Sarah Courtis

The lyric in musical theatre is often enjoyed as an art form: however, as yet, there are few extensive, theoretically informed analytical approaches to the performative text. This exegesis begins with an original script (including annotations) of 2084: a musical, before turning to a critical analysis of the lyric in contemporary musical theatre. Asking questions about the use of the lyric to craft meaning and engage with audiences on multiple levels of meaning-making, I use a mixed methodology of practice as research, semiotic interpretation and audience reception theory to explore ways in which the lyric can be approached. The study presents potential modes of lyrical analysis before putting them into practice through three case studies. The first examines Hamilton: an American Musical, in order to discuss methods of signification and the impact an audience’s context can have on interpretation. The second interrogates the lyrics of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, to explore questions concerning adaptation and anachronism. The third discusses the artefact 2084: a musical, through the lenses of the previous case studies, with focus on authorial intent and how it can be used to craft fluid meaning in the lyric. Finally, the exegesis concludes that the lyric as a literary and performative text has the potential to be crafted to be both aesthetically pleasing and to have deep meaning ingrained for a varied audience. This study opens up the vista of what is possible when approaching the lyric as a practitioner and theorist.

Musical theory is a well-researched area of study which includes thematic devices such as leitmotivs, unfinished melodies, harmonic structure and many more in this vein. While he did not invent these concepts of musical theory, Richard Wagner’s creative advances and contributions to ‘Music Drama’ have greatly influenced musical theatre as we know it today. Wagner’s innovations in this area have led me to theorise that such musical devices can be applicable to the little studied area of lyrics. In order to explore this concept I have done a case study of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods as well as experimented with the theories Wagner composed (in essays) by writing lyrics to two musicals: one an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and another of my own devising via collaboration, Gesamtkunstwerk. By exploring an established lyricist's work, together with my own it is my purpose to demonstrate that lyrics can be studied from both a theoretical and a creative perspective and therefore can be respected by scholars and audiences alike.