Section 1

Song starts with just a piano. The singing starts soon after piano. The tempo is slow at first. There are two layers at the beginning of the section: a piano and the woman singing. Both of the layers are slow. There is a small range in this section. The phrases in the section are short. There is some syncopation when the other instruments join in. The tempo changes when the other instruments are added. More layers are also added to the music. The dynamics of the instruments and the singing change. The dynamics change when the instruments are first added. Some of the lyrics are repeated at the beginning of lines. She sings “I don’t need” and “I’ve got” at the beginning of a few lines to show what is important in her life. When she sings “I’ve got” the dynamics change and the instruments are added. This shows that what she has is more important than what she does not need.  

Section 2

This section is instrumental. It is not very long. First the instruments play the melody of what was sung at the end of the first section. This part is the loudest part of the section. The end of the section is a couple soft chords.

Section 3   

This section starts out slow, but the tempo quickly changes.  The slow part of the section is instrumental with a little bit of singing. There is a large range near the end of this section. More instruments are added in the middle of this section. These instruments add a lot of syncopation to the section. The instruments also add more layers to the section. This section has the most layers of the three sections. The additional instruments make the section sound like a gospel song. The instruments that make the gospel sounding music are an organ, drums, and brass instruments. The drums add a steady beat to a small part of the section. The range of the song changes when the other instruments are added. The additional instruments go away at the end of the song and the tempo is slow.  

Color purple meaning

Two of the most important things in life are family and friends. They will help you get through anything. Take care of the people you love and they will take care of you.  Always believe in yourself even in the hardest situations.

Section 1

The song starts with loud music which softens when the singing starts. The section has a small range. There are three layers in this section: singing, and two layers of instruments. All of the layers are fast and they stay like that for the whole section. The tempo of the section starts out slow, but it gets faster as the song continues. There is a lot of swing and syncopation in this section. The harmony with the instruments is dissonant. The dynamics change throughout the section. They start out soft then get louder and then they are soft again. The voice and the instruments have the same dynamics.

Between the two sections she says the names of the people she tried to save. During this the instruments play melodies from previous songs in the show. The tempo of this is slow. The dynamics of this start out soft but get louder at the end.

Section 2

The range of this section is different from the first section. At the end of the song, the singer belts out the notes in the song. There are three layers in this section: voice, instruments and percussion. The layers are the same speed throughout the section.  The tempo is fast throughout the section. There is still a lot swing and syncopation. The dynamics are louder than the first section. They get louder at the end of the song. The instruments accompany the singer at some points of the section. There is talking at the end of the song and the instruments quietly underscore it.

Wicked meaning

The show’s meaning is no one knows how people become wicked and no matter how people try to figure it out, they will never know. An act of kindness by one person can be viewed as an act of wickedness by someone else. The music connects to this by revealing this in the lyrics. When Elphaba realizes that some people think that what she has done is bad, the music gets louder.

First she discusses Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida. This was like the megamusicals because the music relies on rock and pop styles. It also includes other musical styles. John’s association with the show gave it even more publicity. The show got mixed reviews and some of the actors in it received higher marks than others. Some reviews said that the show had some Disney like characteristics, even though it was an adult musical.

Another megamusical she discusses is The Producers by Mel Brooks. She said that this show mocks the megamusical traits even though it has some of those traits itself. Mel Brooks created this show because the other megamusicals were lacking comic elements. The show got mostly good reviews and none of the critics were offended by the jokes.

Sternfeld said that people were encouraged to continue living their lives after the attacks.  Broadway theaters reopened on September 13th. Not much was open that quickly so there ws nothing else to do. There were not that many people in the theaters. There were sing-alongs of patriotic tunes after the shows and there were show tunes written about the event itself.

Sternfeld discusses more recent megamusicals like Wicked. She said there is a lot of humor and irony in it. The show was well received by critics and there was a complicated set. There was also some pre-opening buzz. The music in the show carry the plot well.

There were also some megamusicals that were based on movies and had some pre-existing music in them. Some of these did not do as well as others.

These changes impact the meaning by showing how love can change someone’s life and how the same problems can happen in any time period.

