I will be reviewing the Foreword of the book Acting in Musical Theatre: A Comprehensive Course. This is written by Lynn Ahrens the Tony Award winning writer and lyricist whose musicals include Lucky Stiff, Once On This Island, and Ragtime.
Ahrens argues that musicals are by there very nature contradictory. They make comment on real life just as any piece of theatre does but they also contain elements of sheer fantasy where the audience are expected to believe that people just 'burst into song.' She believes it is the role of the writer to make this 'fantastical world ring true' but she also believes it is the responsibility of the actor.
She describes acting as an 'extremely difficult discipline' but believes that a 'performer' has the even more difficult task of acting 'within the strictures of rhythm and rhyme and melody.' An interesting perspective as I believe a musical is generally thought to require less acting skill than a play, not more.
Ahrens talks about the importance of music in a show but continually returns to the idea that it is the acting that makes musicals work. It is the acting that enables the audience to believe in what they are seeing and to become emotionally involved in the world of the musical. She writes, 'The song is simply a heightened extension of the dialogue and if we - actors and writers - make the transitions appear seamless and natural, it helps to convince the audience that what they are seeing is real life.'
Perhaps feeling the need to substantiate her beliefs Ahrens uses the cast of her current show The Glorious Ones as an example of what she means. She says the cast is a mix of seasoned musical theatre professionals and actors who are more normally seen in plays. Some have big voices and others workable voices. Some have natural dancing talent and the others are movers. In spite of these differences what the entire cast has the ability to do is to act the song and it is for this reason they were cast and the show works.
It is not surprising that Ahrens champions acting in musical theatre. After all the foreword is for a book that's purpose is to explain and develop the skills needed to act well in musical theatre. If her foreword said acting in musicals was pointless then nobody would bother to read the rest of the book, and I imagine the writers would have something to say about that.
Also she is a lyricist and writer so her preoccupation is bound to be with words and stories. I wonder whether the composer of her musicals is equally fond of an actor with a 'workable' voice singing his songs.
Ahrens paints a very positive picture of musical theatre and asserts that to do it well is immensely difficult. As somebody who works in musical theatre and as somebody who is writing in a book designed for musical theatre students and teachers she has an obvious bias. I imagine a playwright for 'straight' theatre may perhaps comment that most plays contain much more substance than most musicals and therefore the acting skill required for a play is much greater than that required for a musical.
In spite of her bias I think Ahrens view on the importance of acting in musicals is really interesting because, as I have mentioned before, a lot of my favourite musical theatre performances have come from 'straight' actors. These actors don't always have the best singing voices or dancing ability but they are always immersed in their characters. It is their ability to make me believe in the world of the musical that captures my imagination and makes the performance memorable.
Perhaps these 'straight' actors approach the rehearsal process in a different way to musical theatre 'performers'. They are used to working with text and character so that is where their focus lies. Whatever the cause in my opinion, and Aherns opinion, it is musical theatre approached from the acting perspective that is most successful.
As part of my inquiry I am extremely interested in seeing whether other professionals have the same opinion. Should we be focusing more of our attention on developing the acting skill of our musical theatre students?
Ahrens, L. 2008, 'Foreword', in J. Deer and R. Dal Vera Acting in musical theatre: a comprehensive course. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
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