| Traditionally, musical theatre has been accepted more as a practical field than an academic one, as demonstrated by the relative scarcity of lengthy theory-based publications addressing musicals as study topics. However, with increasing scholarly application of cognitive theories to such fields as theatre and music theory, musical theatre now has the potential to become the topic of scholarly analysis based on empirical data and scientific discussion. This dissertation seeks to contribute such an analysis, focusing on the implied gestural lives of the characters in three musicals by Stephen Sondheim, as these lives exemplify the composer's tendency to challenge traditional audience expectations in terms of genre through his music and lyrics.;Based on the research of David McNeill and others, scholars have argued that the synchronization of speech and gesture support their conflation into a single language for the purposes of audience understanding and response to theatre and film. Meanwhile, research relating to cognition and music has indicated that music and gesture are similarly connected, supporting the relevance of gestural interpretation to the communication of musical notation as well. With regard to musical theatre in particular, the work of composer Stephen Sondheim lends itself to studies related to the relevance of gesture to audience affective response, given Sondheim's tendencies to write with an actor's physical interpretation in mind.;My three main chapters, therefore, address the language of music, lyrics, and gesture in three musicals that both support and challenge traditional audience response in terms of the genres within which they are most easily categorized. The first addresses A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as farce, analyzing implied physical tendencies related to base aggression and laughter most often associated with farce. The second addresses Sweeney Todd as melodrama, examining the ways in which Sondheim's music and lyrics imply an onstage gestural life that both supports and pushes beyond traditional audience expectations for engagement in the fear and delight related to melodrama. Finally, I address Into the Woods as romance, analyzing this musical's relative exploration of concerns based in romantic heroism through the communicative value of its music/lyric/gesture language. |
