The Medley of Extemporanea

Musical theater is concerned with words and their function, and how our frequent inability to communicate with one another can be overwhelmed by personal, heartfelt expression. It makes sense, then, that the art form should be concerned with languages. In this season finale, we'll examine the use of non-English language in Anglophone musical theater, and examine how non-English languages are sometimes "disguised" as English for the benefit of the audience.SONGS FEATURED:"Aiutami" from The Light in

For great songwriters, every decision about how lyrics sit on music is made consciously. Rhyme and rhythm are the dynamic ingredients that allow the craftspeople who write musical theater to convey things about plot and character that simple dialogue couldn't.SONGS FEATURED:"Almost Like Being in Love" from Brigadoon"The Wedding Dance" from Brigadoon"Rock Island" from The Music Man"Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man"Piano Lesson" from The Music Man"Overture" from Merrily We Roll Along"Franklin

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 1987 classic Into the Woods is the prototypical example of wild but successful ambition in musical theater. Through the lens of traditional fairy tales, it encompasses the fundamental precepts that make us human and how we can use them to construct better communities on the domestic and political levels. Exploring the structure of this magnificent piece tells us a lot not just about musicals, but about the human impact of storytelling.SONGS FEATURED (all from

For years, musical theater has been dogged by an aggressively moralistic stance on the part of audiences, who are unwilling to accept immoral behavior by characters in musicals unless it's roundly punished at the end of the story -- a stance the same audiences rarely take when it comes to straight plays and musicals. What motivates this difference in approach, and what have been the effects on the art form?SONGS FEATURED:"Finale" from My Fair Lady"Entr'acte" from Carousel"Overture" from My Fair

Some of the most interesting musical theater does its work by playing with the blurred boundary between diegetic music -- music that actually exists within the world of the show -- and non-diegetic -- the imaginary, elevated emotional music that defines the art form in our imagination. (Sweeney Todd isn't singing in his universe; the Michael Jackson of MJ is.) That's one of the reasons why musical theater is preoccupied with performance. Examining why tells us a lot about the capital-T Theater as

Examining the origins of the musical, above and beyond its relatively limited American history, is a thorny trail, leading from the songspiels of 17th-century middle Europe to jazz-age Berlin. It's a story that's much larger than Show Boat and The Black Crook.SONGS FEATURED:"He is an Englishman" from HMS PinaforeOverture from The Magic Flute"Overture" from Show Boat"March of the Amazons" from The Black Crook"L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" from Carmen"Our great Mikado, virtuous man" from The