Most of us faintly remember fables, songs, and even movies that entailed important life lessons that we use throughout life, such as The Three Little Pigs, Romeo and Juliet, and even The Wizard of Oz. Retelling the summary is the easy part; but what about the message the author is trying to convey? Luckily, Broadway has found a solution to this, as well as broadening the audience of interest by diversifying the cast, and "compromising" the script of these original pieces so more of America can relate. Stories told from a new, contemporary, perspective can motivate new and diverse audiences to understand lessons to stories they always overlooked, ultimately changing their entire perspective on life.
One Broadway musical that swept the stage with attention was Rent. Rent takes place in the East Village of New York City from the late 1980's to the early 1990's. Rent targets a more pensive topic: HIV/AIDS. The story efficiently depicts the hardships of poverty, drug abuse, and financial struggle from the perspective of people who were HIV/AIDS positive back when scientists didn't know much about the stigma or how to treat it. In the film, the song, Seasons of Love, was performed. "How do you measure, measure a year"(Seasons of Love; Rent) was the question highlighted in the entire song. The purpose of the song was to help a specific audience cope with the inevitable by emphasizing the fact that the span of a life isn't measured by the physical sense, more so the memories and
Storytelling, in many ways, allows one to express their imagination through fanciful adventures and tales; thus, serving a purpose in terms of allowing an individual to cope with their tragedies, but also to entertain one another. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, and in Tim Burton’s Big Fish, the audience comes to realize that the conflict between fact and truth, combined with storytelling, are the central themes; it becomes clearer that facts have to be proven, whereas the truth is usually straightforward. These stories focus around the protagonists’ views, teaching the value, truth, and purpose of storytelling; in which, it is the pieces that collectively form the importance of storytelling. Storytelling allows the protagonists of both stories to cope with their struggles, and assists them in overcoming their adversities. It partly influences their decisions, and ideas; ultimately, changing their own perspectives in their struggles. Both show that stories can be incredibly meaningful and take on significant roles for the characters, which can be used to answer important questions about the truth.
No society remains immobile, even if some human beings resist changes. The advances in technology and the emergence of new beliefs allow people to have a broader imagination. Thus, numerous new interpretations of ancient works, whether they are plays, folktales, or poems, permeate around the world. These renditions re-tell the original stories in contexts that adjust to modern world. What was regarded serious in the past becomes mockery nowadays. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest English play writers, has a profound influence upon different societies globally since the fifteenth century, for his plays inspire many contemporary artists to present new scopes reflecting their societies. Considered as one of Shakespeare’s greatest
The interconnectedness of these character arcs generates an extremely complex plotline, and for this reason, it makes sense that the conventional Broadway musical writing sequence would perhaps not have been the most effective way to create this story, and this was not an issue the writers and production teams had faced before in the realm of musical theatre. Instead of, tone and theme were fully dictated by the score rather than the text, following the trials and tribulations of several main and supporting characters who come together in a unified narrative. Had the script portion of the libretto been created first, the depth and wit of Loesser’s music and lyrics might have
Peck states, “I do know life is life and theatre is theatre” (735), but we as Americans immediately turn life events into narrations where we ourselves play the roles of the characters and the plot is the problem that is affecting us in our life. Turning significant events into narrations allows Americans to replay events and go over them constantly throughout
Thomas Hardy once stated that “A story must be exceptional enough to justify its telling; it must have something more unusual to relate than the ordinary experience of every average man and woman.” This quote encapsulates the key element of what makes a story interesting and worth telling: its uniqueness and deviation from the ordinary. While every average man and woman experience stories in their everyday life, they are typically uninteresting and uneventful. A story worth telling must contain the opposite; it must be so exceptional in its characters and events that it lies unparalleled among the life of any average person. Not only do the characters and setting of the story have to be exceptional, but a story worth telling will also contain unique literary elements. Various lessons, themes, symbols, imagery, and other literary devices may be present to further add to the story’s excellence. For these reasons, Lord of the Flies by William Golding and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote serve as two of the most prominent exemplifications of this quote, as both stories are exceptional enough to justify their telling.
