Before The Curtain Rises

Before the Curtain Rises:
Analyzing the function of overtures in musical theatre.
BA Musical Theatre
Research Project Analysis
Student ID: 784930
Professor: Armando Rotondi
Date of Submission: April 1st, 2019

1
Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 2
Literature review .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Musical memory ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Emotional Recall ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Audience Engagement .............................................................................................................................. 4
Traditional Approaches............................................................................................................................. 5
Methodology ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Case/Practice ............................................................................................................................................... 6
Choosing the material ............................................................................................................................... 6
Wicked .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Beauty and the Beast ............................................................................................................................. 6
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie ........................................................................................................... 6
She Loves Me ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Creating the video .................................................................................................................................... 7
Wicked .................................................................................................................................................. 7
Beauty and the Beast ............................................................................................................................. 7
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie ........................................................................................................... 7
She Loves Me ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Creating the survey ................................................................................................................................... 8
Age ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Location ................................................................................................................................................ 8
Gender .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Musical theater knowledge .................................................................................................................... 8
Familiarity with the shows ..................................................................................................................... 8
Collecting the Data ................................................................................................................................... 9
Results .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Survey results analysis .............................................................................................................................. 9
Wicked ................................................................................................................................................ 10
Beauty and the Beast ........................................................................................................................... 10
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie ......................................................................................................... 10
She Loves Me ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Understanding the data .......................................................................................................................... 11
Emotionally driven responses............................................................................................................... 11
Taste driven responses ......................................................................................................................... 11
State driven responses ......................................................................................................................... 11
Explaining the results .............................................................................................................................. 12
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 13
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 14
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................... 15
Before the curtain rises

Analyzing the purpose of overtures in musical theatre
2
Abstract
Composers, producers and writers have their general idea about what they want the audience to
imagine when listening to the overture, but sometimes the effect is not the one they had originally
intended. After collecting data from more that one-hundred participants, their responses are going
to be analyzed in order to understand what the general public feels when listening to an overture.
This will help understand the overall purpose of this piece of instrumental music in musical theatre.
Introduction
When musical theatre as an art form was born, it had already taken the general characteristics of
Operettas; the light operas that had existed since the XIX Century (Jones, 2003). These musical events
often featured songs that the audience knew, something that early musical theatre shows also
featured. Audiences walked in with a rough idea of what they were going to be listening to during
the evening; however, those shows that didn’t feature popular songs were in a disadvantage, as the
songs were unknown to the new audience members, and this may potentially bore the audience
(Green, 2006). But overtures perhaps aided these shows, as they played and presented the main
themes of the musical, and set the mood for the show that the audience was about to see (Lunden,
2008):
Overtures are a way of plugging the songs at the same time as putting the audience into comfortable,
and especially if they have already heard the music, familiar surroundings. (Citron, 1997, p. 254)
Overtures are something that most musical theatre shows have featured since the very beginning of
its conception, but it is remarkably complicated to understand their purpose and their real reason
for existing. We can argue that their sole purpose is to set the mood, or to have the audience settle
down (Citron, 1997); but perhaps their real reason of being featured is something completely
different of what most theatre people think. In this analysis, a study is made with four different shows;
that have or don’t have an overture. Then this shows are presented to a sample of people whose
knowledge on musical theatre ranges greatly; allowing the interpretations of viewers that know
nothing or very little about the subject, to be relevant. After watching the videos, the participants
were asked about how they felt, and if the overture had any effect on them upon viewing the
transition from the overture to the first section of the first scene. Upon collecting all of the
information received by the respondents, a potential result of what the purpose of overture really is
can come into the light; finding this way an answer to the question to the subject matter.

3
Literature review
Musical memory
To investigate how overtures work it is essential to also understand how music itself works, and how
it affects the audience that is listening to that music. Music is an extremely abstract concept, yet it
provokes listeners to feel very consistent emotions (Resnick, 2016), and these emotions are always
accessed when listening to the same tunes. Because of its emotional weigh, music is involved in the
creation of associative memories1 (Jäncke, 2008).
Our brains are designed to remember things at all times, and this is constantly taken advantage of.
Advertisers stick jingles into our heads to remind us to buy their products, radio stations overplay
songs for us to end up liking them, and the list goes on. So it is possible that within the musical
theatre field, the same approach and reasoning is used when writing an overture:
Overtures are a way for the composer to get the melody on to the ear of the audience before they
heard it. (Rowe, 2019, personal interview)
It is extremely interesting to mix the psychology behind musical recall and earworms2 with the world
of musical theatre, as it still applies and effects theatre goers. Composers might not be aware of the
psychological element hidden within their music, but audiences are still affected by the things their
music evokes. For this study INMI3 won’t be as relevant as VMI4, as the audiences that are listening
to an overture at a theatre are voluntarily listening to it; thus, triggering whatever imagery that music
might evoke.
1
Associative memory: a memory system in which a specific piece of memory information is linked to other memory
information by associative links. Recalling a previously experience item by thinking of something that is linked with it
evokes the association. (Jäncke, 2008)
2
Earworm: a catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person's mind.
3
INMI: Involuntary Musical Imagery
4
VMI: Voluntary Musical Imagery

