Character Work in Musical Theatre

As we begin our character development work in connection to musical theatre, students will watch a musical and use a variety of character development techniques to study a character within that musical. They will identify a plot diagram for the musical, identify key characters and relationships, identify the social conditions, create a visual character profile for a specific character, identify specific emotions for that character, and complete an interpretation statement.

Singing is acting. And at the crux of any performance, whether it be singing or acting, is emotion. There are many different tools for an actor to communicate their character’s emotions as an actor. The key is finding out which tools also work in a singing context. Students will determine effective ways of communicating the character’s emotions in a way that will not hinder their use of proper posture and breathing.

Students are going to take everything they’ve learned (internal and external tools, interpretation statements, and textual analysis) and apply it to a new song. Students will choose a song, complete an analysis of that song, and perform it. Students will be assessed on how well they incorporate what they have learned into their performances.