Musicals present more music than dialogue, and carry less words than theatrical plays (song lyrics included). Therefore, it’s not always easy to keep up with what’s happening in front of your eyes while still being able to comprehend every piece of information. Why is it then such a popular device for storytelling?
Music can be overwhelming in musicals: paired with diverse performative elements, the tunes carry not only important details of the story and its characters, but are also packed with hints at past and future plot events. However, contradictory to the popular belief that musical numbers could only deliver its meanings with the help of lyrics, melodic elements themselves can be superior when it comes to fueling emotions and perceptions. In musicals, music naturally guides the audience’s feelings, for it is the main factor that is controlling the tempo. You don’t have to understand which modes or keys are being used in a certain part of a song to feel a specific way, because in the most instinctive way, your mind automatically assigns meanings to sounds.
In our musical January Sun, for example, there is a scene in which Colin Clark tries to show January Sun how colourful and infinite the city is. For such a purpose, we created a cheerfully bright song sung by the upper class called Breakfast at Lunch. Setting the atmosphere for a technicolour world, the song’s written in D major — commonly found in holiday songs — with a quick tempo. Right from the beginning, the audience is rushed by a thick and upbeat melody into a bustling uptown scenery, with busy residents enjoying the day under a vivid sun. The instrumental then runs with strong keyboard sounds, stirring excitement and curiosity of what-comes-next, before all the city residents come together for the bursting climax. Step by step, just like our working class girl, the audience is invited into the world of the upper class in its most awaited hour. And that was only with the construct of music notes.
With such tunes, vocals need to be at least just as exciting and fun in order to present Colin’s picturesque view of his city. So why does singing matter, aside from the fact that we must sing in a musical?
We believe that songs in musicals are written for the moments where emotions are pushed to their highest. In daily conversations, when we get excited or angry, we’ll naturally raise our voices. This also applies to musical theatre, just in a different way: instead of shouting our lungs out, we sing our hearts out. Compared to speech, singing has a wider frequency and intensity range, features vowels that are more extended in duration, and a larger overall vocal tract. With greater resonance, it amplifies the attention and emotion of the audience towards the story played out on stage.
There’ll of course be the case where the audience can’t keep up with the lyrics, it’s not uncommon. Yet, it’s also not impossible for them to grasp the gist of what’s sung. Besides the fact that instrumental music can deliver the atmosphere and mood as mentioned, the sentiment in a song can be clearly shown through how the performer handles the story and expresses it with their singing techniques. As in Breakfast at Lunch, the scene of a dynamic city full of youth and possibility is painted by energetically heightened vocals to pair with the equally exciting tempo.
Vocalizing and harmonizing is essentially how characters communicate in musicals, and as funny as it may sound, it is the singing that neutralizes the complexity of meanings hidden in theatrical productions. It creates a bridge between the strange world on stage and the sense of familiarity in the audience’s hearts. And though similar to an advanced language competence that could deepen the understanding of a dialogue, professional musical training isn't a prerequisite for one to laugh and cry at a musical piece. Music is strangely powerful on its own, simplifying and amplifying messages all at once.