Musical Theater

We have been studying the difference between musical theater and opera.  Musical theater became a popular form of entertainment in American in the late 1800's.  It was more enjoyable and easier for settlers at that time to appreciate than opera.  Besides the foreign language barrier of opera, early Americans enjoyed that musical theater combined both singing and spoken text in the performance.  In our class, I could have allowed the students to watch a bunch of performances and written an analysis of the performances, but we like to create in music.  Therefore, students were divided into 4 groups and had to create their OWN musical.  The students wrote the story, rewrote the music, and acted in their own productions.  Listed below were the requirements given to the students:

1. You will work in groups to write a short story outline.
2. You must have one song that helps continue the storyline.
3. Your song is going to be a lyrical rewrite of a children's song you already know. example: ABC's, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc.
4. Everyone in your group must have some sort of singing part in your musical.  You will not be graded on singing ability.  You will be graded on participation and effort.  
5. You may create background music using Garageband or Notion, or you can use live music.
6. Take all of your notes concerning your musical on Google Drive and share it with the other members of your group and Mrs. LaGorio via Google Docs.
7. Your group is going to record your play using iMovie.  You may edit your movie and add features.  Also, if you would like to record scenes outside, we can do that during class.  
8. Keep your musical between 2 and 7 minutes.

We hope you enjoy our musicals!