Elements of a Musical

What happens between the acts of a musical?

• Halftime Show

• Commercials

• Intermission

• Everyone leaves

Answer explanation

A musical is divided into two acts. Act 1 usually ends on a suspenseful note.

What would be a good example of SUSPENSE to end act 1?

• A boy and a girl fall in love and get married and live happily ever after.

• A kid is out for a ride on his bike and sings a song about loving the sunshine.

• Hamilton and Burr get along really well and never argue.

• The FMS musical theatre class is putting on a production and one opening night, Mrs. D. is missing.

Answer explanation

Act 1 should end at a part in the story where the audience is left hanging. This will build up their anticipation for act 2.

What is the most common kind of musical?

• The Book Musical

• The Revue

• The Jukebox Musical

• The JukeBookVue

Answer explanation

Many musicals are book musicals. This means they have scenes that form a distinct plot or storyline. They also contain music that was written just for that show.

Which two people are in charge of creating the SCORE?

• The director and the composer

• The composer and the stage manager

• The composer and the lyricist

• The actor and the director

Answer explanation

The composer and lyricist write the score together. The composer writes the actual music, the lyricist writes the words to the songs. Sometimes, the composer and lyricist are the same person.

What is unique about the score of both a jukebox musical and a revue?

• The music has been written and performed previously in a specific era or by a specific artist.

• The music is absolutely terrible.

• The music is written specifically for the show.

• The music is all performed by The Weeknd.

Answer explanation

The scores of jukebox musicals and revues are either a compilation of songs from a certain era (the 1960's is popular for musical theatre), or a compilation of songs written and performed by a specific group or artist (The Beatles, ABBA, The Who, The Four Tops, The Four Seasons, Queen, etc).

What kind of musical would you like your Build a Musical project to be?

• Book Musical

  (original music with spoken dialogue, solid storyline)

• A revue (a compilation of music by a certain artist with a theme, but no dialogue)

• A Jukebox musical (a compilation of music by a certain artist, combined with spoken dialogue and a plot)