6. Music Always Does Something

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of musical theatre, researchers often put together a group of methods to create a framework within which to analyse a musical performance across disciplines. The strategy proposed in this chapter has three steps. First, consider the context within which the work was first created and analyse the conditions within which its performance was produced. Second, through analysis of chosen moments within the work, explore the ways in which the music, its signification, repetitions and genres, casts light on the narrative and characters. Third, reflect critically on the performance in relation to context, politics and theoretical frameworks. By analysing the recent Dutch production of Jesus Christ Superstar (directed by Ivo van Hove) using this method, it was possible to identify ways in which the musical narrative and the staged production presented different approaches to the work, such that the performance text appears unclear, and the press expressed criticism of the work. A second case study, a production of The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK, reveals a more cohesive political concept that can be discerned not just in the direction of the actors, but in the signification of music, voices, sounds and silence.