How is Musical Theatre so Popular... or is it?!

From the West End to Broadway, Musical Theatre productions has been growing and reaching to larger audiences now, but why?

Musical Theatre is a commonly known form of theatre entertainment as of 2024. Whether you like it or not, you’ll probably know a few songs from Musical Theatre productions that you don’t even know the name of! Songs like Do You Hear The People Sing, from Les Miserable to Defying Gravity from Wicked, you probably know a few songs, but how? What made musical theatre so popular? What even is popular? This article discusses what a popular performance is and why musical theatre has reached such global recognition.

On the contrary, there’s no one-size-fits-all definition of popular, but I will use Adam Ainsworth's definition for some background on what we can define as popular.

“Popular performance embodies four artistic characteristics: direct communication between the actor and audience to eschew the fourth wall, the embrace of skill and novelty, rootedness in the present moment with direct acknowledgement of current societal situations, and the interplay between the actor and character.”

— Adam Ainsworth (Adam Ainsworth, Oliver Double, Louise Peacock, Popular Performance, (London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2017), p.12)

We mean serious business here, guys. (Not really) This reference simply exists because I wrote an essay similar to this article's topic. However, this is necessary because it helps us (or, more or less, you, the reader) understand what makes an art form popular.

I'm using Chicago the Musical to confine my theory as to why Musical Theatre is so popular. Whilst I could definitely use more… profound musicals, such as Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserable, and the ongoing list, I think something in Chicago makes it unique to what constitutes confined to Musical Theatre.

“Direct communication between the actor and audience to eschew the fourth wall”

Well… what is direct communication. I will classify direct communication in two ways: first, through the message of the play, and second, by directly talking to the audience (Audience interaction).

Through the play's message, the plot of different productions would touch people’s hearts differently. Phantom would be about love, Les Miserable would be about the fight for freedom, and Wicked would be about friendship. Chicago is quite difficult to say it communicates with the audience. It discusses murder, if not glorifying it to some extent. Obviously, I would never say the breaking of the fourth wall would be murder, but more or less the idea of a toxic husband and being able to relate to the experience of Roxie breaking out of her relationship to freedom and stardom. All musicals will always have a theme that people will understand; they spoonfeed you the theme and allow you to connect with the plot and characters of the story, which for how little brain power you’ll use compared to other styles of theatre such as Postdramatic Theatre, or Theatre of the Absurd, which is more abstract and harder to understand.

In terms of audience interaction, musical theatre doesn’t really do that. The majority of the productions are done through passive observation. However, this is not to say that some productions don’t. More west-end productions are adopting an immersive experience (Before any immersive theatre expert comes at me, unlike a haunted house experience or a performance that challenges the five senses). Productions such as Moulin Rogue at the Piccadilly Theatre, Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre, and Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre are all just some examples of theatres being decked out in designing the interior of the production to fit the production. Example? Cabaret has a pre-show engagement where you can enter the Kit Kat Club (The nightclub in Germany where the performance is based) you can, walk around and look at the intricate details of the night club, and enjoy food and drinks like you were part of the nightclub experience, then watch Cabaret as if it was a Cabaret, instead of watching it at a proscenium arch and just sitting and watching without active involvement.

Photo of the Playhouse Theatre for the current Cabaret production. (Credits: ATG Tickets, 2024)

“The embrace of skill and novelty.”

We call the most impressive actors triple threats, otherwise known as singing, dancing, and acting. These are essential skills to make it to the Musical Theatre industry (And maybe… nepotism). I don’t think there’s much to say on this part. There are literally Drama Schools, Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees for Musical Theatre alone. Here are examples of Musical numbers that show the embrace of skills and novelty, and why.

(Video 1: Cabaret performance on West End Live. Credits: OfficalLondonTheatre, 2024)

Cabaret is a perfect example. The recent revivals of Cabaret have been controversial in reviews, which I shall not delve into but just look at skills. These main characters are dancing to fast-paced music, doing insanely impressive movements, and singing a highly technical song. They barely stop dancing. The breath control and the intricate detail to movement take A LOT of skill. Generally speaking, most main characters in Musicals don’t tend to have a lot of dancing involved in their characters (Which the ensembles make up for the skills), but Cabaret doesn’t necessarily follow that.

(Video 2: Chicago, We Both Reached For The Gun. Credits: Interpark Ticket, 2021)

Back to my main example of Chicago, I’m going to use the 2021 release video of the Chicago showcase in Seoul, Korea, to explain the popularisation of not only the form of Musicals but also this specific part of Chicago. Roxie Hart (민경아) and Billy Flint (최재림) are absolutely breathtaking performers. 최재림, first of all, is singing the parts Roxie is saying through Ventriloquism, which is impressive in itself, but just look at 민경아’s acting as a puppet, the transitioning back to her character as Roxie. In my opinion, this is such a mesmerising performance, and I think it doesn’t require an explanation as to why this is so impressive and why it requires a high level of skill. Not to mention, not many musicals use Ventriloquism due to the fact that this skill is extremely difficult.

“Rootedness in the present moment with direct acknowledgement of current societal situations.”

Here is something I disagreed with in my essay that I’d like to mention here. I think Musicals are popular because they give people an alleyway of escapism from reality. If you really think about it, you walk into a theatre, give your full attention to watch a two-hour performance, and then leave. You’re really just hiding in a building for reality for two hours, with no electronics or outlets that tell you what is happening outside of the theatre. I think that’s the joy of watching theatre. However!!! There are musicals that try to do that, such as Dear Evan Hansen, which discusses mental health, but the majority do not.

Watch Mojo gave quite an interesting list, and I think it’s worth reading if you are interested!

I won’t discuss the last point because I don’t believe a regular musical theatre audience would necessarily look out for that. However, there is a point I wanted to make that I think Chicago has achieved.

Although the play originated in America and English, it has been played in numerous languages and countries, such as Korea, Spain, Japan, and more. And I think it's such a memorable musical that so many people are willing to translate how special and particular this musical is. It entails Fosse, a highly technical and intricate dance style; the songs are extremely catchy, and the storyline is thrilling. It's a short explanation, but if you watch different productions of Chicago done in different languages, some of the songs' lyrics are kept in English. For example, in All That Jazz, the line “Buckle shoes”, “All that Jazz”. Yes, it's not a lot of words, but there’s no denying that those few words are what make Chicago memorable.

Below are just some of the productions of Chicago done in different languages that make, well, Chicago, Chicago.

Just with these points, Musical Theatre is inherently made to be entertaining and meets Ainsworth’s definition of ‘Popular’. With how Musical Theatre is, no wonder it reaches an audience of basically anyone who enjoys live entertainment. And that’s why, in my opinion, Musical Theatre is popular.

And that’s it. It’s been over a year since I’ve written an article, but hey, if you’re reading this, thanks for reading till the end, and I hope you enjoyed it. :)

See you in my next article x :)