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From Page to Stage
Overview
Musical theater book writers, lyricists, and composers have long looked to literature for their inspiration and subject material. In this lesson, students will compare and contrast literary works and the musicals they inspired. Utilizing video clips and Web sites, students will compare specific passages from original texts to moments in Broadway musicals on which they were based, and analyze similarities and differences between the two. As a culminating activity, students will try their hand at adapting and performing a nondramatic narrative, either as a straight play or as a musical number.
This lesson can be used as a pre- or postviewing activity for the PBS series BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL, or as an independent lesson for the language arts or theater classroom. A basic knowledge of musical theater (or movie musicals) and its conventions is required, and a basic familiarity with Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is helpful.
Time Allotment: Three to four 45-minute class periods (the Culminating Activity will involve additional class and/or homework time).
Grade Level: 8-10
Subject Matter: English/Language Arts/Theater
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Describe why "West Side Story" is an important milestone in the history of American musical theater, and what it is based upon;
- Describe the challenges musical theater writers, composers, and lyricists face when creating a musical based on preexisting literature;
- Analyze a passage from a work of literature for tone, mood, and character motivations;
- Describe the similarities and differences between portions of specific works of literature and the musical theater songs based upon them;
- Adapt nondramatic literature into a brief scene or song for performance.
Standards:
From the National Standards for English/Language Arts, developed by the National Council of Teachers of English, available online at http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm.
1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of the texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
From the National Standards for Theatre Education for grades 9-12, available online at http://www.byu.edu/tma/arts-ed/.
Content Standard 1: Script writing through improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history.
Content Standard 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions.
Content Standard: 7: Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and formal theater, film, television, and electronic media productions.
Materials:
Media Components
Video:
BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL: Episode 5: Tradition (1957-1979)
For the class:
Computers with Internet access and sound
TV
VCR
Chalkboard or whiteboard
For each student:
"From Page to Stage" handout
Pencil or pen
Prep for Teachers:
Prior to teaching this lesson, bookmark all of the Web sites used in it on each computer in your classroom (see the end of the lesson for a complete list of all Web sites). Download the Windows Media Player plug-in and the RealPlayer plug-in to each computer in your classroom. CUE the videotape to the appropriate starting point, which is shortly after the beginning of the episode, where you will see a black-and-white photograph of Jerome Robbins standing with three male dancers in shorts, and you will hear the narrator saying, "In the 1950s, while the choreographer Jerome Robbins was making his mark on Broadway ..."
If you would like your students to read hard copies of the literature excerpts used in the lesson rather than reading them online, visit each of the literature Web sites mentioned in Step 2 of the Learning Activity, print out the excerpt, and make copies for your students.
When using media, provide students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION -- a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.
About the Author:
Christopher W. Czajka is an educational consultant for BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL Online. He was the educational consultant for the hands-on history series COLONIAL HOUSE, as well as an educational and historical consultant for FRONTIER HOUSE. Prior to his work in public television, he worked in Broadway theater on the renovated 42nd Street. He is also the associate director of the National Teacher Training Institute (NTTI), an initiative that teaches educators across the country strategies for integrating public television programming into their curricula. To learn more about using media in your classroom, visit the National Teacher Training Institute online at http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/ntti.
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photo credits: Martha Swope
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