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Sung-through

Musical or opera with little or no spoken dialogue

Musical or opera with little or no spoken dialogue

A sung-through or through-sung work is a narrative work such as a stage musical, musical film or opera in which the entire libretto is set to music, with little or no spoken dialogue or monologues used to tell the story. The story is told through a combination of aria, arioso and recitative. Early versions of this include the Italian genre of opera buffa, a light-hearted form of opera that gained prominence in the 1750s. Since Jesus Christ Superstar, sung-through musicals have been increasingly popular, with one commentator writing, "Hamilton demonstrates ... that a sung-through musical can be as vigorous in its storytelling as any more traditional book musical."

List of fully sung-through musicals

  • Art Thief Musical!
  • Bare: A Pop Opera
  • Bumblescratch
  • Cats
  • Une chambre en ville
  • Cricket
  • Les Dix Commandements
  • Evita
  • Falsettos
  • Hadestown
  • Hamilton: An American Musical
  • The Human Comedy
  • Jesus Christ Superstar
  • Johanna
  • Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
  • Katy! the Musical
  • Keating!
  • King David
  • Marry Me a Little
  • Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem
  • Les Misérables
  • Miss Saigon
  • Murder Ballad
  • Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
  • Notre-Dame de Paris
  • Ordinary Days
  • Quadrophenia
  • Repo! The Genetic Opera
  • Song and Dance
  • Songs for a New World
  • Starlight Express
  • Starmania
  • Tell Me on a Sunday
  • The Ten Commandments: The Musical
  • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

List of sung-through musicals with occasional spoken lines

  • The Golden Apple
  • A New Brain
  • Next to Normal
  • Once on This Island
  • Seussical
  • Side Show
  • Suffs

List of sung-through musicals depending on the production

  • Chess Some productions have been completely sung-through, while some have had scattered lines, and some (notably the original Broadway production) were staged as book musicals.
  • Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

References

References

  1. [[Richard Taruskin]], (2009 ). Music in the Nineteenth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press
  2. Lotte Eilskov Jensen, Joseph Theodoor Leerssen, Marita Mathijsen (eds). 2010. Free Access to the Past: Romanticism, Cultural Heritage and the Nation. Brill. p. 236.
  3. Mandel, Jonathan. [https://howlround.com/sung-through "Sung-Through Real American Musicals or Concerts with Benefits?"], ''HowlRound Theatre Commons'', June 2, 2016
  4. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/opinion/writing-the-book-for-a-musical-a-misunderstood-art.html Opinion: "Writing the Book for a Musical: A Misunderstood Art"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 10, 2016
  5. Hummler, Richard. (13 October 1982). "Cats". [[Variety (magazine).
  6. Stern, Sara. (22 November 2024). "Perfect Lesson for Imperfect Time: A Review of “Falsettos” by Court Theatre and TimeLine Theatre".
  7. Donaldson, Kayleigh (2017). "[http://screenrant.com/hamilton-musical-movie-lin-manuel-miranda/ How to Make a Hamilton Movie]". ''Screen Rant''.
  8. "Ken Mandelbaum's MUSICALS ON DISC: ''Human Comedy'' and ''Ziegfeld Follies'' - Playbill.com".
  9. Vermette, Margaret. (2007). "The Musical World of Boublil and Schonberg". Hal Leonard Corporation.
  10. Clarke, David. "BWW CD Reviews: NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 (Original Cast Recording) is Astonishingly Complex".
  11. (19 February 2014). "First Nighter: Andrew Lloyd Webber's So Low 'Stephen Ward' and Solo 'Tell Me on a Sunday'". Huffington Post.
  12. Dietz, Dan. (21 November 2012). "Off Broadway Musicals, 1910Š—–2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows". McFarland.
  13. "A New Brain, a CurtainUp review".
  14. Shubow, Charles. "BWW Reviews: NEXT TO NORMAL At Center Stage is Electrifying".
  15. "Charpo Canada -".
  16. Hischak, Thomas S.. (18 February 2011). "Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919: From Greenwich Village Follies to The Toxic Avenger". Scarecrow Press.
  17. "[http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/munster/munster-high-school-musical-opens-thursday/article_0abe1d2b-4503-5ea3-9434-51b540c50768.html Munster High School Musical Opens Saturday]." NWITimes. 2013.
  18. Hetrick, Adam. (2 August 2013). "Erin Davie and Emily Padgett Will Star in Re-Imagined Side Show at La Jolla and Kennedy Center".
  19. (6 April 2022). "Suffs Off-Broadway Review".
  20. "Chess the Musical – The Production Company".
  21. "Chess: A Musical".
  22. [[Chess (musical)#Miscellaneous productions.2C concerts.2C and recordings .281989.E2.80.93present.29]]
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