From Greek drama to a popular musical

The notes take the musical as a popular music-theatre in which music, dance, acting, costume, sets, lighting and makeup are meant to sit in balance. It is, they write, a modern form that joins drama, opera or operetta, and the energy of dance.

Theatre first took shape, they say, in ancient Greece, where music already had a large role. Rome inherited that culture and preferred a lighter comedy to solemn tragedy, though music still mattered. Medieval religious plays also used music; later, theatre pulled away from religion and became more professional, with a greater share of singing than of instrumental music, and a lean toward comedy. In the sixteenth-century Italian Renaissance, opera began as an interlude in five-act tragedy and grew into a genre of its own, heavier on music than on drama, and at first an art for the nobility. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with political democratisation and a citizen class, a more popular operatic form appeared, which they read as an early shape of the musical.

In the nineteenth century, they add, vaudeville, burlesque, extravaganza, pantomime and revue were in fashion, and the musical leaned most on burlesque. They date the popularity of musical comedy to the Girl series that George Edwardes began in Britain in the 1890s. In the United States, they write, A Chorus Line set a record with a twelve-year run. When American musicals later slumped, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and Miss Saigon were exported back and challenged that position.

Forms they distinguish

They divide musical forms into seven. A book show, they write, is a classical musical in which dramatic construction sits above song and dance, and can run from comedy to a serious subject. A spectacle show puts its weight on sets, costume, dance and other stage effects, and flourished in the 1970s and 1980s. A star vehicle is built around one performer: in Fiddler on the Roof, they note, Tevye sings nine of the twelve songs. Operetta, on their account, uses a range of two octaves, cuts back acting and dance, and maximises the music, so that it comes close to opera. A music vehicle, they say, is a newer form that builds on operetta and brings six forms together.

Translated hits, and Korean work of its own

Hyundai Theatre, they write, has put on large musicals since 1977, including translated Broadway work such as Peter Pan, Evita and Oliver. In 1983 a joint staging of Guys and Dolls by the Minjung, Daejung and Gwangjang troupes helped popularise the mid-size-stage musical. Original Korean work such as Nanta and Jump has appeared, but poor conditions of production, and the need to improve planning and marketing, remain. The notes leave the subject there, before a later table of terms. The same Korean report, at fuller length, sits on CampusDown.

Sources

1. The notes, a student account of the musical’s history and forms, and of Korean productions including Nanta and Jump.

Last updated: 15 November 2026