Flvio Jovchelevitch

Student ID Number: 746477

BA (Hons) Musical Theatre

Analysis of the relevance of collaborative work

within Musical Theatre creation

Defining the problem

We live in an era in which histories, plays and music are written at a very fast pace.
Musical Theatre has also been affected by it. As we can see in Table 1 (see attachment
section), the average number of musicals written from the 1900 to 1949 was approximately 7
musicals per year. The number of musicals written is constantly rising (except within the 1940s
as a result of World War II) reaching an average of approximately 36 musicals written every
year.
This can be justified by many reasons, such as the continuous advance in communication
and technology, as well as an easier access to culture. Because of the vast amount and variety
of entertainment, as well as performances and cultural events available, the worlds population
is more demanding for more creative, interesting and real productions.
Regarding Musicals, there are multiple methods in how to create and compose them,
techniques vary from the use of computer programs that compose harmonies to devising
companies that improvise full performances.
This project aims to evaluate the rule of improvisation and collaborative work within the
writing and creation of a Musical.

Methodology

Study with a Scene

The goal of this study is to evaluate if collaborative work and improvisation are useful
tools in the creative process of a Musical; Creating a Musical usually takes months or even
many years. Musical development goes through several stages, lead by groups of professionals
in many areas: directors, writers, composers, producers etc. The several steps within bringing a
Musical to life depends from the approach of each creative team and their own techniques; thus
there is no actual rule or guide steps on how a Musical should be done.
 Creating a Musical is not only a complex task but also a very time demanding process,
due to the time limit on this project, I have decided to focus on the creation of one single scene.
This scene will represent a moment that could potentially be part of a new Musical. It should
help the understanding of what would happen when actually creating a full Musical. Oscar
Hammerstein II said songs should be like one-act plays, that they should have a beginning, a
middle, and an end. They should set up a situation, have a development, and then a
conclusion, exactly like a classically constructed play (1985, 67). So for the scene goes from
dialogue into song in order to resemble what a creative team would face while creating a
Musical. There is a written synopsis with detailed information about the characters, previous
circumstances and social context.

Creative Teams
This study will reflect and compare two ways of writing a Musical using two creative
teams. One name Creator (I) (creator isolated) and the second one Creator (G) (creator
working in group). Each of the creators will create the same scene with the information given by
a synopsis, Creator I will write and compose the scene it by himself. The intention is to simulate
an environment where Creator I will only be able to use his/her own skills, without any other
input.
Creator G, will develop the scene with the actors intended to play it, the purpose being to
have a devised creation where the skills and abilities of the performers will be taken in account
and used in the writing process.
Creator G will use the tool of improvisation to devise the scene. This tool is considered
very useful in the creative process, Stephen Sondheim, famous Musical composer says: I start
ad libbing. Its exactly like improvisatory acting. Thats what I do. I take off from what the book
writer has written, sometimes using a line of his as a springboard, and ad lib, and improvise as
that character. Thats what Im doing (interview, online reference).

Development Strategies

Creator I
Creator I, will need to create using his/her own resources and techniques. There is a
need for him/her to describe the method and techniques used to develop the scene. They need
to present a detailed reflection upon the way they worked, this will include the techniques used
and the amount of time spent in each part of his process. If possible he/she should also report
the difficulties found: what was harder to accomplish and what was easy to come up with. The
scene should not extend a five minute duration.

Creator G
Creator G will work together with Musical Theater performers in order to create the scene.
They will be using improvisation exercises to create the material. The creative process will be
divided in the following sections:
1. Character work: explore the characters and improvise possible scenes
and situations that could have happened previously or after the scene in which we are
creating. It will also include an exploration of the character in order to find physicality
and emotions.
2. Singing jam: a musical improvisational session where is developed the
speaking and singing voice of the characters. This session will give a bigger
understanding on what the performers can naturally do. This will include improvisation
acapella exercises and improvisation with instrumental music.
3. Scene improvisation: doing the scene in different ways (intentions,
intensity etc.. ). Just with words and not sung.
4. Improvise singing with or without text. Acapella or with an underscore.
The sessions will be recorded so that the material produced in the improvisation can be
analysed and compiled into the scene.

After having both versions of the scenes finalised they will be taught to the same actors
and presented to an audience. The actors will be asked questions about the process and about
the two scenes. The audience resolve a questionnaire reflecting on the music, lyrics and plot
development.

Outcomes and Results

Technique
To see what kind of technique Creator I uses and compare it with the devise techniques
used by Creator G. We would like to compare the time and work progress per session. We
expect Creator G having a more slow start because there is a lot of time spend on the
background and character development that Creator I did not have the need too. We also
expect Creator G having more options and facing less barriers because of the possibility to
always refer back to a recording of the rehearsal as a resource for more inspiration. But as
Sondheim said: its more like a monks cell, in the sense that youre isolating yourself from the
world. I think that leads to more work (2010, 78). So there is no prediction on the quality of the
final product. We will reflect on would the pros and cons of both techniques and find ways to
maybe combine then.

Scene
Regarding the scenes we would like to evaluate the impact of the different approaches on
the final presentation. Difference of styles and ways to portray the same history. We expect
scene G being more naturalistic and real because the material will feel more intuitive for the
actors to perform. Quoting Sondheim you know your cast well and you know their strengths
and weaknesses, and you can start writing for them (interview, online references). So in scene
G songs and musicality should fit the performers voices better since the song was written with
melodies based on the performers improvisations and in what the actors voices naturally do.
The same thing should happen with the text and the flow of the scene. We expect the actors to
have learn both scenes faster because of the character exploration done by Creator G.

Audience
We would like to evaluate the results of the final product when presented to an audience.
As Stephen Sondheim said: the last collaborator is your audience, and so youve got to wait til
the last collaborator comes in before you can complete the collaboration. And when the
audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what youve written. Things that seem to
work well work in a sense of carry the story forward and be integral to the piece suddenly
become a little less relevant or a little less functional or a little overlong or a little overweight or a
little whatever. And so you start reshaping from an audience (interview, online references).
They will fill a questionnaire that will give a bigger understanding about their opinion on the
performance.

Technical resources
For the project to work there will be need two musical theatre performers and two
composers. Creator G will need a studio for the improvisational sessions and after to rehearse
for the final presentation. There will be also a video camera to record the session which will be
provided by the a student. There will be the need to print the questionnaire for the performance
day. The performance it self will depend on the final product but it will need a guitar and a piano
maximo.

Bibliography

References
Atkins, G. (1993). Improv! A handbook for the actor. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Drama.

Barkley, E. F., Cross, K. P., & Major, C. H. (2005). Collaborative learning techniques: A
handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Book, S. (2002). Book on acting: Improvisation technique for the professional actor in film,
theater, and television. Los Angeles, CA: Silman-James Press.

Citron, S. (1985). Song Writing. New York: Morrow.

Edgar, D. (2009). How Plays Work, London: Nick Hern Books.

Koppett, K. (2001). Training to imagine: Practical improvisational theatre techniques to

enhance creativity, teamwork, leadership, and learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Sondheim, S. (2010). Finishing the Hat, New York: Virgin Books.

Online resources
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1283/stephen-sondheim-the-art-of-the-musical-
stephen-sondheim

Attachment
Table 1 has been made by the student.

Table 1 - Average number of Musicals written in the last two centuries

Decades Average Average Musicals written
Musicals Written for half century

1900s 5 7,22

1910s 6,9

1920s 8,2

1930s 8,8

1940s 7,2

1950s 10,4 16

1960s 16,5

1970s 16,9

1980s 17,8

1990s 18,4

2000s 38,8 35,775

2010-17 32,75