4
Emotional Recall
Closely linked to the previous section, but adding another layer of complexity into the audiences’
state. When listening to the music that triggers a memory, it is not only autobiographical memories,
or memories of places visited; it also evokes emotional memories that are hidden in our brain.
A song can remind us of love, happiness, sadness, insecurity… (Jakubowski, 2008). Because of the
presence of music in our lives during most of all of the stages of it, we can recall the emotions felt
during those times when listening to a particular piece of music.
Emotion is automatically evoked by musical pieces and inevitably influences recognition, even
when it is not focused on. (Jäncke, 2008, p. 21)
To better understand what the general emotion that overtures evokes, audiences must be exposed to
pieces of music or tunes that they already know; and that have some emotional value for them, thus
triggering some sort of emotional response to the music being played.
Audience Engagement
Theatre is designed to entertain; however, it is not always successful at doing so. Some people that
attend the theatre are not going with an open mind, and ready to be entertained; some people go
because they are forced to or think they are in a night out. And because theatre is evolving into more
and more accessible stories, not only sophisticated audiences are filling up the seats (Baird, 2018).
For this study, both types of audiences are relevant. As it is equally important to understand how a
connoisseur of theatre might feel as opposed to someone who is being forced to attend the theatre.
It is not always up to the composer to decide whether their show needs an overture or not. “Some
directors and choreographers will use this piece of music to entertain, and to start telling the story;
gaining the audience’s attention and engaging them since the very beginning. […]But it is not always
up to us, sometimes the size of the venue requires one, or the producer really want to feature one
in the beginning of the show.” (Rowe, 2019, personal interview). If a musical features an overture,
that will be the first thing that the audience members will listen to after settling into their seats. Often
overtures are long (5 minutes or more), so it is interesting to evaluate how audiences feel when
presented with an overture of this length, and how they feel while looking at a curtain or an empty
stage.

5
Traditional Approaches
As mentioned before, musical theatre evolved from operettas; and overtures are common in this
format. Because of this, the traditional purpose of an overture has to be taken in consideration. These
overtures are usually long, and contain themes that will be featured in the musical later on; and they
are very classical in style, as they are influences by operas and operettas. This is also heavily related
to the previous topic, because of the nature of the traditional approach to overtures and how they
affect the audiences and their engagement.
It wasn’t until Rodgers and Hammerstein decided to create a Prologue for Carousel in 1945, that
other composers and writers started to not feature a traditional overture in their shows. Since then,
overtures have been adapting to the new audiences and have changed greatly. In fact, when trying
to feature a traditional style overture in The Producers, Mel Brooks said that: “audiences were too
anxious to sit though the overture so it was reduced to a musical introduction and then the curtain
went up” (Anonymous, 2008). This instance has significant meaning, as it demonstrates how
audiences may not be willing to sit through a lengthy piece of orchestral music without anything
happening onstage.
Methodology
To be able to research the purpose that overtures have, an exposition to different options had to be
created in order to understand what the audiences prefer, and what they think the purpose of what
they’re being presented to means. Creating a video was needed to reach a broader range of
audiences. In this video the participants had the opportunity to select which option they liked best:
a musical that started with overture, or the same musical starting without overture; and are also
given the chance to explain the reason of their response. Once the survey was closed, the data was
collected and analyzed to understand the audience’s response to different options of beginnings of
a musical.

6
Case/Practice
Choosing the material

Understanding the way that musical theatre has worked is not an simple task, and require extensive
research in terms of style and tradition. As musicals are in continuous evolution, so is it’s form and
its style of conception. This is why it was needed to choose shows that offered a variety of styles,
eras and forms of conception; the more contrasting these were the more valuable information was
going to be found.
Wicked: This is a blockbuster show, that has been engaging audiences around the world
with more than 34 productions around the world since it opened in 2003. It was chosen
because of its accessible characteristics and fairly know story. This show originally features
an overture and it is between the categories of contemporary and contemporary legit musical
theatre.
Beauty and the Beast: This adaptation of the original Disney film premiered on Broadway
in 1993, two years after the movie had been released. It was the first movie to be adapted
into a staged production, and it had an overture that featured several of the well-known tunes
from the beloved film. 5 This show was chosen because of its relation to musical and
emotional recall. This musical has the style known as contemporary legit.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: A show based on a real story, and that features relevant
social issues among the current generation. It opened in the West End 2017, and has been
captivating audiences ever since. This musical falls in to the contemporary style, and as
many contemporary musicals do6, it does not have an overture before the beginning of the
show; just a very small electronic beat before the first scene starts. This show was chosen
because of its actuality and relevance, and its lack of an overture.
5
Refer to appendix for an example of familiar tune in the overture (Fig. 1)
6
This style is characterized by the use of Pop/Rock influences, speech quality; and the driving force of the show is the
story, the book and the lyrics. This shows aim for audiences that can relate to the subjects and what to be moved by it.