She starts with Miss Saigon which was written by Schonberg and Boublil who wrote Les Mis. She compared the two shows and discussed why the differences mattered. She also discussed the controversy with the casting of Miss Saigon. Some people thought it was racist while other people thought it was fine. She compared it to works by Andrew Lloyd Webber.  She also discussed how it got mixed reviews when it was on Broadway.

She discussed two Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard. She compared them to his other works in terms of set, plot and characters. She discussed how the plots were different but were both love stories. She also discussed how some already well-known actresses were cast in the shows.

She discussed two shows by Frank Wildhorn, Jekyll and Hyde and the Scarlett Pimpernel. She discussed how they are different from other shows but were also similar. The music in both shows were popular before the shows premiered, but they were different from the other shows that were like that. They also had a big following of fans.

She discussed Beauty and the Beast and the Lion King which were produced by Disney. She discussed how Beauty and   the Beast followed the movie very closely  and how the Lion King did not. Most of  the costumes in the lion King did not resemble what the characters looked like in the movie. There were also several composers who added new songs to the show. Both shows got mixed reviews.

She discusses how the show Rent has some megamusical traits but mostly how it is different. It is a rock musical like Jesus Christ Superstar and it is composed completely through. It uses a lot of pastiche and it is based on the opera La Boheme by Puccini. It got mixed reviews.

The unsuccessful shows that were mentioned in the chapter are Blondel, Chess, and Starlight Express. Blondel and Chess were written by Tim Rice and Starlight Express was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. They have similar traits to their other musicals, but somethings were bigger than others.

Blondel had good music but it did not have a good book. It ran briefly in London but it never made it to Broadway. The lyrics creatively date the show. The lyrics in one of the songs is an acrostic for Margaret Thatcher. The opening of Blondel in London was overshadowed by the theater it was in because it had recently been redone. This was unfortunate for the creators.

Chess has an almost entirely sung-through score, just like the other megamusicals. There are also some pop-rock songs and ballads. The story was very emotional.  The show’s ending was sad, but it did not offer some sort of hope. The story was partially rewritten before it went to Broadway. The set design was also altered. The show was only nominated for two Tony Awards.

Starlight Express was about trains. The melodies were different from the soaring melodies from Cats. There was not much of a plot.  It was very successful in London, but not on Broadway. The set had to be changed for the Broadway theater and it wasn’t as exciting as it was in London. Some of the lyrics in the show were sexist and racist. The show was rewritten and the changes were implemented to all of the productions. It is one of the longest running shows in London.

Sternfeld discussed these shows by creators. She put the two Tim Rice shows one after the other and the Andrew Lloyd Webber show last. She compared them to the other shows that these men created,  

The show is based on a novel. Lloyd Webber made some minor changes in the plot, but took quotes directly from the book. Lloyd Webber has been to the Opera house which the show is set in.

The only big problem with the show was when it moved to Broadway. The actress who played Christine could not go because she was not a big enough star. The Actors’ Equity wanted someone who was an American star.

Some of the music in Phantom resembled music by Mozart and other classical composers. The way the music is played resembles the music in Les Mis. It underscores talking and there are no gaps in between big numbers. There are also some recurring melodies that describe characters.

“The Phantom of the Opera” is currently the longest running show on Broadway. There have been several other productions around the world.   

Sternfeld discusses these things in chronological order and gives specific examples when discussing songs from the show.

Sternfeld starts out the chapter with how the creators met and how they started writing the songs.

The creators followed the “outline” for other megamusicals by composing the show completely through. Several melodies are revisited and some characters have their own melody. The plot of the show is epic and the set is just as epic.

“Les Mis” made the journey from Paris to London and finally to Broadway. Things were changed from one production to the next, but it was mostly the same.

 The things that were different about “Les Mis” were the seamless sections of drama and the structure of one of the songs. The sections of drama come right after each other with no pauses in between. The structure of the song “One Day More” combines several melodies from other songs and the characters sing one at a time with some overlapping.

Sternfeld discusses these points in chronological order when talking about the history and discusses each song separately. There are musical examples of the songs she discusses in the book.