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- Module
- Contemporary musicals
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There are so many creative musicals out within the industry but there are very few withgothic or dark by entails. There are quite a few historic performances but do they have many
facts based on realism? A musical which I had stumbled upon was Witches! The musical.
This is mainly about the witch trials held at Salem during the late 1800s. So far this
performance was only performed at the Lincoln theatre. I would like to pitch this
performance to be performed at the York Royal theatre, since York itself has a lot of gothic
elements itself, has a landmark that has brought fame to the city and have sparked interest in
so many people who have a love of goth and have a love for witchcraft or at least Harry
Potter. Witches! The musical would be perfect to be performed in York due to the dark
historic elements of the performance and the genre of music used within the musical. The
demographics for the musical would include the subculture community of goth and
alternative, those who have a love of horror movies, people with interest in historic events
and those who are interested in learning about the events of the witch trials. The demographic
age would be from 16 until mid 30s, perhaps wider. Other places that I would like the
performance to be performed would be Bournemouth, Devon and Salem. These places would
have also been helpful to perform Witches! The musical, since of the other historical
elements behind it especially since Devon had the last witch trials within England, in the
Puritan era, Bournemouth is due to the inspiration of a horror writer Mary Shelly so therefore
fans of her work may be interested within seeing this musical. Also, Salem as in the musical
states that's where the musical was set.
York Royal Theatre is a historical theatre. “York Theatre Royal is a theatre in St Leonard’s
Place, in York, England, which dates back to 1744. The theatre currently seats 750 people.
Whilst the theatre is traditionally a proscenium theatre, it was reconfigured for a season in
2011 to offer productions.” (3)
“York Theatre Royal was built in 1744 on, and among, the site of the mediaeval St.
Leonard’s Hospital. Parts of the old hospital can still be seen in the modern building,
including archways and walls. Under the stage lies a well, which is believed to be dated from
the Roman era of York’s history. The 1744 theatre replaced a theatre in Minster Yard, built
byThomas Keregan, with the encouragement of the City Corporation, in 1734. Twenty five
years after its construction, in 1769, Tate Wilkinson paid £500 for a Royal Patent, and,
accordingly, it was renamed the Theatre Royal.” (4)
“The main auditorium has been refurbished with the addition of a new flat stage and fixed
rake stalls with new seating throughout to provide better sightlines to improve the working
environment for staff and performers alike as well as enhancing the audience experience.” (5)
This shows that the theatre can hold a vast amount of audience who would be interested in
seeing this performance as well as the theatre itself some aspects are modern with the
historical original set up with the historic elements.
“The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of
witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200
people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging
(14 women and 5 men). “ and the background of the Salem witch trials. “While witch trials
had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the mid-17th century, they continued on the
fringes of Europe and in the American Colonies. The events in 1962-1693 in Salem.” (6) This
,is some of my research on the Salem witch trials. This is relevant to Witches! The musical
since this is where the musical is set and is set during this era in history. “The fear of
witchcraft that possessed the village of Salem in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692 remains
in American popular culture as the single most celebrated of all witch hunts. Because of the
accusations of a small circle of girls and young women who frightened themselves with their
runaway imaginations and hysteric responses to real as imagined phenomena, an entire
community became crazed and caught up in the fear that many of their neighbours were
serving Satan in secret. The result of this witch hysteria was the deaths of twenty four men
and women, who were hanged, crushed to death, or died in prison.” From the description of
Circle Girls song.
The musical itself had so many different genres of music which were diverse within the
performance. The genres that were used were hip hop, rock, ballad and some were based on
love songs. The musical itself was entertaining yet eye opening to the facts of the puritan era
in America and the trials that took place in Salem. Every song had a moment of awe and was
unique to each specific character, although the songs that I had felt moved and entertained
when witnessing the musical, which I will be analysing are “Where My Witches at”, “The
Circle Girls”, “Stop The Trials” and “Salem Town”. The genre of the musical is
contemporary musical theatre and historic musical theatre. “One of the things I’ve done with
witches is I decided that each song would be kind of within its own genre. So it really is a
mix! There is opera in there, … some hip hop, contemporary musical theatre, some classical.
So I’m not sure since it jumps around so much I don’t think that there is one genre in general.
I think it has a contemporary feel but not contemporary like Book of Mormon.” - Music
composer interview. - Witches! The musical composer Conrad Askland.
The synopsis of Witches! The musical was found on the official blog (full reference within
the bibliography). “Witches! The musical had its world premiere in October 2012 at the
Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA. Presented by Theatre Arts Guild and directed by
Jane Skinner. Witches! Retells historical accounts of the 1692 Salem Witches Trials along
with a dose of fantasy and intrigue.” (full synopsis is within the appendix).
This tells us that this musical is a historical musical with its own interpretation of fantasy
threaded in with the facts of the Puritan era and with the facts on the witch trials documents.
One of the many songs that caught my attention was “Where My Witches at”. This song is
very upbeat and vocally energetic as well as instrumentally. The instruments that were used
within the song are guitars (rhythmic, lead and bass), drum kit and symbols, also keyboard
chords to support the melody and the harmony. The rhythmic guitar helped with the rhythm
of the overall song to make sure that all of the actors were on time and helped with the
rhythm of the spoken chants and the spoken dialogue. Having this in place was a great idea to
make sure that no parts clashed with others, to make sure that the parts of unison stayed
unison at the same rhythm.The genre of this song is rock musical theatre. The set up of the
structure of the song is designed to give off almost a rebellious effect to show that the “Circle
Girls” are going against what they have been brought up to believe. The song itself is set in a
major tone and is upbeat to give off an era joy to the situation of the scene. There is spoken
,dialogue between each verse to define what characters the focus is on and should be drawn
to. The lyrics of the song and the annotations that I have added are within the appendix.