7
She Loves Me: Premiered in 1963, and set in Budapest, this show falls into the category of
traditional musical theatre; as it was written during the Golden Age of musical theatre7. The
story that the show follows wasn’t used for data collecting purposes, but it was chosen
because it has a traditional style overture8.
Creating the video

Usually it is very hard to find a professional recording of a musical, as it’s very rare that producers
allow for recordings to be distributed. However, when choosing the musicals that were going to be
used in this project it was taken into consideration that they had a professional recording available
to the public. This was important because audiences are usually easier to engage if the content they
are viewing is of good quality.
After finding the right recordings, a cut had to be made to the videos to only show the very first
section. The four shows were cut into around 1.5 minutes long sections, except when adding the
overtures that these sections ended up being 2 minutes long.
Wicked: this show originally features an overture, so the overture was cut off and was
presented as option A. Option B was the option that played the overture before the opening
scene.
Beauty and the Beast: in this production, an overture is played before the first character
starts to sing. The overture was removed and this clip was presented to the participants as
option A; option B was the clip that featured the overture before the first scene.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: this musical does not have an overture play before the
first scene begins. In order to create a similar effect to an overture, an instrumental of the
song “And You Don’t Even Know It” was played before the scene started (Option A), and the
original video (without the overture) was presented as Option B.
She Loves Me: for this show, the overture plays the longest of the four. It has a traditional
style overture that leads into the very first scene (which in sung). The overture was cut from
7
During this era, musicals evolved from revues and follies into fully-formed book musicals. (Robertson, s.f.)
8
The definition of this term is explained earlier in the ‘Traditional Approaches’ in the Literature Review.

8
and the clip remaining was Option A, and the full clip that played the overture was presented
as Option B.
All of these clips were put together in a single video that was then embedded into the survey so the
participants had everything in one place; thus minimizing the risk of them stopping or leaving half
way though the survey.
Creating the survey

At the time of creating the survey, many factors had to be taken into consideration; as people of
different generations will have very different things to say, and similarly for those who live in a
different part of the world, or have a different level or knowledge of musical theatre. The survey was
divided in two sections: A, in which personal data of the participants was collected and B, where
the opinions after watching the video were collected. The factors that were taken into consideration
for section A were:
Age: the range of ages when from 15 to 80. Giving the chance to analyze the following age
ranges: 15 to 24 years old, 20 to 24 years old, 25 to 30 years old and 30 years old and up.
Location: this was needed to understand the differences among the opinions of people who
frequent the theatre in different parts of the world. For example, an American person has
probably been more exposed to theatre than someone who lived in a small town in Spain;
and these two hypothetical people will have very different, yet extremely value, information
to share.
Gender: for the purposes of this survey, the gender was irrelevant. As both genders can
have the same amount of knowledge, and it wouldn’t affect information to be collected.
Musical theater knowledge: this category was particularly complex, as it is not easy so self-
assess one’s level of knowledge of something. But having a rough idea of how much the
participants knew about the musical theatre field was essential to understand the differences
of thoughts between those who know a lot, and those who know very little.
Familiarity with the shows: to better understand how much the participants knew about
the shows presented, they were asked to organize them in levels or familiarity. This way the
it was clear to understand which shows were more popular. This was important because if

9
a participant knows that Jamie9 doesn’t have an overture because they are familiar with it,
their response is going to be different from someone who knows nothing about the show.
For part B, participants were asked about their opinion about the video they just had seen. They
were asked questions that made them justify their selection to better understand their way of
thinking. To delve more into their reasoning, an empty box for text was presented (and required to
fill) for the participants to explain with their own words the reasoning behind their choices.
For this survey, a more complex system was used. It had to had logic to take the participants to the
right question depending on their previous responses. If a survey-taker had replied “No” to an
answer, the following questions would have been different from those that a participant who had
replied “Yes” for the same question. The only online platform that allowed this sort of survey was
esurv.org, an online and free platform that has a very advanced survey creating system. Because of
the digital nature of both the video and the survey, it was easier to expand the range of the locations,
ages and levels of musical theatre. This survey was posted in various different online platforms such
as reddit, Facebook and Twitter.
Collecting the Data

The survey platform used for this project delivered a very rough and complex Excel chart that wasn’t
very helpful at the time of analyzing all of the results from the survey. This is why another file was
created in order to better visualize all of the results; after creating the document, all of the
information was clearer and it was much easier to categorize and clarify the information submitted
by all of the survey-takers.
Results
Survey results analysis10

From the total sample of 106 participants, the majority’s age was between 20 and 24 years old, and
the majority (61) were located in the United States. Within the surveyed sample, more than 50%
percent considered their musical theatre knowledge to be between 7 and 10, on a scale from 1 to
9
Audiences often refer to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie as simply: ‘Jamie’.
10
Refer to appendix for detailed analysis of the survey results. All of the data mentioned in this section is taken from said
survey. (Attachment 1)

