Live Theatrical Performance Paper

Live Theatrical Performance Paper

Karan Sutton

HUM/103

11 Sept 2011

Marianne Murawski, Ph.D.

A live theatrical performance is a play that through gesture, speech, song, music or dance communicates experiences and expressions to an audience and is brought to life on stage. One of the major advantages of live theater is watching a live performance that provides immense pleasure and is considered as one of the most gratifying as well as memorable experiences for many people who love art and theater ("Benefits Of Live Theaters," 2011). The live theatrical performance that I will be discussing is Hairspray, a charmed musical that brings comedy, affection, joy, and inspiration to life by telling a story of an overweight teenage girl, Tracey Turnblad, who has a heart bigger than life itself and except herself for who she is, proudly. This performance was told through the eyes of a dance-crazed teenager with a mission to integrate her local television dance show ”The Coney Collins Show” in hopes of making a change in segregation in the 1960s.

Performance Aspects

The aspects of this performance that I was pleased with was how the cast chose to take a basic storyline of a movie and made it bigger, bolder, and brasher by taking advantage of the theatrical setting to tell this story of a teenager and her ambitions to integrate a television dance show. For this reason this musical was very heartfelt and realistic, which made the singing and dancing natural throughout the entire play. The cast of Hairspray was so outgoing with bursting emotions and energy that could not be contained and because of this, the entire audience was in...