Literature Review 2

I will be reviewing the Preface and Chapter One of Ruth Leon's book 'The Sound of Musicals'.

Ruth Leon argues that musical theatre is more than a contrived art form by an elite group of people for an elite group of people but is in fact a natural amalgamation of humans' basic need to dance, sing and tell stories. She believes that all musicals come form that desire and that the great musicals are the ones that do it best.

The greats may be different from each other in many ways but what they all have in common is that 'every element of the show contributes to the whole and where the whole is indivisible.' They change the way we think about musical theatre and also have a 'universal' way of 'speaking to something deep within each member of the audience.'

Ruth Leon is an established writer, lecturer and theatre critic amongst other things and has been a part of the theatre industry for a considerable number of years. It seems obvious then that she would refute that musicals are a contrived, elitist art form. I would argue that Leon is perhaps a member of the elite society that she denies and is therefore biased in favour of musical theatre as is anyone who writes about a subject they love.

Leon would no doubt deny this elitist view but when she goes on to discuss the merits of 'great musicals' and what a 'great musical' should be I think she gives herself away. She dismisses many commercial successes such as The Phantom Of The Opera and Les Miserables, saying they are popular but not great. Is a shows popularity not a measure of its greatness? I imagine that a member of the general public would think so but as a member of a more critical, elitist group Leon imposes different criteria.

Leon believes that 'any stage show stands or falls by its characters and their complexity is what gets us through to the end.' Would the audience of We Will Rock You, who voted it 'Most Popular Show' at the 2011 Olivier Awards, agree? The show is notoriously light on character but is funny and has unarguably incredible music. It is a critically panned success story. Have the critics got it wrong? Is there something they didn't see? Is it in fact a great musical? I don't think so but then I think I too am a member of the elitist group that Leon refutes.

What all this makes me question is should we continue to train students for the critical, elitist ideal or should we focus on what the general public decides is good? Should we be training students to belt high, or do tricks because it is entertainment that is really important and not the careful integration of acting, singing and dancing? Musical theatre started as Variety. It consisted loose stories that were held together by popular songs of the day, very much like We Will Rock You or Mamma Mia. The art form 'at its best' has evolved from its origins but it has perhaps evolved into something that is elitist and not always popular.

Leon's book is written by an musical theatre lover for musical theatre lovers. Its style is friendly but it assumes prior knowledge of the intricacies of the industry. As such it plays up the importance of the art form and its contributors, at times sounding almost reverential. In other words it tells its audience what it wants to hear. No lover of musical theatre would want to be told how irrelevant, or unpopular their ideal is and Ruth Leon doesn't disappoint.

As a critic Leon has seen a huge number of shows over the years and therefore should be considered an expert in distinguishing good theatre from bad. Unfortunately theatre is always subjective and what is desirable to one is not necessarily desirable to another. The chapters I have reviewed and the book as a whole are extremely useful at getting the expert opinion of Leon but it should be remembered that there is a huge 'general public' out there who disagree.


Leon, R. 2010, 'Why Musicals?' and 'Something Wonderful' in The sound of musicals. London: Oberon.