10
10. Almost the totality of the participants (83), knew what the definition of overture was and were
familiar with its origins. Despite there was a decay in the response rate, especially after question 7,
most participants that provided valuable information remained for both section A and B of the
survey. However, those who opted out before section B still provided valuable data about the
general knowledge in the subject matter.
Upon asked what the purpose of an overture was, the most popular answer was that overture was
meant to set the mood of the piece before the show; followed by “to make the audience settle down”
and “to entertain”. Unexpectedly 13 participants chose a fake answer, which was “for the musicians
to warm up”, lastly followed by “to make time”. When asked to put the shows in order of familiarity,
Wicked took over the first place; followed by Beauty and the Beast, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
and lastly, She Love Me.
Wicked
Participants mainly chose the option featuring the overture (88.30%). Upon reading the written
feedback, most people expressed that the overture made them feel “engaged and focused”,
“excited” and that [it] “gets everyone’s attention and makes you settle down into the seat”. In
general the public said that the overture for this piece set the dramatic tone, and prepared them for
what was to come. Those who preferred the option that didn’t feature the overture (11.70%), were
not clear in their written feedback about their reason for choosing the option.
Beauty and the Beast

Once again, the most popular option was the one with the overture (77.50%). However, this time
the selection of the option was justified with different reasons. This time participants employed the
term nostalgia in several instances, which brings emotional recall and musical memory into the
analysis. The familiarity of the music was what lead the majority to choose this option, but
participants also mentioned very similar things to what was mentioned in the previous section, as
in: “Prepared us for the first scene”, “sets up the magic” or “made me feel ready to be entertainment”.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

In this particular case, the overture featured in the video viewed by the audience was placed during
the editing of the video; this show does not originally have an overture and was only placed to
analyze the audience’s response to it. The most popular response was, again, the one with the
overture (24). Participants explained that the option without the overture felt “abrupt” and like a

11
“cold open”. Contrary to that, they expressed that the music at the beginning got them “super
excited” and “fully engaged”. This particular question was the closest one to a tie, as Option A (With
Overture) was chosen by 53.30% of the participants, and Option B (Without Overture) by the
remaining 46.70%. However, those who chose the latter option expressed that “the overture was
too boring and didn’t do anything” and that because “it jumps straight in, stays down to earth as the
sort of show it is.
She Loves Me
This was the show that least of the participants were familiar with; only 10 people placed in the first
or second level of familiarity. But still, the option with the overture was the most selected, with
68.20% of the participants choosing it. The length of this overture was the main point that
participants expressed dislike towards. They expressed that “it just lasted a very long time” and that
“it played the same kind of music”. However, those who preferred the overture said that they felt
“excited and curious” and that “it made them excited to see what was going to happen”.
Understanding the data
With all of the data collected from the survey, it is needed to divide the kind of responses that were
given by the participants. Because of the different nature of the answers, they can give other insights
regarding the reason behind the choosing. The responses collected from the survey were divided by
the driving element behind them: emotional, taste or state.
Emotionally driven responses – (Musical and Emotional recall): are those that are explained
by what the participant emotionally felt while listening to the overture. Within this section
fall answers that contain emotional or musical recall, as well as those that the audience
related to.
Taste driven responses – (Audience Engagement and Traditional Approaches): these are the
responses that were only based on the taste of the participant. In most cases, these responses
belong to those whose identify themselves as not very knowledgeable in the field of musical
theatre.
State driven responses – (Traditional Approaches and Audience Engagement): in this case,
the responses that were put in this category are those that explain how the participant
physically felt when viewing the videos.

12
Explaining the results

It was extremely interesting to analyze the outcome of the results from the survey. There was a wide
array of insights that shed light into the audience’s idea of the overture’s purpose; that lead to the
understanding of what is the general purpose of an overture in musical theatre. Referring back to the
survey analysis, all of the most popular answer were the ones which featured the overture; in varying
degrees, but the overture option was always in the first place. This clearly demonstrates that
audiences tend to have a liking for overtures, and prefer to have some sort of introduction to the
show that they are about to see. Depending on the show that was being analyzed, a different
approach was taken into action.
Musical memory and emotional recall weren’t heavily present in all the survey results, but they were
especially prominent among the surveyors who preferred the clip of Beauty and the Beast that did
feature an overture. The use of memorable tunes, and extremely familiar melodies triggered them to
feel the emotions that they had felt when watching the original movie during their childhood. This
result proved that overtures can have an extremely impactful effect on audiences that are familiar
with the songs, and have been exposed to them in the past. Having an audience member recalling
these sort of memories makes them engaged instantly, meaning that they will be immediately drawn
into the story. These emotionally driven responses prove that this overture has very important effect
in the audience, so its purpose is justified; and it is clear that without it, the show’s start wouldn’t
have the same effect in the audience member.
In the case of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie the results were specially interesting, as most
participants preferred the version with the fake overture over the actual start of the show. In this case
most responses were state driven, and they justified that if the show had just started with the scene
it was too abrupt and they were not settled in yet to be told a story. The fact that participants chose
the clip with the overture hints into the fact that this show could potentially have an overture, and
that audiences would feel more settled in before the story began. In this case, audience members
lacked and introduction into the world of the play and would have appreciated the presence of an
overture. However, as mentioned before, this could have been up to the producers, or the venue,
that an overture was not needed; but in terms of audience preference, an overture would have
preferred.

