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BIG QUESTIONS

What's the Difference Between

an Opera and a Musical?
BY KIRSTIN FAWCETT

JULY 19, 2017

ISTOCK
00:23
03:03

They both have narrative arcs set to song, so how are musicals
different from operas?

For non-theater types, the word “musical” conjures up images of

stylized Broadway performances—replete with high-kicks and
punchy songs interspersed with dialogue—while operas are viewed
as a musical's more melodramatic, highbrow cousin. That said, The
New York Times chief classical music critic Anthony
Tommasini argues that these loose categorizations don't get to the
heart of the matter. For example, for every Kinky Boots, there’s a
work like Les Misérables—a somber, sung-through show that elicits
more audience tears than laughs. Meanwhile, operas can contain
dancing and/or conversation, too, and they range in quality from
lowbrow to highbrow to straight-up middlebrow.
According to Tommasini, the real distinguishing detail between a
musical and an opera is that “in opera, music is the driving force; in
musical theater, words come first.” While listening to an opera, it
typically doesn’t matter what language it’s sung in, so long as you
know the basic plot—but in musical theater, the nuance comes from
the lyrics.

When it comes down to it, Tommasini’s explanation clarifies why

opera stars often sing in a different style than Broadway performers
do, why operas and musicals tend to have their trademark subject
matters, and why musical composition and orchestration differ
between the two disciplines.

That said, we live in a hybrid-crazy world in which we can order

Chinese-Indian food, purchase combination jeans/leggings, and, yes,
watch a Broadway musical—like 2010's Spider-Man: Turn Off the
Dark—that’s billed as “rock opera.” At the end of the day, the lack
of hard, fast lines between opera and musical theater can lead
composers from both camps to borrow from the other, thus blurring
the line even further.