Musical Theatre

For the past few months, it seems I've spent hours searching the broadway catalog for songs perfect for college auditions. Some songs are completely overdone. Some songs aren't well suited for a 5 minute audition. Some songs simply aren't right. Now that Talent Expo has come in full swing, I've realized how much I've been focusing on Broadway for the past few months. And honestly, I think the one thing that truly speaks to Broadway is this: versatility. There may be some defining characteristics to Broadway music. It's typically big and can fill a room. Whether it's a soft, heartwarming ballad or a powerful uptempo performed by the whole cast Broadway music certainly has a charisma to it. But even in this sense, there are so many types. Decades ago, Cole Porter wrote with an iron fist an introduced smooth, simple and charming music to the collection with songs such as Every Time We Say Goodbye, Anything Goes, and Delovely. Then, artists such as Sondheim redefined the musical with tricky harmonies that stayed stuck in your ear for hours. Finally we see modern shows like "Next to Normal" and "Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark" (a sad attempt at a broadway show) and "Wicked" fuse pop and rock into their broadway numbers. And in between we have dozens of genres. Thankfully, such a wide medium makes song selection much easier.

I agree with Brian that the sheer variety of Broadway music is one of its defining features. The music of Broadway has always adapted to fit with the subject of the show, the target audience, and/or the popular music of the time. Broadway styles have become popular and vice versa. It's amazing how many songs that are so familiar to us as standards have come from Broadway shows. And now there are rock musicals and musicals with songs borrowed from the radio. Broadway is always finding new ways to communicate and express a huge variety of ideas for a variety of audiences. That's what's so amazing about Broadway: beyond that "showtuney" feel, there are a thousand different sounds and styles that could make up a Broadway show.