Stories are alive, not in the sense they are human, but like us, change and grow. The most wonderful tale that we love as children has always been ever changing. Like Little Red Riding Hood. Which still holds onto the part of its purpose to warn children of dangers
The film Rent (2005) is based on the musical by the same title, which is a story about people trying to make ends meet while being directly or indirectly affected by AIDS. The title is a little misleading, because the story mainly follows the relationships between characters and the effects AIDS make on their lives, while the subplot is them struggling to pay the rent. There is one main heteronormative relationship that is followed in the film, but the other two are not. One includes a gay man, Collins, who is with a person that is inferred to be a transgender woman, Angel. The other relationship is about a bisexual woman, Maureen, who loves a lesbian named Joanne. The original musical was written by Jonathan Larson, who incorporated autobiographical aspects, such as his bisexual girlfriend who is portrayed by Maureen, who left him for another woman. Larson was inspired by the La Bohème opera, but changed the gender of Joanne’s character to be based on to a woman. Larson was known for exploring social issues in his works and illustrates topics of homophobia, addiction, and multiculturalism in Rent. The musical and film reaches out to people that are considered to be unconventional, giving the message to take pride in who you are and characteristics or qualities that are considered to be disgraceful. The different relationships are used to show there is more than just non-heteronormative relationships, providing a message that taking pride in
Once there was a woman who told a story. However, she had more than just an entertaining tale to tell. She chose common images that everyone would understand, and she wrapped her story around them, and in this way she was able to teach the people . . .
"Love in L.A.," written by Dagoberto Gilb, is a story full of irony and multiple themes. The story is set in Hollywood during the summer time. Written in third person objective, "Love in L.A." guides the reader along through the story as opposed to an omniscient point of view.
For centuries, William Shakespeare has been a beacon of storytelling genius. He has the ability to tell timeless stories that can be classified within the genres comedy, tragedy and history. Proving as relevant today as they were 500 years ago, these stories conform to certain elements that define what genre the story falls under. Comedies such as The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and Histories such as King John and Henry V have all played a relevant role in defining the genres Shakespeare writes
Michael Gow’s Away is a stage play about three socioeconomically varied families and their different holiday experiences. Throughout the play, Gow alludes to many of Shakespeare’s texts to deepen the audiences’ understanding of the performance. Distinct connections are shown between Gow’s Away and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest and King Lear. These references feature through direct use of lines, characters, theatrical conventions and themes. This essay will explore each of these methods of allusion and explain how this use of intertextuality heightens audience comprehension.
“Mrs Borny not only taught us drama, but also how to write it, creating stories
Patrick Rothfuss, an American writer, once said, “It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.” Rothfuss explains how storytelling is always a part of everyone. Stories are told in different ways, and those stories shape the person tremendously. Many of the stories told today are what shape the audience. In “The Things they Carried”, by Tim O’Brien, and the film “Big Fish”, directed by Tim Burton, stories are portrayed to be productive because the characters all have an American Dream and their stories help the characters achieve tasks to get to their American Dream.
In our lives, we are surrounded by moments of tragedy that drives our will to keep moving forward. Our daily lifestyles are no different from the famous stories that playwrights have written throughout history. Playwrights are masters at combining theatre elements of tragedy, religion, violence, and numerous relative elements that the audience embrace faithfully. Today, Greek and Roman influence is the main topic since they have inspired the famous plays Desire under the Elms and The Glass Menagerie.
They way stories are told may morph, but never will storytelling cease. From their people skills to their memories, there is no argument that storytellers possess boundless talent and intelligence. They were the first educators. And now, storytelling is a large part of everyday life. The news in the morning, the gossip throughout the day, the casual response to the casual “What’s up?” – It’s all a form of storytelling. Our lives are steeped in it. In almost every conversation a story is told. At every turn a story is born. So we all are storytellers, and the world is our audience, just waiting to hear the gospel leave our