After the theater), in western society, musicals are deeply loved by the audience with their unique feeling of perfect combination of vision and hearing and strong entertainment of the times, and gradually formed a more mainstream mass cultural phenomenon. Since the spontaneous end and development of musical, it can be said that it has left a strong and colorful stroke in the history of modern drama in the world. After more than 100 years of history, musicals began to enter the field of vision of China audiences, and were accepted and loved by people. This is influenced by the requirements of diversification, internationalization and comprehensiveness of contemporary art forms in the world. Musical drama is a dazzling flower in modern stage performance. With the development and communication of world culture and art, it is attracting more and more audiences with its own charm, which is incomparable to other art forms. In order to let more audiences who love musicals know about musicals, the author intends to analyze the artistic characteristics, aesthetic ideas, creative ideas, structural diversity and high comprehensiveness of musicals, so that everyone can further understand the essence and feel better when enjoying them.

Western society believes that musical originated from European romantic operetta, was born in British small theater, and grew up on Broadway in the United States. Musical is the cultural product of European industrial civilization, the natural combination of advanced technological revolution achievements and stage art, and the inevitable result of the comprehensive and diversified performance of stage art by social disciplines. So, what is musical? It is difficult to have an exact definition. Because throughout the world, most musicals in different periods have no fixed patterns and different styles, and their compositions almost cover most artistic varieties in the world today. From the aspects of music form, expression and style, it does have a rich "diversity" system, but this "diversity" does not prevent it from following its own aesthetic concept and forming its own contemporary fashion artistic characteristics. The aesthetic concept of musical "artistic fashion" also determines that it has become the most successful stage performance art in the world today. It pays attention to people's appreciation motivation and aesthetic taste at present; It follows fashion and leads fashion; While realizing the "fashion" of art, we should strive to realize the "art" of fashion. Generally speaking, the artistic features of musicals mainly come from four aspects: drama content, music singing, stage performance and dance beauty production. In other words, musical is a kind of comprehensive and fashionable performance form which takes song and dance as the main artistic expression means to express the drama content.

First, the drama content is the core.

Since it is a musical, it should embody the essence of drama. First of all, it should be based on drama, and singing, dancing and dancing must exist for drama. Only by reflecting healthy themes, vivid plot events, vivid characters and fierce conflicts can the story be complete and the content arouse people's interest, which is an important basis for the survival and development of musicals. Because there is no drama without conflict, conflict is the soul of drama, and the contradictions and conflicts between the characters in drama are the ties that connect all the characters. The creative concept of musical is "to simplify and idealize complex stories with comprehensive artistic forms and methods." Therefore, the material, structure and characterization of musicals require a high degree of generalization, conciseness and concentration. In content, musicals pay great attention to people's destiny, value, dignity and emotion. It pursues the ideal life of human beings, always accompanied by an optimistic, open-minded and positive mental state, and always has a sense of humor and a natural and unrestrained mentality. It is always full of warm youth and lively vitality.

Taking four world-famous musicals as examples, we can see their dramatic characteristics, broad humanistic spirit and eternal theme of love. Cats are advocating a modern lifestyle and concept, which can correspond to human beings in life. Cats' smart, perverse and free lifestyle is so novel that people can look at themselves from another angle in their fantasy life. The play "Cat" has aroused the audience's philosophical thinking about "cat". Phantom of the Opera tells a mysterious and sad love story that happened in the Paris Opera House in the19th century. Through the description of the dramatic contradiction between the beautiful heroine, the mysterious and strange teacher and the handsome and rich viscount, it shows the major proposition that human beings are most concerned about at any time-humanity. The horror suspense, vivid love theme, thrilling plot and scene all cater to the current audience's preferences and viewing psychology, and it is worthy of being a vivid and touching tragedy masterpiece. As for Les Miserables, Hugo's famous saying "The mind is wider than the sea" can be used as the best annotation to the content reflected in the play. The conflict between the ideal of loving beauty and human instinct has formed a strong dramatic tension, which shows the light and beauty of human nature in people with different personality characteristics such as "thieves", policemen and priests. Miss Saigon is an anti-war drama, which focuses on the standpoint of all mankind and mercilessly criticizes and attacks the serious physical and mental injuries caused by the war and the tragic fate created by generations after the war. It is this profound theme that has been widely recognized and strongly praised all over the world. From the above four cases, we can see that classic musicals all have profound themes, rigorous dramatic structures and characteristics of inspiring people's emotions, which are the most basic elements for excellent musicals to have great influence.

