THTR1170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Miss Saigon
Document Summary
A mega-musical is an epic, dramatic show featuring recurring melodies in a sung-through score; huge, impressive sets; and grand ideas. These qualities are accompanied by intensive marketing campaigns, unprecedented international financial success, and a marked disjunction between critical reaction and audience reception. Mega-musicals are sung through, with little if any dialogue this can be observed in musicals such as les miserables where 99% of the story is sung through with only a few joining words actually spoken. Furthermore, most mega- musicals have at least one singular effect that defines it to the public: phantom (the chandelier), Cats (the tire that rises to kitty heaven), les mis (the moving battlements), and miss saigon (the helicopter). Lastly, the intensive marketing is greatly seen in the musicals cats, the revolutionary thing about cats was not the show on stage; it was the marketing. Before this, most musicals limited their souvenirs to photo programs, songbooks and t-shirts.
