THE EXPERIENCE OF STUDENTS AS PART OF A SECONDARY SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE by William Warren Cook Stokes A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Education Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada September, 2010 Copyright © William Warren Cook Stokes, 2010 Abstract This thesis captures the nature of musical theatre in secondary schools in order to understand more completely the intrinsic benefits of the activity. The research surrounds the essence of students’ experience as part of a secondary school musical theatre course, and how students come to understand the meaning of their experience over time. The research design uses a hermeneutic phenomenological lens to capture the lived experience of six former musical theatre students using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data is organized in a narrative-like style and analyzed according to the emergent themes, the literature, and this researcher’s personal experience. The data suggest musical theatre is a journey of self-discovery where process is paramount. The alumni describe the impact of teacher quality on the musical theatre process, the family inherent in the musical theatre cast, the allure of performance and notoriety, and the frustrations toward other students’ apathy. Recent graduates note increased confidence and improved public speaking abilities, but older graduates see musical theatre as something life changing. The intensity of experience, therefore, seems to depend on the number of years students have to reflect on the impact of their experience. Holding these experiences in such esteem, in this study however, decreases the probability of participation in future musical theatre opportunities for fear of their inadequacy. These former students fear they will be unable to repeat the musical theatre experience to the same quality they experienced back when they were in secondary school. This regrettable cycle is unfortunate, but seems to be the reality of how students come to understand this experience over time. The analysis is intended to inform curriculum delivery, advocacy, and alumni relations for future courses in musical theatre. ii Acknowledgements It has been extremely informative for me that I have been a full-time teacher while being a part-time graduate student. Not only has my teaching practice improved as a result of my graduate work over these past five years, but my ability to conduct meaningful research has most certainly been informed by my role as an active music- educator. I am asking very different questions about musical theatre education now then I did at the beginning of this journey and credit my immersion in practice to my success in research. I would first like to thank my participants for sharing their stories about musical theatre. I would like to thank my colleagues for being the sounding board for many of the ideas presented here. I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Stephen Elliott and committee member Dr. Rebecca Luce-Kaplar for their encouragement and wisdom throughout this long process. Thanks to my family Kim, Chuck, Carlie, Eve, and Bill for their ongoing love and support. Lastly, thanks are extended especially to my beautiful and loving wife Erin for her patience with this work and her unyielding belief in me. Thank you. iii Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents...............................................................................................................iv Chapter 1 Introduction .........................................................................................................1 Purpose and Research Questions .............................................................................2 Defining Musical Theatre ........................................................................................3 Theoretical Framework............................................................................................5 Dewey and experience .................................................................................6 Dissanakyake makes art special...................................................................8 Musical theatre framework ..........................................................................9 Chapter 2 Context and Literature.......................................................................................10 Personal Context ....................................................................................................11 Historical and Cultural Context .............................................................................13 Classical musical theatre: Antiquity ..........................................................14 The minstrel show......................................................................................16 Other early forms: burlesque, extravaganza, and vaudeville.....................19 Melodrama and the revue...........................................................................23 Operatic influences ....................................................................................25 Musical comedy, musical play, and musical theatre..................................28 The future: concept musical, rock musical, megamusical, and revival .....31 Culture: Canadian musical theatre.............................................................34 Performance and Production Context ....................................................................38 Behind the scenes: production, selection, and technical considerations....39 Creative team: roles of the director and musical director..........................43 Performing: singing, dancing, and acting ..................................................46 Musical Theatre Research......................................................................................48 Musical theatre education ..........................................................................48 Effects of student participation in musical theatre.....................................51 Chapter 3 Methodology .....................................................................................................55 iv Chapter 4 The Performer’s Stories ....................................................................................61 Andrea....................................................................................................................63 Bridget ...................................................................................................................66 Caitlin.....................................................................................................................70 Darren ....................................................................................................................73 Ethan ......................................................................................................................77 Faye........................................................................................................................80 Chapter 5 Conclusions and Connections ...........................................................................84 Connections to the Theoretical Framework...........................................................91 Connections to the Personal Context .....................................................................94 Connections to the Historical and Cultural Context ..............................................96 Connections to the Performance and Production Context .....................................99 Connection to the Musical Theatre Research ......................................................101 Implications .........................................................................................................103 Moving Forward ..................................................................................................106 References........................................................................................................................108 Appendix A Interview Questions.....................................................................................115 Appendix B Recruitment Phone Script............................................................................116 Appendix C Letter of Information ...................................................................................117 Appendix D Ethics Approval Letter ................................................................................118 Appendix E Consent Form...............................................................................................119 Appendix F Interview Transcript Sample 1.....................................................................120 Appendix G Interview Transcript Sample 2 ....................................................................123 v Chapter 1 Introduction In spite of a rich history and tradition in musical theatre, “the products of Broadway have not had much success in the annals of scholarly criticism” (Swain, 2002, p. 6) partly because they may be too low an art form for high-art critics and too mundane an art form for popular-art critics (Walsh & Platt, 2003). Research in musical theatre education is even more limited primarily because musicals are not created