13
Going back to Traditional Approaches, She Loves Me, features a traditional style overture. The length
of this piece of music was the main reason participants did not choose the option with the overture.
This could potentially mean that overtures that are conceived in a traditional style might be going
out of fashion; and audiences are not appreciating them as much as they did in other stages of the
history of musical theatre. In this situation audiences that did not like the overture, used mostly taste
driven responses, and they justified that everything smoother and faster. One participant pointed out
that because the first scene already starts with an instrumental interlude, the overture seemed
unnecessary and too long. Having these responses, it can be drawn that traditional overtures are not
as necessary as others could be, but they are still relevant and somewhat enjoyable.
With Wicked, the responses were mostly unanimous, as they preferred the musical to start with an
overture. The reasoning behind it was a very even mixture of musical recall, audience engagement
and traditional approaches. This overture could be described as epic, and it instantly engages the
audiences as soon as the first chord strikes. Participants provided taste driven responses as well as
state driven; however, not a great amount were emotionally driven. This is because as this is an
original musical, the music may not be as familiar to everyone as Beauty and the Beast, for example.
In this case, the overture was essential for the participants to be there, so there is no doubt that this
overture has a purpose within the story of the musical, and it wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t there.
Conclusion
When writing music, composers not only think about it being pretty, but they think about telling a
story that will engage the audience and will make them excited to see what is going to happen next.
The same applies to overtures, as they make the audience recall past memories, feel settled and
comfortable; triggering a physical state where they feel ready to be entertained.
Having analyzed all of the responses for each show, it is clear that overtures have a purpose in
musical theatre; however, it is not conclusive to say that they have one sole purpose. Their purpose
varies with the show, the venue and the story. These responses shed light into understanding that it
cannot be said that overtures are just there to have the audience settle down, or entertain, but that
they are there to provide an insight into the world of the musical using in the only universal language
in the world: music. This music triggers emotional responses that perhaps they were not expecting
to feel by going into the theatre, and this feeling is what makes the overture so important. These
pieces of music have the audience thinking and feeling before the curtain has risen.

14
Bibliography
Anonymous, 2008. Oxford University Press Blog - "Overture...Dim the Lights". [Online]
Available at: https://blog.oup.com/2008/07/overture/
[Accessed 22 February 2019].
Baird, L., 2018. Onstage Blog UK - Are Theatre Audiences Changing?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.onstageblog.com/onstage-blog-uk/2018/12/21/are-theatre-audiences-
changing
[Accessed February 2019].
Citron, S., 1997. The Musical: from the inside out. In: s.l.:Elephant Paperback, p. 254.
Green, J., 2006. Whatever Happened to the Overture?. The New York Times.
Jäncke, L., 2008. Music, memory and emotion. Journal of Biology, Institute of Psychology, University of
Zurich, Volume 7, p. 21.
Jakubowski, K., 2008. Involuntary and voluntary recall of musical memories: A comparison of temporal
accuracy and emotional responses. Memory and Cognition, Durham University.
Jones, J. B., 2003. In: Our Musicals, Ourselves. s.l.:Brandeis University Press: Lebanon, pp. 10-11.
Kislan, R., 1995. In: Applause, ed. The Musical. s.l.:Hal Leonard.
Lunden, J., 2008. Broadway's Best Musical Revival: The Overture?, s.l.: NPR.
Resnick, B., 2016. VOX. [Online]

Available at: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/2/4/10915492/why-do-we-like-music
[Accessed 22 February 2019].
Robertson, A., n.d. Digital Public Library of America. [Online]

Available at: https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-golden-age-of-broadway
[Accessed 1 March 2019].
Rowe, D. P., 2019. [Interview] 2019.

15
Appendix
Fig 1. Excerpt from Beauty and the Beast’s overture. These two first bars play the main theme of Tale
as old as time.
Attachment 1: (next page)

Survey Results Analysis
Total number of participants*: 106
Section
A Age Ranges of the participants: Location of Participants:
Age Range Participants Location Participants

From 15 to 19 23 United States 61
20 to 24 52 London, United Kingdom 29
25 to 30 13 Spain 5
30 and up 17 Others* 11
*Others include: Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Malasya, The
Netherlands and Portugal.
Levels of knowledge of Musical Theatre (1 to 10):

Level Participants
10 13
9 17
8 18
7 16
6 11
5 12
4 8
3 2
2 3
1 5
Average: 6.8
Knowledge of defition/origin of an Overture:

Levels of Musical Theatre Knowledge
Answer Participants 10 to 6 5 to 3 2 to 1
Yes 83 from those 80% 17% 3%
No 18 from those 33% 33% 33%
*The entirety of the participants did not complete all the questions in the survey, thus the total number of answers in
certain questions/sections won't add up to the total number of participants.
Purpose of an Overture: Usefulness of an Overture (1 to 10):

Possible answers Participants
27
To entertain 27
14
85
13
To set the mood

11
11
41
7
To make the audience settle down

3
7
1
1
0
To make time
For the musicians to warm up 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Analyzing the Function
of Overtures in Musical Theatre Survey Analysis p.1 784930
Familiarity with the shows presented (asked to put in order of familiarity):
Show 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Beauty and the Beast 18 23 17 3
Everybody's Talkign About Jamie 9 11 18 23
She Loves Me 2 8 19 32
Wicked 32 19 7 3
Most known show by the participants: Wicked

