Musical Theatre Research Paper

On October 9th, I had my first experience with the Texas State musical theatre program. On this night I went to see Rent, the show they were performing. Being my first college show, I had no idea what to expect. But when I was offered a chance to go see the show for free, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see just how great the Texas State musical theatre program was and I have to say that I definitely was not disappointed. It all started when my roommate, who is in the musical theatre program, went to go see the dress rehearsal of the show. When she got back I could tell that she had gotten really emotional at the show. When I asked her how it went she told me that the show was amazing and that I needed to go see it. I then …show more content…
For a couple of weeks before this night, I had really been wondering what Rent was about. Before my roommate had mentioned it, I had never even heard of Rent before which she thought was crazy because apparently it was a huge success on Broadway and had been made into a movie. So because of my lack of knowledge on the play, I was really excited to be seeing it for the first time. Once the play started I told myself to calm down and truly enjoy and observe the show. While I was watching, some of the typical questions that people ask themselves during any performance or movie popped in my head like, “What is going on?”, “When is this supposed to take place?”, and “How old are these people supposed to be?”. One big question I had was “Where is the pit orchestra or is it recorded music?”. This was because I could not see where the pit was and it did not really sound like they were using a music track. However later that week, when I asked one of the people who was in the play about the orchestra, I was shocked to discover that the orchestra was under the …show more content…
The cast, from the main characters to the members of the ensemble, were all amazing at what they did whether it was singing or dancing or acting, they all did it very well. Even though I knew that we were not really in New York City and that it really was not 1989, the combination of the characters, the set, the costumes, and the overall atmosphere given off by show, gave the impression to the audience that we were actually witnessing all the struggles of living in New York City with AIDS or being a homosexual or struggling with a drug addiction. It also made me realize how much society has changed from 1989 to today. It made me see that how we as a society are more open to different sexual orientations than we were back in