Second, music singing as the main body

Since it is a musical, music should be the most important means of expression. As the name implies, there is no musical without music. Music in musicals is different from other types of music. It must be drama and dance. It must embody drama thoughts with distinctive musical images, provide inner emotional images and dynamic rhythms for dance, and create personalized characters. Music in musicals often combines various forms and styles and is not bound by any musical variety. The diversity of music materials makes its music language extremely rich. It has both classical music and modern pop music, such as rock and jazz. There are not only bel canto under the symphony, but also popular and fashionable melodies in electro-acoustic bands. In order to better express the plot and rich sound levels, musicals will make reasonable arrangements for different singing forms such as solo, duet and chorus, and give full play to their unique functions. Undoubtedly, the most memorable thing about musicals is their aria.

For example, The Memory of Memories sung by the charming cat in Cats is a solo in a pure sense. It has appeared four times in the play, and only in the second act is it the most complete presentation. This sad mood and moving melody sang the mood of a "woman" who lost her youth and beauty, experienced all kinds of hardships and life pains, and longed for her relatives and went home. This touching theme song has already become the representative and symbol of cats. 14 languages, 42 editions, sold more than 2 million copies, and was loved by people all over the world. "The Melody of the Night" in Phantom of the Opera

Music of the Night and Phantom of the Opera

Opera is the two most famous songs in the play, which have been widely circulated since 1985 was staged. It is worth mentioning: the protagonist Sarah? Bleiman's beautiful voice and exquisite interpretation add a lot of luster to this dramatic increase. At the same time, the drama has also made this "Meitong" singer who is neither bel canto nor pop singing, but both of them are very consistent with musicals and have a unique flavor, and has become a superstar in the international music world because of the drama. And Bohemia, a Gypsy Woman, in Notre Dame.

Girls and Broken Hearts just need to look at Sunset Boulevard.

Look at ";" Argentina, don't cry for me.

Argentina "and so on. These songs are amazing and well-known. With the continuous performance of musicals and the entry of modern media, it quickly swept the world and became the most popular musical song in the world. Even people who haven't seen the play will have a sense of expectation after hearing it. The presentation of musical arias in musicals is a very important key part in the formation and creation of the whole art. I would like to ask, which musical does not have a few prominent, popular, popular, catchy and unforgettable paragraphs, which seems to have formed a pattern, which is also a pursuit of musical creation. It can be seen that the musical aria is the most important.

Third, dance performance is a feature.

In the development of musical, many excellent works are deeply loved by the audience and are closely related to beautiful dance. Whether in West End of London, England or Broadway, New York, USA, it can be said that dance has played a very important role in the process of making musical from vaudeville and comic performance into an advanced comprehensive performing art. For a long time, the fate of musicals and dances has been recognized by the audience. Dance is an organic part of musical, which bears unique lyrical and narrative functions and is an essential form of expression to promote the development of plot and music. Dance in musicals can give music a visual impression and a visible explanation, so that the profound connotation of music melody can be brought into play, and the mutual complement of vision and hearing can be properly formed, so that music and dance can reach the highest level of harmony and achieve the best effect of complementing each other. In addition, the dance in the musical can make the drama performance "relaxed and humorous", which is one of the cultural qualities of the musical. No wonder some people say that dance is the best "renderer" of modern stage atmosphere. The visual beauty it conveys to the audience and the atmosphere it creates in the venue cannot be replaced by any art. Dance creation in musicals has the characteristics of "absorbing English" and "concentrating". It never pays attention to any traditional rules and patterns, but only pays attention to the performance effect. There are not only dignified and gorgeous ballet, but also light and lively tap dance, dynamic jazz dance and meaningful and elegant modern dance. The director choreographed the dance beautifully according to the plot, without any rules, eclecticism and eclecticism.

For example, the director of the drama "Cat" uses different dance performances to show "personality" cats with different personalities and characteristics. The classic ballet "Pure White Cat" begins with generous movements, showing the innocence and attachment of the younger generation to the family; "Magic Cat" uses ballet with jazz dance characteristics to let the audience enjoy his magic and get pleasure from the dance skills at the same time; The funny duet of "Thief Cat" and the wild rock style of "Rock Cat" are dazzling and amazing. Another example is Notre Dame de Paris. When Ais Milada appeared to sing "Gypsy Woman", the dancers beside her danced a frenzied and cheerful flamenco dance. At this time, the appearance of dance can make the audience feel her unrestrained emotions directly than her singing. When Phoebe sang "Heartache", the back dance of four male dancers around her made people appreciate his dark and painful choices. In addition, the choreography of the Broadway musical 42nd Street, which is never tired of watching, is even more ingenious and refreshing. During the performance, the curtain rose several tens of centimeters. In the highly rhythmic music, hundreds of pairs of bright dancing shoes rattled on the floor. As the curtain rises slowly, dancing long legs, dancing skirts and changeable dance steps can be seen at a glance. This American tap dance is the highlight of the performance. I can't help but mention that west side story, which is talked about by musical fans, really shocked the audience who are used to seeing beautiful women and jade legs at the beginning of its street dance. This kind of "street wandering" dance not only shows the real environment and is full of social life, but also plays a very good role in portraying the characters and paving the way for the plot. It seems that only a dance that is completely integrated into drama can become an excellent musical dance. The reason why the dance in musical is so wonderful, appropriate and natural lies in the close relationship between dance and music, and in giving up "the wings of a bird" and "the two wheels of a car" constantly; It lies in the rich imagination and creative inspiration that music brings to the director; It lies in the careful design of the director's drama orientation and musical image thinking. Undoubtedly, the interaction between dance and music in musicals is always full of vivid and endless variables.

