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Listening (Adapted from LIFE Upper Intermediate,

Unit 4, page 52. Track 1.28)

1) a- Do you like musicals? Which ones have you seen? Did you see them live or on film?
b- What do you know about the musical “The Lion King”? Let’s watch its trailer now to have a better idea of it.

2) Listen to a conversation in which Tom and his friend Jake talk about the musical “The Lion King”.
For each item below put a tick next to it if one of them likes it and cross if one of them dislikes it.

3) Look at the box. Tell your partner which of the phrases Tom used to
express each like and dislike. Then listen again and check.

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Listening
4) You are going to watch the trailer of two other famous musicals. While you do so try to think of the differences
between them and fill in the following chart.
THE PHANTOM
MUSICAL WICKED OF THE OPERA

Genre

Characters

Themes
Setting

Target Audience

5) Read a brief description of both musicals to see if your guesses were correct.
The Phantom
Wicked of the Opera
Bas ed on the 19
c The Wizard of Gaston Lerou 10 horror novel by
ing of the classi x,
A vivid reimagin e untold stories
of Oz’s Opera is a th The Phantom of the
s th rilli
account of th ng and romantic
sp ot lig ht
Oz, Wicke d rs, namely
(o r in fa mous) characte e legendary P
most fa m ou s r unlikely
d W itc h of the West and he ws green- musical geniu
s
hantom, a
beneath a m who dwells deep
the W ic ke ow follo
e Good. The sh
friend, Glinda th ba from birth to college and aje
skinned star Elp
ha entually Paris. Shunn stic opera house in
events which ev rl ed
through th e lif e- ch an gi ng
d rich gi horrible facia by society for his
r “w ic ke d, ” in troducing spoile ro and l deformity, h
label he rob Fiye promising yo e takes a
ince and heartth troubled man un
Glinda, local pr
d of Oz hi m se lf, a under his win g soprano, Christine,
even the Wizar u m ay re m ember. As ga
operatic fame nd grooms her for
one yo
very unlike the te political activist
if there , all the while
Elphaba , a pa ss io na eks to undo deeply in lov falling
on e, fig ht s injustice and se ew
grows ever m ith her. As Christine
ever w as crets and
ke s of th e past, dark se ore successfu
m is ta story of Oz, handsome yo l,
ung man from and a
the
on al tra ge di es shape the hi of Oz story
pe rs
m ag e to th e classic Wizard begins to suc
ce
her past
paying ho
ously changing
fans’ Phantom des ssfully court her, the
while simultane ionary tale ce
unde rs ta nd in g of it forever. A ut ked
ca
, Wic
and terrorize nds into a jealous rage
dship and trust s the opera c
about love, frien that there are indeed two increasingly om
als dangerous th pany with
effortlessly reve y. reats.
er y st or
sides to ev
Which one would you like to see? Why?
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Next to Normal is a contemporary family drama, about a woman’s struggle with mental illness, and the effects
of her illness on her family. At the opening of the show, Diana seems to have an ideal life – she is educated,
well-off, and happily married with two teenage children. But it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems.
Diana has bipolar disorder, plagued with anxieties, mood swings and delusions that trace back to a family
tragedy 16 years earlier and are growing worse with time. During the course of the play, Diana goes through
a series of doctors and treatments, in response to and sometimes triggering the ups and downs of her illness.
Under the care of her primary doctor, Dr. Madden, Diana takes medication, talks through her issues and problems,
and undergoes the more controversial option of electroconvulsive therapy. Meanwhile, her husband Dan
confronts his own confusion and depression; daughter Natalie deals with isolation and a budding romance with
a fellow music student, Henry; and son Gabe serves as Diana’s confidant and link to a happier past. Though the
family strives to establish some sort of normality, and each character seeks his or her own peace and happiness,
the ties that bind slowly and inexorably unravel around them.

6) Complete the definitions with the words underlined in the text:

a- To derive from something or someone __________________

b- To fail or become ruined or unfulfilled _______________________
c- Belief in something that is not true _________________
d- A physical or mental fight _________________
e- At an early stage of development but showing promise or potential ___________________
f- To try very hard to do something or to make something happen, especially for a long time or
against difficulties _______________
g- Rich _____________
1- Which other psychological diseases do
you know? How familiar are you with
them?

2- In your opinion, which are the best ways

to help someone who suffers from a mental
disease?

3- What do you think happened to Diana 16

years earlier?

4- Do you consider your family as a

“normal” one? Why? Why not?

