Items tagged "Musical Theatre"

Colin Oliver leads this introduction to teaching Musical Theatre in the Drama Classroom.

In this course, you will learn how to build musical theatre into your dramatic courses of study. “Why might you want to do that? Singing is scary! You want me to teach my students how to do it? I don’t even know how to do it.” This course approaches musical theatre preparation performance much as we would approach preparing a monologue in drama. If you use script analysis in monologue preparation in your class, you can teach musical theatre.

By the end of this course, you’ll have a great, full-body physical warm-up, a student-driven research assignment, character development exercises, a little bit of musical theory, and a performance assignment complete with assessment.

So, join us for teaching Musical Theatre in the Drama Classroom. It’s as easy as Do-Re-Mi!

Musical Theatre has two components that separate it from straight plays: song and dance. This unit gives students the opportunity to try out both. In musical theatre, music signifies heightened emotion. We can’t express ourselves with just words, we need music (and through extension, song and dance) to take it further.

This unit includes three lesson plans:

1. Acting the Song - “Musical Tactics”
2. Acting the Song - “Textual Analysis”
3. Introduction to Dance

A solo performance assignment is also included, and the unit includes assessment tools - rubrics, reflections, and self-evaluations.

Understanding basic improvisation skills will help musical theatre performers understand that musical theatre is more than just singing and dancing. It’s about using all the tools (voice, body, and mind) an actor has at their disposal to create a character.

This unit focuses more on the improv aspect rather than the musical theatre aspects - in fact students need no prior musical theatre knowledge. Annie Dragoo, creator of the unit, uses this material as her first unit in her musical theatre class. It’s a great introduction and will get your students in the right frame of mind to approach musical theatre.

The lessons explore a variety of improv skills such as vocal responses, movement, character study, sensory awareness and culminate in an improv scene and unit essay.

Musical Theatre is a uniquely American art form, explored through this unique unit by instructor Annie Dragoo.

It is divided into two parts: first, students view a documentary called Broadway the American Musical - available on YouTube. Students will reflect after each episode and there is an available viewing quiz.

After viewing, discussing and reflecting on each episode of the PBS Documentary, Broadway: The American Musical, students will research a specific topic in order to create and design a musical theatre museum exhibit. It’s a great three-dimensional demonstration of knowledge, and there is a rubric provided for the completed exhibit.

This is not your traditional textbook history learning!

Want a fun project that has your students collaborating and creating? In this unit by Annie Dragoo, students in groups will write and perform an original musical by adding modern songs to a traditional fairy tale story.

The six lessons take students from writing their script, to choreography and planned movement, to rehearsing, performing and evaluation.

The Rubric will focus on student performance. That means vocal delivery, emotional delivery, blocking/choreography, energy, focus, and characters.

Instructor Laramie Dean uses this unit as the final project for his Drama 2 students. Drawing upon any of the skills students have developed throughout they create a product that could be used within a new piece of musical theatre.

Students start by analyzing three musicals, study guides included, and practice creating musical elements. They are then giving class time to prepare in groups as many elements as their can for a new musical using devised theatre techniques.

There are 24 lessons in this unit which culminates in a final assessed performance.

Musical theatre performers use their bodies to sing, to dance, and to act. We must think of our bodies as instruments and learn to use our instruments properly in order to be better musical theatre performers.

The overall objective with this unit, by Annie Dragoo, is for students to demonstrate an understanding of the use of good movement as it connects to musical theatre. Some of the activities include using action verbs, moving as animals and inanimate characters, nonverbal communication and situational movement. Students will then perform a scene that will allow them to put to practice all the movement techniques they have learned.

In this ELP, students complete a Fallen Phrase Puzzle using quotes from musicals.

Students will read the description of a musical then break into groups to create a poster for the show. Each group will present their poster to the class and explain their representation. Note: This lesson works well if students have had a basic introduction to musical theatre.

In this ELP, students participate in an online masterclass on directing and complete a viewing quiz.

In musicals, it is important to remember that acting does not stop when the music begins. In this lesson, students will learn to find meaning behind the lyrics of a song so that they can convey the character’s feelings while performing.

Students will explore the different theatre conventions through various activities and then apply this knowledge to musical theatre by viewing musical theatre numbers.

Use this lesson plan as a response activity connected to viewing a video of a musical in class. For example: At the end of semester or if you need a lesson plan during tech week - watch the musical and then do the exercise.

After viewing a musical, students will exhibit their ability to analyze a specific character from a musical by creating a visual character profile.

Making a first impression is the most important part of an audition. By learning to slate with confidence, students will learn how to introduce themselves in an musical theatre audition.

Students will listen to and analyze a podcast musical called 36 Questions by Christopher Littler and Ellen Winter, starring Jonathan Groff and Jessie Shelton. This lesson is intended for senior grades only (11 & 12). Please see content warning in the lesson plan (p.1).

Students will be able to identify musical dynamic markings that will allow them to vocally interpret the music effectively. Understanding musical dynamic markings will help you navigate a song, and you can do this even if you do not read music.

Part of the audition process is preparation. And that is not just memorizing a single monologue or one song. It’s preparing a wide variety of material for a variety of situations. By preparing an audition portfolio, students will be ready for any type of audition that may arise. The portfolio will also help students explore different genres of musical theatre.

In this lesson, students will explore how to make their own Broadway musical through improvisation. Broadway musicals like The Book of Mormon, Urinetown, and Forbidden Broadway were developed from improvised work. Students will learn how to improvise an original musical in front of an
audience. There are excellent opportunities for both the singer and non-singer who wants to explore improv like never before. This is also a great opportunity for singers to become far more confident with their performances. There are hands-on activities for students at all levels.

Masterclass is a series of one-on-one interviews with experts, creators and innovators in the world of Theatre that you can study in-depth, or share with your classes. Think of this series as ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ for Drama Teachers.

This Masterclass with Jim Hoare from Theatrical Rights Worldwide is all about Musical Theatre Licensing, and is hosted by Matt Webster.

Learn a great vocal warm-up "What a to-do" from DTA instructor Todd Espeland. It promotes diction, projection and breath control.

This warm-up takes students through the 3 key components of warming up the body before singing: Stretching, Breathing, and Resonator and Articulator exercises.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is available to watch for free on Youtube. Have students research and answer
the questions below before they watch.

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkQjuwihYI&t=25s&has_verified=1