Welcome to the Musicals Thread, the Avocado’s space for anything and everything related to musical theatre! Every month I’ll post a discussion prompt, but please feel free to comment on other topics, from new discoveries to old favorites. If you have ideas for future prompts or would like to write a feature for the thread, let me know!
Last month my sisters and I went to see Jersey Boys, the story of the original members of The Four Seasons, told by them to the audience. I’ve also watched the movie adaptation of the show, which includes the same direct narration. It struck me how much more common it is for characters to address the viewers from the stage than from the screen. Such spoken exposition isn’t that different from the solos about the protagonist’s inner feelings or crowd numbers about the rules of the setting – a way to express important information that the characters themselves already know.
Some shows go even further in eroding the barrier between the characters and the audience, though. Sometimes we’re brought into the world of the story – attendees of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee are recruited to participate as contestants. Other times the story is acknowledged to be just that – Urinetown’s Officer Lockstock repeatedly warns that the musical is not a happy one. Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 manages to do both – characters narrate about themselves in the third person and encourage the audience to check their programs, but audience members are also briefly given roles as guests of the Bolkonskys.
What do you think of musicals that break the fourth wall or otherwise involve the audience? Are there better/worse examples or ways to do it? How does it translate when experiencing a show some other way than in person?