Opera vs. Musical
Difference between Opera and Musical: – One could talk about the origin, history, development and evolution of musicals and operas for hours, but in this article we will discuss the main characteristics that differentiate these artistic expressions from one another.
In modern times, people confuse one thing with the other and consider that all entertainment shows with music and some artists are about operas when in reality, often it is about musicals. Below this post is all about difference between opera and musical.
Difference between Opera and Musical
Musicals
Musical theater, which is what is now called simply “musical”, is a style of theater in which songs, dance and dialogue are combined to tell a story. In modern times, a musical could be a spectacle, a movie or a television program; where styles and dialogues are used, as well as contemporary and popular music to tell the whole story. On the other hand, an opera is a form of theater where musicians and singers combine scores and “libretos”, also called “texts” in modern language; to present a story. The musicals are held mainly in cinemas, while the operas are performed in opera houses and always with the live performances of an orchestra.
The main emphasis of musicals is dialogue, although, sometimes some musicals are made so that everything is said to be singing. It usually presents first an actor and then a singer or a dancer.
Opera
In operas, the main emphasis is on singing. The performer is basically a classical singer. You may have to act sometimes and rarely have to dance. As in musicals, the exceptions are present in the opera as well and some operas do not have a dialogue.
In musicals, quality is determined by the use of the language to communicate the message to the public. In England or the United States, musicals are always in English language, although the original story was written in some other language. Singing, dancing and dialogue are based on popular music, popular dance styles and contemporary dialogues. It is said that musicals must have three main characteristics: brain – they require intelligence and style in writing – heart – they require genuine emotions in history – and courage – which refers to the ability of a writer or director to do something new , creative and au dacious.
In an opera, the singers are very skilled, they are classic singers and “sing” the story in the language in which it was originally written. There are operas in various languages such as: Italian opera, German opera, Russian opera, French opera and English-language opera. Each opera has its own distinctive style.
Key differences between Opera and Musical
- In musicals a story is told, combining dialogues with dancing and singing, while in opera the central axis is music.
- For a musical, the performer must be a first-rate actor, as well as a singer and dancer; while for the opera, the performer has to be a classical singer.
- For musicals popular styles of music and dance are used, in addition, they are always presented in the language of the audience; while the opera is traditional and presented in the language in which it was written.
