Name three musicals off of the top of your head. Easy right? Now name three plays. That’s a bit trickier to do than some people would like to admit. But why is it that plays hardly ever survive more than a few months on Broadway whereas musicals can run thirty years or more?
In the first place, musicals are just that… musical! People remember music and walk out of the theater singing the songs they just heard on stage. They buy cast recordings, memorize the songs, and some, if lucky enough, will play coveted parts in community and regional theaters nationwide.
Plays offer something else. They offer memorable characters, moments, and lessons. The issues are right there for the audience to see. And, for many theatergoers, seeing a play is often a more “intellectual” outing– whether it’s the somewhat goofy The Taming of the Shrew or the downright dark A Streetcar Named Desire. Plays, even when humorous, hold up a mirror to people and, in the bluntest way possible, make the audience look at themselves. There’s no candy-coated singing and dancing around issues.
There are also more original musicals (original meaning not a revival), on Broadway than there are plays. For example, we have Phantom of the Opera, Rock of Ages, and Chicago. A lot of plays, however, are revivals like The Heiress, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. We’re thinking this trend means that people experience a little bit more nostalgia when it comes to musicals versus plays. Think about it: you probably love your favorite musical because you remember seeing a production on Broadway as a kid, or you love the movie version that you’d watch with the whole family during holiday gatherings. The songs got stuck in your head, and you still know every word. Whereas your favorite play you might have read in school or you might have seen as a special engagement (think Alan Cumming’s Macbeth or the recent, strictly limited run of Death of a Salesman).
Similarly, musicals also offer bigger casts which are easier for high schools, community theaters and even regional theaters to produce. You may have a soft spot for The Music Man because you got a chance to play one of the residents of River City, whereas a role in Our Town might be a bit more rare. Musicals often follow the story of eight or more characters, and there is usually a big ensemble to bust out big, show-stopping numbers. A play usually has a small, tight cast, making these shows less popular for regional productions.
Though they’re often lumped together, we believe that plays and musicals are two distinctly different art forms. The more we thought about comparing the two, the more we realized how different plays and musicals truly are! Who comes out on top in the battle between plays vs musicals? Well, that’s like asking “movies or TV shows, who wins?” In the end, plays and musicals aren’t two sides of the same coin– they’re two very different currencies, each with its own value.