be staged.
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
~Lecture Notes
The man behind the music:
Andrew Lloyd Webber - JCS: Interview
Discussion & Note Taking:
Take 2 minutes to write up new thoughts.
Actively put the show into the context of its time.
How does it change perspectives or gain resonance?
The next video is a documentary of the creation of JCS 2012. Please watch in your own time.
CASE STUDY- "Jesus Christ Superstar"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
RENT 1996, Jonathan Larson - [5123 Performances]
Everybody had a higher purpose; we were no longer doing a show, we were breathing life into the voice of a young man who had much more to say, and we had to say it with all the muscularity and clarity we could. There was no room to be afraid." - McCollum, producer of RENT
Set in the East Village of New York City, Rent is about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rent has become a pop cultural phenomenon.
Based loosely on Puccini's La Boheme, we follow a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
~Lecture Notes
The man behind the music:
The Jonathan Larson Project: The Making Of & Live Show
Discussion & Note Taking:
Take 2 minutes to write up new thoughts.
Actively put the show into the context of its time.
How does it change perspectives or gain resonance?
The next video is a documentary of the creation of RENT. Please watch in your own time.
CASE STUDY- "RENT"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
We Will Rock You 2002, Queen [4600 performances]
The show has all of the strengths and all the weaknesses of an archetypal jukebox musical. Queen fans will be in raptures as the live performers run through the band's back catalogue, accompanied by a rock concert lightshow.
Set in the year 2300, live music has been banned from the Planet Mall. Everyone wears the same clothes, thinks the same thoughts and goes about in a brain-dead gaga haze. A bunch of Bohemians are looking for the 'Rhapsody' in the rocky rubble of Tottenham Court Tube Station. With the help of Pop, an ancient hippie librarian, who is researching secret history through old copies of NME (New Musical Express), two soul rebels, Galileo and Scaramouche, find Rock's Holy Grail, Brian May's guitar buried in the remains of Embley Stadium.
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
~Lecture Notes
The band behind the show:
Queen in the Studio: One Vision [Studio] & Somebody To Love [Live]
Discussion & Note Taking:
Take 2 minutes to write up new thoughts.
Actively put the show into the context of its time.
How does it change perspectives or gain resonance?
The next video is a documentary of the creation of We Will Rock You. Please watch in your own time.
CASE STUDY- "We WIll Rock You"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
American idiot 2009, Green Day [422 Performances]
“American Idiot” jolts you right back to the dizzying roller coaster of young adulthood, that turbulent time when ecstasy and misery almost seem interchangeable states, flip sides of the coin of exaltation. It captures with a piercing intensity that moment in life when everything seems possible, and nothing seems worth doing, or maybe it’s the other way around.
The two-time Tony Award-winning hit musical Green Day's American Idiot, based on the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum album, boldly takes the American musical where it's never gone before.
Johnny, Tunny and Will struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world. When the three disgruntled men flee the constraints of their hometown for the thrills of city life, their paths are quickly estranged when Tunny enters the armed forces. American Idiot, features little dialogue and instead relies on the lyrics from Green Day's groundbreaking album to execute the story line.
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
~Lecture Notes
The band behind the show:
American Idiot: The Making Of & Live Show
Discussion & Note Taking:
Take 2 minutes to write up new thoughts.
Actively put the show into the context of its time.
How does it change perspectives or gain resonance?
The next video is a documentary about the creation of American Idiot, Broadway Idiot. Please watch in your own time.
CASE STUDY- "American Idiot"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Four Femme Vocals
Contrasting performers within a single genre.
Contextual - Interpretive - Recontextualised
~Lecture Notes
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
~Lecture Notes
WEBSITE - Selections from Jesus Christ Superstar
It seems especially fitting that the first rock opera, created as a concept album at the end of the turbulent '60s, should have at its center a social and political rebel. Jesus' meteor-like rise in renown provides, as the title suggests, a parallel to contemporary celebrity worship. As his radical teachings are evermore embraced, Judas increasingly questions the enlightened motives of this new prophet, resulting in betrayal. Christ's final days are dramatized with emotional intensity, thought-provoking edge and explosive theatricality. Propelled by a stirring score, by turns driving and majestic, satirical and tender, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR illuminates the transcendent power of the human spirit with a passion that goes straight to the heart.
She is Risen 2020
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Upgrade your notes
Listen to new music / new ideas / resource the reading list.
Follow up on your research by watching the extended material within the slides.
Questions:
adamblosse@me.com
fb.com/adamblosse
Musical Theatre - The Rock Musical
By Adam Blosse
Musical Theatre - The Rock Musical
B&PC MT Performance Contexts Module - Week 9
