Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment

Millie Taylor challenges existing thinking on musical theatre. It suggests that 'integration', created through the signification of 'realism' and attributed particularly to the book musical, is simply a construction. Instead it argues that musical theatre is, in fact, a combination of diverse and disjunct elements and media that are read as containing psychologically consistent characters performing linear narratives. This disjunction is a significant factor in the ability of musical theatre to entertain. The book is split into three sections which each focus on a different aspect of analysis: signification - which analyses the texts as they are structured and signified, and the interaction between music, lyrics and book; negotiation of distance - which analyses the play between alienation and engagement of audience with performers, characters and situations and entertainment - which explores musical theatre's ability to entertain. Each chapter contains a theoretical idea or debate that is then applied concretely to examples of musical theatre performance. Musicals referred to include: Show Boat, The Rocky Horror Show, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sweeney Todd, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Cabaret, Company, West Side Story, Little Shop of Horrors, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Candide, Mack and Mabel, Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You, Honk and Just So Stories.Beyond Realism concludes that the ability of musical theatre to entertain is linked to three main features: the diversity of its constituent parts; the familiarity of its references that are thus able to create nostalgia, reflexivity, alienation or engagement, and the mimetic imaging of vocal and physical gestures by audiences. These features are combined in a different balance in different types of musical theatre, but all contribute to the ability of musical theatre to entertain.