Least known show by the participants: She Loves Me
Section
WICKED
B Participants %
Without Overture (A) 7 11.70%
Reason of choosing this option: Seen the show?
Straight to the point 2 Yes, live. 2

Shorter 2 Yes, taped. 3
More engaging 4 No. 0
Written explanations:
1 Excited to see what's coming next

2 Inside the musical
3 It was concise and set the mood, and engaded for what was to come
4 Good.
With Overture (B) 53 88.30%
Set the mood 30 Yes, live. 27

Made me excited 19 Yes, taped. 5

1 More interesting to watch the dancing monkeys
2 Ready to watch the show
It wouldn't make sense for the monkeys at the start just to be on stage, it made more
3
sene with music.
The overture is so iconic in the industry with the dragon in the beginning and the
4 emerald city and how all the songs relate to each other, that taking that out would take
a huge part from the show which is just in the first 2minutes of it.
5 Very excited
6 It makes me cry every time
7 Full anticipation, "Good News! She's dead!" is such an iconic line
Excited for the show ahead! It's a really energetic overture but doesn't last too long. As
8
the curtain rises it sound magical, as if you're entering Oz. Love it.
9 Really gets you excited playing a well known extract, flows into the scene
10 I'm not a big fan of most of the songs in Wicked, so personally, jumping right into the
songs without an overture to set the motif I just don't like it at all.
11 Ready for a grand story
12 Engaged
13 It's a sneak peek of what's to come. Whets the musical appetite so to speak
I always enjoy the overture because I think it sets up the mood of the show as well as a
14
basic introduction to the songs.
The fact that it had an overture just set the mood, made us get into the “world” we were
15
about to get in
16 Uncomfortable about the anticipation that something troublesome would happen
17 Engaged and focused
It makes sense for an overture to play as it does set the mood before the first act of the
show starts as it puts the audience’s attention on the show before it has even begun ,
18
because of this there have an idea of the feeling of the show and are not confused by
the first moments they see on stage.
19 The build up of the overture really set the dramatic tone for the piece
20 It was much grander, getting everyones attention it makes you begin etting sucked into
the world of wicked before seeing anyone
21 I love overtures they’re so beautifully arranged and really bring you back world of the
show after intermission.
22 I feel more engaged into the story with the overture.
23 The music gets your attention from the first note
24 Atmospheric and ready for the show
25 Good
26 Happy
27 Excited

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Participants %

1 More clear and straightforward

For this show it makes more sense to jump right into the show just with the opening
2
scene
3 More satisfied
4 Felt like I was being drawn into a story
5 More to the point. The overture wasn't long enough for me to about the overture.
6 I feel that the overture is not necessary to set up the mood I should have had.
7 The overture was great, but I think it seems a bit excessive.
8 It made me feel more engaged and curious to know what's going on.

1 Happy
2 The first was slow and boring
3 Better!
4 Made me feel more interested in what was to come with a feeling of anticipation
5 It made me feel more excited for what I'm about to see
6 Settled into seat ready for entertainment
7 The song was familiar and got me excited about seeing an old childhood favourite
8 It made me excited because I recognise the song from the film
9 Happy and nostalgic
10 Excited for the story about to start
Felt magical! Because obviously it's Disney and even if you've never seen the musical
11 before, you can recognise the overture from it being a Disney film. Made me excited
and reminded me of childhood.
12 It set up the magic
13 It there wasn't and overture, it would be too direct
Again, overtures are an important prologue to any musical show, tells the audience
14
this will be a musical experience.
15 It was much more exciting to hear music before anyone sings
16 Created that whimsical Disney princess feeling from the very beginning
17 It's pretty I like it!
18 It prepared us for the first scene
19 Grabs attention and draws you in.
20 Such a quiet start, without an overture the audience might not be ready to pay
attention to the singer.
21 Playing well known extracts gets me excited and ready to see the show
22 Sets up for the play, reminds me of familiar songs
23 Sets the mood and the scene. Honestly it has been a while since I've listened to it.
24 I love hearing songs in this way, the way that they're written only for the orchestra
Made me feel excited and the transition to a very calm scene makes a very nice and
25
pleasant effect.
26 Nostalgic because I know the show and excited to watch it again
27 I was more interested in the story and it made more sence for the character to start
singing.
EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE

Participants %
With Overture (A) 24 53.30%

1 It made me feel excited to know what the musical was about
It builds up excitement about the show to come; the other option felt like a "cold
2
open". Too abrupt.
3 It's more exciting
4 It made me take notice but it wasn't as good as the first two

