Five musicals you should see before you study musical theatre

If you want to be a serious musical theatre performer, it’s important that you see as much musical theatre as possible. 

Sometimes aspiring performers come to us with significant gaps in their knowledge, having only ever seen a couple of live musicals themselves.

Everyone's familiar with the animated musicals of their childhood - The Lion King, for instance - but there is a rich tradition of musical theatre history which extends to all corners of the earth, and it's awesome fun to become better acquainted with it.

So if you want to be a performer, go see everything - there are live musical theatre productions locally - amateur ones, of course, but also touring professional shows; just check out your local theatre, and even grab a subscription where you may get a little discount on some of them.

And if you happen to be travelling interstate or overseas for any reason, always check ahead of time to see what’s on offer there to broaden your musical theatre horizons.

Plus, there are films of many musicals that you can find online, streaming, or on DVD.

But now - here are five musicals you should know about if you want to study musical theatre.

Why these? Because each one influenced the future direction of musical theatre in their own way. And as a performer it’s helpful to know where your current repertoire sits in the history of the art form.

1. The Beggar’s Opera. This 18th-century musical by John Gay is a precursor to modern day classics and still gets a run by production companies from time to time. In its style it departed from the opera of its day by using tunes from popular songs like ballads, folk songs and even church hymns. Its aim was to satirise the upper class and politics of the day. Significantly, it went on to influence comic operas, operetta and musical theatre thereafter. Even the famous Gilbert and Sullivan owed something to John Gay's legacy.
   
   
2. Show Boat. This musical by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern was hugely influential in its time. Most other musicals of its time were influenced by Ziegfeld’s Follies, with lots of leggy showgirls, feathers and sequins. Into this arena bursts Showboat in 1927, with its tale of racial prejudice and tragic love in the Deep South. For the first time, musical theatre addressed a profoundly controversial social issue, proving that the art form was not just frippery and frivolity. A film of Showboat was made in 1951.
   
   
3. A Chorus Line. This musical first opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran for 6,137 performances in its first season. There’s also a film by Universal Pictures. It’s the story of a number of dancers auditioning for a Broadway production What’s important to observe about this musical is the dance style - and more than that, it was also the first musical which really gave dancers a voice. In earlier musicals, synchronised dancers were a significant part of productions, usually in the background, but here dancers become the main characters.
   
   
4. Cats. This musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber redefined what musical theatre could be. Simply a series of poems by T.S. Eliot set to music, with a loose plot around some cats meeting together, it did not require a big star to propel it forward. Nevertheless, it was highly successful financially on both the West End and Broadway, and the song ‘Memory’ became an international hit outside the musical theatre world, being recorded in more than a dozen languages.
   
   
5. Hamilton. This musical, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, has taken the world by storm. It first opened Off-Broadway in 2015. What’s significant about Hamilton is its musical theatre style - it incorporates rap with more traditional musical theatre sounds and  uses deliberately diverse casting to shake up and comment on American history. Now something of a blockbuster, you’ll pay big bucks for this one - and no sign of a film yet! It's still playing on Broadway and has moved to the West End.  If you can't make it there - at least have a listen to the album and watch some clips online!

There are, of course, many, many other significant works in the history of musical theatre in addition to these five.  Take the time to watch, listen, and allow them to influence your own artistic taste and practice. Do this, and you'll be well-equipped to start a course like Perform Australia's Certificate IV in Musical Theatre.