Directions
After you watch the assigned Musical Theatre film, you are ready to start your Musical Theatre speech assignment.
Write your speech paper on one of the following musicals :
- Zoot Suit 1981- Available free on Netflix with subscription.
- Chorus Line 1985- Available free on Amazon Prime with subscription. Available free on YouTube.
- Miss Saigon 2016 - Available free with Amazon Prime subscription
- Cabaret 1972- Free with HBOMax subscription, Available for rent with YouTube, AppleTV, Amazon.
Take a look at the Module titled “Suggested Speech Topics for Musical Theatre.” You will see topics like Theme, Music, Dance and Character. You should notice that all the topics are from Aristotle's 6 elements of theatre as defined in his work The Poetics.
You need to choose ONE topic from the choices of Theme, Music, Spectacle or Character, and write a paper on how that one element contributes to the play and it’s intended messages.
You will notice that each Topic has several questions underneath it. You should use those questions to help guide your paper. You do not have to answer all of the questions in your paper but you should consider addressing 2 or 3* of them. For example, your paper might look like:
- Paragraph 1: Introduction
- Your introduction should introduce Aristotle's 6 elements of theatre and explain the one you are focusing on for your paper on your selected musical film. Your intro should address how the 6 elements of theatre as defined by Aristotle are present in the modern musical film you saw.
- Paragraph 2: Answer to one of the topic questions with examples from the show
- Paragraph 3: Answer to another topic question with examples from the show
- Paragraph 4: Answer to one last topic question with examples from the show
- Paragraph 5: Conclusion.
*if your analysis in paragraphs 2 and 3 end up being long, you don’t need to include a third question. Not sure how to judge? Your paper should be around 1-2 pages. If it’s longer than that, then you can cut one of the topic questions.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding the film, the speech topics, or any of the topic questions. You may want to watch the film again.