5 Ready for the show to start and fully engaged without seeing anyone yet
Although I wouldn’t really call it an overture and it was quite distracting just watching a
6
black stage it did set up the first scene as it came as a surprise
7 Without it the beggining was far too abrupt
8 It made me expecting
9 It set the mood
It gives you a sense of modern theatre, it's uptempo and minimal with lighting so you
10
concentrate before a sudden beggining
11
The beggining got me super excited! I don't know the show but I want to know more
12 Made me excited for what's coming next! Uplifting and happy music
13 It felt like it made more sense with the overture than without it
14 It set the stage for musical elements in what could be a story without music
15 Without the music, the stage just seems overly camp and goofy
As it goes straight to a roudy scene, if it didn't have an overture then I don't think the
16
audience would have known it had started
17 It sets the mood and creates focus
It the musical started automatically with the dialogue, it would be weird and it would
18
feel like something was missing
19 Exciting and ready for it to start
Without Overture (B) 21 46.70%

1 I felt the overture was too long and repetitive, only focusing on the first song
2 It was a little bit too long. The overture didn't connect with the scene right after
3 Jumps straight in. Keeps it down to earth like this kind of play is. Overture is too long
4 The sheer chaos draws in a sharp focus
5 Overture was long and boring, and didn't have much to do with the scene
6 I felt engaged
7 This piece is so modern I feel that by not using an overture it made it more accesible
and real for the audience
8 I just don't think that it fits stylistically
9 The overture was boring and didn't do anything interesting
10 More engaged without the overture
11 The oveture was a bit excessive

12 Felt more instantaneous
13 The overture was unnecessary and the first scene was engaging without it
I dont' think the music went with the scene and there was more of an impact when it
14
just started suddenly
SHE LOVES ME
Participants %

1 Without the overture it was more engaging, because it started with music already
2 It was funnier and made an impact from the beggining
3 It just lasted a very long time, without it, it flowed a bit better
I feel because the song had a long introduction this kind of acted in the place of an
overture. And although I like overtures watching it on here I preferred the version
4
without it, if I was in the theatre watching it I think my opinion would be in favour to
the version with the overture
5 More focused on the story
6 It felt faster and cleaner
This overture was extremely long and seemed to play the same kind of music
7
thoughout so it had a greater impact when there was no overture
8 It felt boring with just music and no visuals
9 It made me feel more engaged when there was no overture


1 Set the mood
2 Made me feel more interested in what was to come with feelinf of anticipation
3 More exciting
4 I think it went well with the mood of the play
5 It made me excited to see what was going to happen
6 Excited and curious
7 The show felt like it was properly starting
8 Sets the atmosphere
9 The music is really beautiful and I would have missed it if it wasn't there
10 It grabbed my attention
11 A musical piece that sets the mood and engages the audience.
Additional Survey Data

Survey link: https://eSurv.org?u=MusicalTheatreOvertures
Launch Date: 25th of February, 2019
Closing Date: 20th of March, 2019
Total Number of Surveys: 106

