Musicals sung through or not?

[Someone in a tree]

Im in the not camp. I love the blend of song, daiglogue or underscore, when done well aka Passion its heaven. Plus most recitative seems to be very poor composition - Aspects I'm pointing my finger at you!

Although I do admire ALW and Rice for the oratorio like structure of Joseph and Superstar which both work really well for me.

[Deleted]

I prefer them not. I grew up watching loads of movie musicals and all the stage musicals I saw for my first few years of theatregoing had distinct musical numbers, and I found it a bit off-putting when I saw my first sung-through musical. I'm accustomed to it now but there are still times when I feel that a scene has suffered for being forced into song.

[anita]

Love them both.

[alece10]

Like both but if had to choose I'd go for sung through.
I always want the dialogue to hurry up so we can get to the next song.

[ampersand]

I love both but in most cases would prefer not

[Dawnstar]

I enjoy examples of both. In fact, I often don't really notice the difference, for instance when I saw Amour I didn't particularly think of it being sung through, that was just how the piece was. I would love it it Showstopper had a go at doing a fully sung through improvised musical rather than their usual songs & dialogue style.

[viserys]

I agree with the monkey, it depends on the show. When sung-through shows are done well - such as JCS or Evita or also Les Mis - they can be fantastic.

But more often than not half the music is just some strange sing-song that would have been better as a spoken dialogue and in these shows it's hard to find a handful of really good numbers that stand out from the sea of mediocrity.

Whereas in the classic stage musical with many spoken dialogues, each song seems to be a well-rounded, well-crafted gem.

[alece10]

I know it's a bit marmite but one of the best sung through musicals was London Road.

[Deleted]

May 28, 2019 17:44:32 GMT viserys said:

I agree with the monkey, it depends on the show. When sung-through shows are done well - such as JCS or Evita or also Les Mis - they can be fantastic.

But more often than not half the music is just some strange sing-song that would have been better as a spoken dialogue and in these shows it's hard to find a handful of really good numbers that stand out from the sea of mediocrity.

Whereas in the classic stage musical with many spoken dialogues, each song seems to be a well-rounded, well-crafted gem.

Also agree it really does depend on the show.

There also the inverse where songs are hapazardly wedged into chunks of dialogue for whatever reason, be it a reason to get the song in or just to break up the dialogue.

[Deleted]

I love a sung through show. When listened all the way through, Aspects tells a story using gorgeous themes and recurring motifs and like Les Mis, i love it when you hear a theme used for a something different, to tell a different mood by changing the tempo.

I love me some recititative. They are often some of the best bits.

Here's something new. I think I'll give it a try
Come closer you! I like to see what I buy
The usual price, for just a slice of your pie

It's the same with a tart as it is with a grocer
The customer sees what he gets in advance
It's not for the whore to say `yes, sir' or `no, sir'
It's not for the harlot to pick and to choose
Or lead me to a dance!

[distantcousin]

Sung through - has more artistic merit as far as I'm concerned, and is less jarring.

I don't mind it in diagetic musicals though.

[Deleted]

Will always be sung through for me; I just love them. The music in musicals is everything and I adore it when the music never stops.

Also works better for me on repeat viewings. When I have seen a non sung through before, I generally get bored during the dialogue and just want it to move on to the next song.

[Deleted]

Some people probably think that all the sung recetivative is cheesy, singing about how their day was and all that, but to me, people chatting and those few lines to lead into a song can sometimes be just as cheesy if not worse.

[Deleted]

May 29, 2019 19:07:55 GMT @tbfl said:

Some people probably think that all the sung recetivative is cheesy, singing about how their day was and all that, but to me, people chatting and those few lines to lead into a song can sometimes be just as cheesy if not worse.

Agree. I find the going in and out of song odd.

I lament the fact that there are so few high quality sung through musicals coming through and it makes me sad that they really are not the current 'trend.'

[Deleted]

I know I've said this before in a different thread, but that's what was jarring about the Dreamgirls film. The stage show is sung through, but in the film all the singing was done in a on stage/performance setting, until Family, when they started to sing to each other. it came out of nowhere.

Maybe they didn't think the audience could handle a sung through film. But I think that if you set it up right from the beginning, people will go with it.

[ncbears]

May 29, 2019 19:23:47 GMT @tbfl said:

I know I've said this before in a different thread, but that's what was jarring about the Dreamgirls film. The stage show is sung through, but in the film all the singing was done in a on stage/performance setting, until Family, when they started to sing to each other. it came out of nowhere.

Maybe they didn't think the audience could handle a sung through film. But I think that if you set it up right from the beginning, people will go with it.

Actually, the first non-stage singing song was Steppin' to The Bad Side.  
Aren't "sung though musicals" just light opera?  

[Deleted]

May 29, 2019 19:46:44 GMT ncbears said:

May 29, 2019 19:23:47 GMT @tbfl said:

I know I've said this before in a different thread, but that's what was jarring about the Dreamgirls film. The stage show is sung through, but in the film all the singing was done in a on stage/performance setting, until Family, when they started to sing to each other. it came out of nowhere.

Maybe they didn't think the audience could handle a sung through film. But I think that if you set it up right from the beginning, people will go with it.

Actually, the first non-stage singing song was Steppin' to The Bad Side.  
Aren't "sung though musicals" just light opera?  

Technically it is, but the singing together is for 3 seconds in darkness down a street, the rest is montage of them making money and the on stage dance sequence. It still tries to cover the singing part of it and it's nothing like Family is.

[juicy_but_terribly_drab]

I like a sung through musical or ones that have very little dialogue peppered throughout like Next to Normal. I often don't tend to notice if something is sung through while I watch it so I guess that's a sign of watching good sung through musicals