Musical Theatre

Musical theatre is enhanced storytelling – music is a more efficient and compact way to communicate information than regular speech.  Because of the fixed number of words applied to musical notes, a librettist must be more direct.  Whether teaching or directing, I stress to the musical theatre actors that they must understand the shape of the song and determine when they are communicating to another actor on stage or the audience. A primary focus of my musical theatre stage directing and research is the use of techniques to better engage the audience during performance. One of the ways I do this is through acknowledging the audience’s presence through direct address, or as I call it, a “musical theatre moment.” Direct address occurs when an actor “leaves the world of the play” to acknowledge the presence of the audience by a look, physical gesture, or focused verbal means of communication with the intent of making them a friend, ally, or insider to the stage action. Direct audience address strengthens the relationship between actor and audience, something all musical theatre performers should be cognizant of and use to their advantage.