Total Number of Completed Surveys: 44
Uncompleted Surveys*: 62
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
*Although 58% of the participants opted out of the survey before completing part B, all of
these participants completed the first section of the survey (A).
Interview with Dana P. Rowe Transcript
Transcript of Interview with Dana P. Rowe 21/01/2019
[00:00:00]
Dana P. Rowe: Let me start this; I am recording now. So, I’ll just send you an audio recording.
Otherwise, I think, it might record video too. but it’s a huge file...I’m gonna make sure I can hear
you okay, it’s a little soft. Yeah you might wanna get closer, there you are.
What’s happening!? How are you today?
Manu Velasquez: I’m great. Starting to write my dissertation; which is like the final project where
we have to investigate something related to Musical Theatre.
D: Right, right. What brought you to overtures? I’m just curious.
M: Well, since I was very little, I’ve loved them. The first show I saw was Mamma Mia, and the
Mamma Mia overture is so good.
D: Yeah!
M: I love it. So I’ve always look for it [overtures] when I go see a show. So, what brought me to
making this project was: why are they dying?
D: Mmmm that’s a good question! We could talk for a long time a long time about that. What are
you finding?
M: Well I’m finding a lot of things. And I’m making an experiment with videos of musicals, and
I’m gonna make a survey to see what people think.
D: That’s a great idea.
M: I’ll send you the final project if you wanna read it.
D: Oh will you? I would love that! I really would. Now according to my calculations, you’ve done
two of my shows, right?
M: Yeah!
D: Wow! That’s...I feel so honored! (Laughs)
M: Zombie Prom, and Witches; I wasn’t in Witches but I did the projections and was heavily
involved the process.
D: Yeah you were there! How exciting. Well that’s really great [ the project]. I mean, and you see
you’re finding that—what I’m hearing is that overtures as we know it’s evolving, right? you know,
over time. Where do you think it’s going to? I’m just curious where you are. I have all kinds of
opinions, and I’ll give’em to you but I’m just curious about where you are right now.
Interview p.1
Before the Curtain Rises
M: I don’t know where they’re going, because there’s some shows that have them still, but some
shows, for example Dear Evan Hansen, it doesn’t have an overture. The thing is, does it need it?
That’s what I want to see where the public stands, what the audience thinks. And what I’m gonna
do is —I found this instrumental of, DEH for example. And I’m gonna put it before the first scene
and I’m going to present it to an audience and see if they like it of if they like it better without the
instrumental first1. And see if it’s got any emotional effect or anything, you know?
D: Oh wow! I’ll be curious to hear how that turns out for you. What you find. You know you’re
hitting on something right away, in my experience, is that not all shows need and overture or
require one. And some of it has to do with the producer too. So there are few variables that come
into play. I can talk just from my experience and, also, I’m a student of the theatre too, just like
you. I’ve always loved it, it’s always been what gave me life! It’s the thing that I sort of geeked
over! You know, the time I was a kid. So, I love those overtures and I think it was really, for me, as
a composer I think one of them highlights of my carreer was having like the begging of the
Witches of Eastwick being an overture scene. You it was like Oh my god! (Laughs) I was like:
“WOW! That’s so cool!” So that was a major geek-out for me.
M: So I have a question for you here. So when you’re writing an overture, what are you trying to
convey or what are you trying to make the audience feel? When you’re writing one.
D: [00:04:30]
Each one is different. The one that has the most interesting journey was the Witches of Eastwick
Overture, I wish I could talk about it in lenght. [The one for] Zombie Prom was about setting the
tone, there was something about having —I don’t know if you remember— the scream. (Screams)
It reminds me of —and we hit on it, you know it’s sort of like: Oh I know! Let’s have a big ol’
scream, you know, why not? Let’s set the tone. It’s about setting the tone, it’s about getting the
audience ready for what’s coming. And then I realized later that a lot of overtures do do that. A lot
of... There is that moment, if you think of the Sweeney Todd steam whistle, it does the same thing.
We sort of of accomplished the same in our Off-Broadway scale with the scream; as the steam
whistle. And it always became that thing, that— get the hair in the back of your head, neck
standing up. So what does it do... So it depends on the show, and it depends on what the needs
are. In a large theatre, often, the producer will say: no we need something to get people settled
and in their seats. Therefore Witches of Eastwick needed an overture, it had to have an overture,
so it was a larger theatre [drury lane]. Now here’s the thing, I wrote this initial piece of music was
written da da daaa (sings, plays piano). That’s actually the first three notes that the little girls sings
at the beginning of the show. Pom pom pom (sings). And I just went around — you know what I
mean by the circle of fourths? (M: yes of course.) Okay so, I just—It was a piece of filler music that
last a minute and a half and it was , for me, they said: write something that’s exciting for the set
designer. This was before the show was staged or anything. Will you write a piece of music for the
set designer to get him excited, inpired and ready to create the town of Eastwick? And that’s
where that music came from, it was all about, exciting Bob Crowley who was our designer, he’s
an award winning designer, just there in London and on Broadway. And what he did, he devised
from that—Which is so funny because none of it was used...Was he created these miniatures of
Eastwick that on the theatre Royal Drury Lane were coming forwards, and they became larger and
larger and then became the town of Eastwick. Finally a yatch went across the stage, I mean a full
1
This idea was later dropped during the process of the research.
Interview p.2
sized yatch! And what were that whole piece of music came from and so when it came— then
they decided they were not going to use it. They decided: you know what, let’s not do the
miniatures, it’s kinda... but then they liked the music, and said: can we keep the music? And I said
of course! And what a lot of people don’t know is that I wrote three other overtures for the Witches
of Eastwick. And they were very —they were traditional. You know usually in the olden days,
because show music was the music of the day, they— it was a way for the composer to get the
melody on to the ear of the audience before they heard it. So, it was about getting that song so it
felt familiar, and the go: omg i only heard it once and I remember, but no actually you’ve heard it
about 25 times! (Laughs) If the composer did his job right you’ve heard it a lot! So... That’s what
that was, a way to get them settled and in their seats. A really good director almost always will
take it a make it a bit of storytelling, the director and the choreographer can often join forces with
the composer and they can get some exposition, they can start telling the story before anyone
sings.
[00:08:58]
M: Right... That great...So good! Now for example, for The Fix you don’t have an overture right?
D:No… We really… The overture for The Fix as it stands right now, it’s gone through a few
incarnations. It was about having Cal’s father die (laughs)… Have tou ever seen it or do you know
it at all? (M:No…). Okay, well it opens with: “Ladies and gentleman! The next president of the
United States…” And the you know automatically that you are backstage at a political rally. And
what happens is there’s some sort of like a bartardized version of “Hail the Chief” which is the
music for the president (sings). So Reed who is Cal’s father and his secretary, are doing sexual
relations at the very top of it shadow. And you hear her go “yes! Sweet Honey!...” Then u see that
he dies, in the middle of it. That’s what parachuting into the story is, so there was not really an
overture and after that the first song starts.
The rest of the inverview was not transcribed as it delved on topics that were not relevant for the
purpose of the project.
Interview p.3

Before The Curtain Rises - A Study of The Usefulness of Overtures in Musical Theatre

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Before The Curtain Rises - A Study of The Usefulness of Overtures in Musical Theatre

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Before the Curtain Rises:

Analyzing the function of overtures in musical theatre.

Research Project Analysis

Student ID: 784930

Professor: Armando Rotondi

Date of Submission: April 1st, 2019