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7) You are going to listen to one of the most famous songs from this musical: “Light/Luz”. How would you combine it with the
Argentinian version from “Casi Normales”?
Natalie: Natalie:
We need some light.First of all, we need some light. Algo de luz, es mejor alguna luz.
You can't sit here in the dark. And all alone, it's a sorry sight. No esta bueno estar acá,la oscuridad no te va a ayudar.
It's just you and me.We'll live, you'll see. Vas a estar bien,y yo también.

Dan: Dan:
Night after night, we'd sit and wait for the morning light. La noche se vael sol nos vuelve a iluminar
But we've waited far too long, tanto tuvo que pasar,
For all that's wrong to be made right. para aceptar y despertar.

Diana:
Day after day, wishing all our cares away.
Trying to fight the things we feel, but some hurts never heal.
Some ghost are never gone, but we go on, we still go on.
And you find some way to survive
And you find out you don't have to be happy at all,
To be happy you're alive.
Diana:
Los días se van, esa es nuestra realidad.
Enfrentas lo que sentís,y si hay dolor seguís.
Algún fantasma habrá,que no se ira, y no esta mal.
Y se puede sobrevivir,
y se puede ser feliz sin seguir el manual,
que te obliga a ser feliz.

Natalie: Natalie:
Day after day, give me clouds, and rain and gray. Los días se van y aunque llueva sin parar,
Give me pain, if that's what's real. el dolor hay que vivir

Henry and Natalie: Henry y Natalie:

It's the price we pay to feel. es el precio por sentir.

Dan and Diana: Dan y Diana:

The price of love is loss, Nos cuesta tanto amar

Dan: Dan:
But still we pay. y aun así,

Dan and Henry: Dan y Henry:

We love anyway. no dejas de amar.

Gabe: Gabriel:
And when the night has finally gone. Y así la noche termino,
And when we see the new day dawn. y así de pronto amaneció,
We'll wonder how we wandered for so long, so blind. y nos asombra cuanto nos costo mirar.
The wasted world we thought we knew, Y al mundo gris el solador,
The light will make it look brand new. la luz le puede dar color
So dale, luz,luz,luz.

All:
Let it ,Let it Todos:
Let it, Let it Los días se van
Let it shine, shine, shine. hay caminos que encontrar
y no importa donde van
Day after day (day after day), la luz los va a alumbrar.
We'll find the will to find our way. Detras del temporal
Knowing that the darkest skies will someday see the sun. hay una luz.

Dan: Lo que pase pasara y en la negra oscuridad,

When our long night is done, tengo una luz,
alguna luz,
Dan and Natalie: algo de luz,
There will be light. algo de luz,
algo de luz.
Diana:
(There will be light. There will be light.)

All:
There will be light. when we open up our light.
Sons and daughters, husbands, wives.
Can fight that fight.There will be light.
There will be light.There will be light.
There will be light.
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Why we love a movie that makes us cry
Before you listen…

1) Match the words to their meaning.

(1) to burst into tears
(2) misty-eyed
(3) a weepy / a tearjerker
(4) to blub
(5) a sob story
(6) goose bumps
(7) to cry your heart out
(8) it's a crying shame
(9) to cry over spilt milk
( ) to worry about something that can't be changed
( ) it's regre able, unfortunate or unfair
( ) to start crying loudly and suddenly
( ) to cry uncontrollably
( ) a story someone tells to get sympathy
( ) feeling that you might start to cry
( ) small bumps on your skin
( ) a film that makes you cry
( ) to cry noisily

2) Which film won the most ever Oscar awards?

A. Ben Hur B. Slumdog Millionaire C. Gone With the Wind

Now listen…

3) Match the films below to what Rob and Feifei mentioned about them.

(A) Turner and Hooch (B) The Railway Children (C) Les Misérables (D) Jaws (E) Toy Story 3

( ) When the father returns from exile, the daughter goes to the sta on shou ng
( ) It really is a tearjerker and won several awards
( ) This movie made Feifei burst into tears
( ) People get misty-eyed because this film makes them nostalgic about their youth
( ) Not really a weepy, but contains scary bits that can make you blub
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4) Complete the statements below

Dr. Averil Leimon, Psychologist:

People want to have their (1)_____________ manipulated, because then they're
allowed to have them. We spend so much of our life being told you shouldn't feel like
that, you don't feel like that, when (2)_______________ we do feel like that. And
both the (3)_______________ and the, you know, the auditory allows us to
know what emotion we're meant to feel.

Philip Sheppard, Film music composer:

All of us sort of need to find a catharsis, especially within a group to have this sort of
place to have an emotional (4)_______________. It ends up being something
where you need to have that kind of release. As British people we're terribly bad at it
I think. But when people find an (5)________________ for it such as a film,
especially when they are in a (6)________________, people's emotional
responses are much more instantaneously responsive.

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