Opera vs. Musicals: Which is Which?

Anthony Tommasini has written stimulating article for the New York Times entitled, " Musical or Opera? The fine line that divides them" - a good read.


Interesting (and I like both). Though I think the lyrics vs. music bit falls down - Candide (witty and very text-heavy, though with beautiful arias) is more suited to opera performers than West Side Story (more dance than text, as demonstrated in Lin-Manuel Miranda's Spanish lyrics in the recent production - something I wish the writer had mentioned). Both are equally challenging to play.  Wonderful Town and On the Town are more obvious Bernstein "musical musicals", but are not less skilled. I'd also balk at the idea that RENT succeeded because of lyrical brilliance, since I have no problem with the music but feel it's the lyrical rough spots that would have been smoothed over in previews had Jonathan Larson lived.

I'd swing towards the idea that the craft is what distinguishes genres, as the only fairly consistent distinction (styles and periods aside) is in the craft of singing, with opera a particular craft (across a few key styles) and musical theatre employing others. Opera requires its own space, being unamplified, whereas musicals can be adapted to a variety of settings with skilled technological intervention. Due to its level of specialisation, opera remains, in general, more expensive and more demanding - but comes with its own integrity that is harder to challenge than that of musical theatre. Opera is less vulnerable to certain compromises, such as the slashing of pit orchestras in recent Broadway shows. Can you imagine La Scala trying to get away with two violins, a tuba and a synthesiser in the next production of I Pagliacci?

One key point that I love about the article, though, is the message: back off! I am an enthusiast for both musical theatre and opera, and do not want to hear any more "opera is stuffy!" or "musicals are silly!" talk. Because that's both stuffy and silly. It would seem crazy to expect contemporary dance and Shakespeare to tick all the same boxes just because they both happen on stage. Furthermore, the most successful adaptation of source material - a la opera - to the stage that I've seen happens in Les Miserables, and by far the daftest piece of theatre I've ever witnessed is The Magic Flute.