Musical Theatre

The three most well-known forms of musical theatre are: - Musical - Opera - Operetta

Musical:
Musicals combine songs, spoken dialogues, acting and dance. The emotional content of the piece like humor, love and anger as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music and movement. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms such as opera, it may be distinguished by the equal importance of music and the (spoken) dialogue, movement and other elements of the works. Musicals are performed all around the world. They may be presented in large venues, such as big budget West End and Broadway theatre productions in London and New York City, or in smaller fringe theatre (theatre that is not of the mainstream), OffBroadway or regional theatre productions, on tour, or by amateur groups in schools, theatres and other performance spaces. There are also different forms of musicals like: - Rock Musicals: A Rock Musical is (obviously) a musical with rock music. Notable examples of rock musicals include: Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair - Jukebox Musicals: A jukebox musical is a stage musical (can also be a film musical) that primarily uses popular songs or songs from one particular musician or group. The story can be biographical story about the musician or group, or a plot that does not have anything to do with the artist. Famous Jukebox musicals are: Mamma Mia! built around the music of ABBA, We Will Rock You with the music from Queen, All Shook Up with the music from Elvis Presley and American Idiot with the music from Green Day.

Opera:
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes also dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.

Operetta:
Operetta is in a lot of ways similar to opera, it can be described as a light opera, light in terms of music, subject matter and dance, the dances in an operetta are usually not very complicated dances but group dances.

Cabaret

Cabaret is a form of theatre, where the goal of the performer(s) is to make the audience laugh and have a good time. There are a lot of different comedy genres. Genres: Comedy may be divided into multiple genres based on the source of humour, the method of delivery, and the context in which it is delivered. - Black Comedy (Dark Comedy) deals with disturbing subjects like death, drugs, terrorism, rape and war. It is similar to the horror genre. Comedians: Richard Pryor, George Carlin. - Blue Comedy is based on sexism, racism and homophobic views, often using sexual jokes and profane language (curse words). Comedians: Eddie Murphy, Jimmy Carr. - Musical Comedy is a form of comedy where comedians use music and lyrics to tell their jokes. Comedians: Hans Teeuwen, Weird Al Yankovic. - Character Comedy derives humor from a persona invented by a performer. Many persona's come from stereotypes. Comedians: Sasha Baron Cohen, Rowan Atkinson. - Surreal Comedy is humor based on bizarre/absurd situations and nonsense logic. Comedians: John Cleese, Bill Bailey. - Observational Comedy pokes fun at everyday life. Often by observing the silliness of something that the society accept as normal. Comedians: Ricky Gervais, Robin Williams, John Pinette, Daniel Tosh. - Prop Comedy: The comedian use all kind of different ridiculous props, this can be anything from a clothing piece, like a jacket, to an everyday object, like a phone. Ventriloquism also falls under prop comedy. Comedians: Jeff Dunham, Carrot Top. - Insult Comedy consists mainly of insult directed to the audience, another performer or someone in specific. Comedians: Don Rickles, Jeff Ross, Lisa Lampanelli, Walter. - Topical Comedy or Satire focuses itself on the news / current headlines. This form is often used in late night talk shows, but also sometimes in stand-up comedy. Comedians: Najib Amhali, Jon Stewart. (South Park) - Improvisational Comedy (improv) comedians rarely pan out their routine, almost everything is improvised, made up on the spot. Like in the TV show: Thank God Youre Here. This is a lot done in stand-up.