Music 2701A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Jellicle Cats, Old Deuteronomy, Concept Album
19 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Dominating force in musical theatre from about 1975-1995. Musical family: father is a composer/organist; mother is a violinist/pianist/teacher; younger brother is accomplished cellist. Early interest in theatre from his aunt viola, a london stage actress. Began composing little songs to accompany puppet shows he put on with auntie viola. Started education at oxford as a history scholar but gave it up to study at royal college of music. First big success joseph and the amazing technicolor. Dreamcoat (1968), composed as short cantata for school performance, then expanded. Cantata: a sung musical work, with solos and ensemble singing, usually based on scripture or a religious theme, dramatic, tells a story but unstaged. Both jc superstar and joseph (full version) started as concept albums before being fully staged. Allowed webber and his lyricists to gauge popularity of music before producing a show. Also allowed music to permeate pop charts before staging; people went into theatre knowing hit songs.
