Adam Blosse
MD - Lecturer - Music Systems
The Rock Musical
Rock of Ages
B&PC FMP Module - MD: Adam Blosse
The Ages of Rock
A deep dive through the seminal vocalisms of Rock. - 50s-00s.
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
MT Rock Musicals
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
The Rock Musical - "Superstar"
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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
The Rock Musical "Superstar"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
How many musicals do you know from this image?:
Disseminate 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
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
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
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
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
Rock Vocal Crash Course
Vocalisms & Musicianship within Rock
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The Rock Musical
Use these texts as a follow up: Rock In Musical Theatre
Full commitment to rock-based characters entails understanding their aesthetic foundations. Once you know the historical and cultural origin and context of a character, you can determine how stylistically authentic your musical performance should be. Needless to say, for example, there is a significant difference between vocally portraying the characters of Evan Hansen and Frankie Valli, even though both roles exercise their high ranges in a pop-rock style.
Commitment to characterization through authenticity
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Determining your approach to each song based on character and style requires familiarity with all rock-related styles and their performance practices. Because there is so much crossover among and derivation within rock’s sub-genres, and because each rock-based character you play is unique, your knowledge must be comprehensive. Furthermore, it will help you avoid techniques that are contrary to rock performance practice, such as legato and vibrato. For the most part, you will employ a text-based rhythmic vocalism for effective communication and conveyance. When melodic freedom is called for, it must occur in an authentic vocabulary of style, with appropriate rhythmicism, pitch, and phrasing. You will always sing with attention to the accompanimental groove, and you must understand the role of the melody, the melodic rhythm, and your vocalism in creating and perpetuating the groove as well as effectively delivering the text and conveying its meaning.
Commitment to Performance Practices
Gain an understanding of the writers’ and a song’s purpose. How does your character fit into a story? What is your character’s reason for singing a song at a particular moment? From compositional and dramatic standpoints, what are the determinants of that song’s style, form, and content? As in any characterization, define your objective, and as in any song performance, work through your intention and plan your actions. Consider the particulars of language and linguistic style that contribute to your characterization. Above all, find a balance between truth in acting and musicality that maximizes the believable conveyance of your objective and emotion.
characterization Through Song
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The Rock Musical
Four Rock Femme Vocals
Contrasting performers and vocal styles within a single genre.
Contextual - Interpretive - Recontextualised
~Lecture Notes
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The Rock Musical
LET"s SING!
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
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The Rock Musical
The band behind the song:
Queen in the Studio: One Vision [Studio] & Somebody To Love [Live]
Practise your part within an hour of it being taught. The quicker the better.
CASE STUDY- "Somebody To Love"
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Rock Of Ages 2005, Chris D'Arienzo - [2328 Performances]
Sometimes the dreams you come in with, may not be the dreams you’re leaving with – but, hey, they still rock.
The volcanic locks and endless guitar solos are tethered to a thin plot concocted from showbiz clichés spruced up in skin-hugging leather and acid-washed denim. But so what if the story is stale as the air in a dive bar at 6 a.m.? Mr. D’Arienzo, Ms. Hanggi and their ace designers (costumes by Gregory Gale, hair and wigs by Tom Watson and sets by Beowulf Boritt) mockingly evoke the sights, sounds and smells of the era with an affection so pure and an aesthetic so archly on-target that the familiar is freshened by a festive parade of gumdrop-colored lingerie and pungent grunge. When somebody pulls out a four-pack of Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers, the audience roars as if at a punch line of supreme perceptiveness. - New York Times
LINKS: Website, Splash Trailer
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Master MD Folder - Dropbox:
Everything you need, continually updated: Dropbox LINK
Recording you harmonies:
*> BE CONSCIOUS ABOUT YOUR LEARNING PROCESS. <* pls look
Actively put your parts into your hands, the best way that suits you.
Further Reading: LINK
Contextual Resources
Practise your part within an hour of it being taught. The quicker the better.
Rock of Ages- Resources
Musical Theatre
The Rock Musical
Let's take a Journey...
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
The Rock Musical - Rock Of Ages
By Adam Blosse
The Rock Musical - Rock Of Ages
B&PC FMP Rock Of Ages - Context
