In this course, we’ll study in some depth three extraordinary mid-20th-C. American musicals: A Little Night Music, 1776 and She Loves Me, with one session on Hamilton. Taken together, these pieces offer significant insight into the remarkable craft by which high-quality musical theater is created.  Each work takes a different approach to musicalizing its subject matter.  But all take advantage of common, basic compositional principles established centuries before in the world of opera. We’ll define these bedrock ideas and then examine each show, focusing on the purposes, placement, structures, and styles of songs, in an attempt to discover how creators’ musical choices sharpen character and plot, and deepen the play’s impact.

The course will consist of presentations by the leader, with comments on the background and context of the show, followed by audio and/or video excerpts from the show, and discussion. No reports will be expected, and no specific musical or theatrical skills are required. I expect that reading and listening/viewing prep per week will be 1-2 hours average.