Fourth, the production of dance beauty is fashionable.

Musical drama can become the most successful stage performance art in the world today, and the factors of dance beauty production are indispensable. Musical is not a single work of art, therefore, the overall consciousness and concept in creation is particularly important. Even if there are good scripts, successful music and excellent dances, if there is no dance production or no attention is paid to the design and production of beautiful dances, then the performance of musicals is bound to be "pale and powerless". Stage lighting, scenery, clothing, makeup, props, sound, etc. Collectively referred to as stage art, or "dancing beauty" for short, it is an indispensable organic part of musicals. The function of dance beauty is to simulate and reproduce the image of specific objective things, create the time and space of stage performance, provide the designated scene of performance, and promote the development and completion of the plot. On the stage, all the auditory and visual effects belong to the category of dance beauty production except the singing of actors, dance performances and band performances. Judging from the gorgeous and exquisite stage of today's musical, the production of dance beauty really reflects a high-tech aesthetic change, making it more fashionable for the audience.

Phantom of the Opera, the most popular movie in the 1980s, has a huge set, with more than 200 sets of luxurious costumes, resplendent reliefs, two towering towers, a wooden boat winding in an underground lake and hundreds of floating candles, all of which constitute the scenes needed for the plot. The play changes scenes almost every five minutes. And it gets bigger and grander every time. Especially when the hostess and her lover inadvertently walked into her teacher's residence, the audience was deeply shocked by the large-scale production of the dance beauty. The two lovers are immersed in the ocean of love, which is expressed by a boat sailing in the hazy clouds. The whole stage is like an unreal world; The cage-like residence of the teacher is displayed with huge iron bars, revealing a gloomy, cold and isolated atmosphere. Two different scenes accurately simulate and reproduce the specific environment in the play. It is the successful creation and artistic treatment of this environment that adds a lot of color to the characterization and plot description of the play, and at the same time, it also makes the audience immerse themselves in this specific atmosphere and feel the artistic charm of the production of dance beauty. In addition, the production of Cat is also amazing. In order to create a cat paradise, the designer transformed the theater into a rotatable three-sided stage, which extended the scenery and foreground to the audience, greatly expanding the performance space and narrowing the distance between the audience and the actors. The stage of cat performance is located next to the urban garbage dump, which magnifies human domestic garbage by three times according to the proportion of cats and presents it on the stage. There are discarded shoes, cups, hats, toothpaste tubes, tires, sofas, old household appliances, etc. Coupled with the use of high-tech means of sound and photoelectricity, the audience seems to be in a big garbage dump. The fantastic stage has created fantastic effects and produced a strong visual and auditory impact. Especially in the image design of "human" cat, the designer's imagination has been fully exerted. There are 36 different cats in the play, and their clothing colors, patterns and fur are very particular. Every cat's facial makeup and dressing up try to match the identity and personality characteristics of the role, and the perfect and exaggerated dance beauty production makes these cats with different shapes come to life. From the above two examples, we can draw a conclusion that the conception and effect of dance beauty production are unified with the plot content, image contrast and emotional expression. Only in this way can we exert its tension in the play and thus play a role in fueling the flames. It can be seen that the production of dance beauty is also an independent and creative art, which plays a vital role in the success of the play.

To sum up, drama content, music singing, dance performance and dance beauty production constitute the artistic characteristics of musicals, thus forming the basic artistic style of musicals. Whether in practice or in theory, these four elements have been combined into an artistic whole in musicals. Their original characteristics are not simple addition or random mixing, but mutual infiltration in the integration, which makes each kind have qualitative and "musical" changes. You have me, I have you, interdependent and complementary. It is precisely because of the integration of the four, musical has the characteristics of strong compatibility, strong creativity and wide coverage, and has become the most fashionable and popular performing art on the international stage today.