The Embedding of Lyrics in a Musical Script AN ANALYSIS OF THE APPRAISAL IN THE DIALOGUE AND LYRICS OF THE MUSICAL DEAR EVAN HANSEN Word count: 27,672 Lisa Van Dousselaere Student number: 01401981 Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Miriam Taverniers A dissertation submitted to Ghent University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Linguistics and Literature Academic year: 2018 - 2019 ii “Today is going to be a good day and here’s why. Because today at least you’re you and that’s enough” ~ musical Dear Evan Hansen ~ iii iv Abstract “If [a musical] is so fine, it results in a sum total of a whole, and I first encounter it as a whole”, Lehman Engel stated (1981: 117). Although this depends on many factors, this dissertation is specifically concerned with how lyrics are embedded into a musical script. Using two case studies from the musical Dear Evan Hansen — namely Waving Through a Window and For Forever —, this thesis investigates two things: firstly, it researches the context of the song’s preceding dialogue using Martin & White’s Appraisal theory and compares it to the song itself. Secondly, these results are compared with the dialogue before the song’s reprise to indicate the function of the reprise. For each of the case studies a detailed close analysis reveals the instances of Appraisal in the dialogues as well as the most important themes in the song itself. In the results sections the numbers are discussed, making it possible to look at the most striking results per dialogue and per character. The discussion shows that the songs add to the feelings in the dialogue and have their own function as well. The comparison of dialogues preceding either the main song or the reprise revealed that the context indeed emphasises certain feelings or alters the function of the song. However, the discussion also showed potential for further research as it revealed that part of the meaning is lost when not taking into account the narrative as a whole. Next to that, this thesis also added sarcasm to the Appraisal model, which could be further elaborated on. v vi Acknowledgements Dear Lisa Van Dousselaere TODAY IS GOING TO BE A GOOD DAY AND HERE’S WHY. Because today I get to thank the people who have helped me with this thesis. Thank you again to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Taverniers for introducing me to Martin and White’s Appraisal theory. Thank you for answering all my questions, for discussing possible analyses and for providing feedback throughout the year. Thank you to my friends, especially to Jessica, Renée and Astrid, for the support and for proofreading parts of this thesis. Thank you to my parents and my sister Céline for their support throughout the year. A special thank you to my mama without whose knowledge of Excel I would probably still be counting instances. I can’t wait to finally share the Dear Evan Hansen musical with you all when we see it in Toronto this summer. And finally, thank you to the creators of Dear Evan Hansen for creating a musical that is so beautiful and so important. Sincerely, Me vii viii Table of Contents Legend ............................................................................................................................. xiii 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 2. Musical ...................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 The genre ‘musical’ ............................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Reprise of a song in a musical .............................................................................................. 5 3. Appraisal theory ........................................................................................................ 6 3.1 Appraisal theory: a general outline ...................................................................................... 6 3.2 Attitude .............................................................................................................................. 6 3.2.1 Affect ...................................................................................................................................... 7 3.2.2 Judgement .............................................................................................................................. 9 3.2.3 Appreciation ......................................................................................................................... 11 3.2.4 Final remarks on Attitude ..................................................................................................... 12 3.3 Engagement ...................................................................................................................... 14 3.3.1 Contract the dialogic space .................................................................................................. 15 3.3.2 Open up the dialogic space .................................................................................................. 16 3.4 Graduation ....................................................................................................................... 17 3.4.1 Enrichment ........................................................................................................................... 18 3.4.2 Augmenting .......................................................................................................................... 18 3.4.3 Mitigation ............................................................................................................................. 18 3.4.4 Focus ..................................................................................................................................... 19 3.5 Sarcasm ............................................................................................................................ 19 4. Case studies ............................................................................................................. 25 4.1 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 25 4.2 Case study 1: Waving Through a Window .......................................................................... 27 4.2.1 Close reading ........................................................................................................................ 27 4.2.1.1 The dialogue preceding Waving Through a Window .................................................... 27 4.2.1.2 The song Waving Through a Window ........................................................................... 39 4.2.1.3 The dialogue preceding Waving Through a Window (reprise #1) ................................. 44 4.2.1.4 The dialogue preceding Waving Through a Window (reprise #2) ................................. 50 4.2.2 Results .................................................................................................................................. 52 4.2.2.1 The dialogue preceding Waving Through a Window .................................................... 52 4.2.2.2 The dialogue preceding Waving Through a Window (reprise #1) ................................. 63 ix 4.2.2.3 The dialogue preceding Waving Through a Window (reprise #2) ................................. 70 4.2.3 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 73 4.2.3.1 Relation between the first dialogue and the song ........................................................ 74 4.2.3.2 Relation between the dialogues .................................................................................... 75 4.3 Case study 2: For Forever ................................................................................................... 77 4.3.1 Close reading ........................................................................................................................ 77 4.3.1.1 The dialogue preceding For Forever .............................................................................. 77 4.3.1.2 The song For Forever ..................................................................................................... 90 4.3.1.3 The dialogue preceding For Forever (reprise) ............................................................... 93 4.3.2 Results ................................................................................................................................ 101 4.3.2.1 The dialogue preceding For Forever ............................................................................ 101 4.3.2.2 The dialogue preceding For Forever (reprise) ............................................................. 110 4.3.3 Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 116 4.3.3.1 Relation between the first dialogue and the song ...................................................... 116 4.3.3.2 Relation between the dialogues .................................................................................. 117 5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 118 6. References .............................................................................................................. 120 7. Apprendices ...........................................................................................................