Another song that had drawn me into the musical the moment that I had started watching it is
the opening number “We Once Lived in Salem Village”. It is a very upbeat rock song that has
got numerous different vocals such as baritone, bass and tenor for the men and mezzo
soprano with a few alto undertones of women voices. For this song, I couldn’t find any lyrics
but still annotated the song by watching the musical and listening to this specific song. The
instruments that were used within this specific song are cellos, double basses as the song
starts and the cast starts coming onto the stage, electric lead guitar, bass guitar, rhythmic
guitar, drums, drumkit, symbols, flutes for when the bridge comes in “watch what you say”
lyric, violin “watch what you say” the violins enter the orchestral instrumental. The
instruments then hold off and soften (violin and high hat symbol light taps), flute still
continues, when the women chorus comes in and sings “Beautiful”. When the lyric “Life
goes on” every instrument comes back in and continues. The impact is to show the different
levels of the harmony, to show the significance of the young women chorus and to show
significance on each character themselves as they enter the stage. By having a chant rather
than singing from the townspeople could suggest that they act more like a witch mob working
together to foretell what’s about to happen later. For the “Beautiful” chorus, the significance
of this is to foreshadow the group who sings this, to introduce them as a group and to give the
audience a glimpse into the characters together, as well as showing their significance to the
plot later within the musical.
The next song that I have been analysing is the “Circle Girls” song. Throughout the musical, I
feel like this song is one of the most significant songs to the plot but also to the group of girls.
The feelings that I am getting from this song is that it is empowering for younger women but
it is also using modern English in a historic musical. This could show that the teachings of
this song is still relevant to modern society as well as showing the next generation to stand up
for what they believe in, to stay loyal to their friends and also a small teaching on feminism.
“The Circle Girls of Salem 1692 from their group that would later be the initial driving force
behind the Salem witch trials. These first accusers were young girls led by Abigail Williams
and would become known as the “Circle Girls”.” Description of the Circle Girls song. This
song starts off as a duet between Abigail and Ann Junior. The vocal types are set within a
mezzo soprano range and starts with a piano melody underneath to set off the tone of the
song, just before the drums and the guitars start to come in by the chorus to show that they
are powerful as a group, as the song continues, the instruments layer even more. There is a
brief pause before Violet joins the circle to show equality. Then the instruments come back in
on a crescendo and finish with all voices singing in unison and the instruments perform
together harmoniously to represent that friendship is strong and a wonderful thing to have.
Another song that I feel is very significant to the musical as a whole is “Stop the Trials” as
this shows an end of a cruel political law that was tearing apart communities and turning
people against others. This song genre is hard rock or classic rock especially with the
instruments set up as keyboard, drums, guitars (rhythmic, lead and bass). This was used to
, show that the powerful message was to stop the unfair trials. This song was more hard hitting
with the vocals so therefore had a more powerful impact when singing the message to the
other performers and to the audience. I do feel like that this song has a rebellious feeling and
standing up for what is right by stopping the authorities with the witch trials.
After reviewing the interview of the music composer, I have no reviewed that the
demographics of this musical should be people with some interest of witchcraft but those who
are also interested in the history of witchcraft, people who are interested in American history,
people who are interested in the puritan era, musical theatre enthusiasts, people who are
learning law and those who are interested in law/legality. “...So musical theatre people,
historical, legal and three witches who left.” (1) Previously it was stated the reason why the
three witches walked out of the theatre. “I had three witches write to me. They came to see
the show and they said that they felt very offended by how he portrayed witches which was
interesting at the time. First of all, that’s not a large demographic to appease but what I have
found interesting is that there were no witches in witches. I think that we can agree that there
was no real witch as far as what we can think of taking over other people’s bodies, and these
kinds of things during the Salem witch trials.” (2) After looking at the interview, it was
interesting to find out why people who are interested in law would like to watch this musical
and that is because of the legal aspects that surround the musical. “There were a lot of people
interested in the historical aspect. A lot of people had contacted me who were descendants of
people who were involved in the trial and even some people who were executed, and they
came to see the show. A lot of people were interested in the American aspect of it. I was
surprised to learn this. Among the local legal scholars, attorneys, lawyers. I’ve heard that this
was the talk of the town for a couple of weeks since there are so many historical legal aspects
to this story. Back at this time they still admitted spectral evidence which is if someone sees a
vision of someone doing something bad then that person must have done that thing. So that’s
why these accusations were able to catch hold of things legally since they didn’t have actual
proof.” - music composer interview with Conrad Asland.
Within my opinion there is a wider demographics of people who would be interested in
watching this musical, after doing further research, I think the group of people who would be
the most interested in viewing this performance and that would be students who studies
history, American history, musical theatre, drama and law rather than opposed to people who
have a deep interest in witchcraft but those who are enthusiastic in learning the history of
witchcraft.
Within the future, I would like this performance to be performed in Salem theatre but
possibly around the dates of the first Salem witchcraft as a memorial performance so that the
people of Salem could watch the performance and the local schools who are learning about
American history. In conclusion, there were musical aspects that were educational.
Appendix
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