Classics and Musical Theater comparison lesson.

1. Classics and Musical
Theater
Myth, Poetry and Plays

2. Brainstorm:
today’s musicals similar to Roman poetry? How are they different?
Roman sources Similarities Musical Theater
• In Latin
•Performed typically
in smaller settings
(such as in odeon)
•Provides myths explicitly
•Performative
•Themes (love, philosophy, mythology
“et cetera, et cetera”)
•Meter and rhythm used
•Characters/personae created
•In English
•Instrumental elements
•Sung
•Create reception and
reinterpretation of myths
and stories
•Performed on big stages
and
little ones
What about Greek and Roman plays?

3. Warm-up:
Spring Awakening
From what classical source does this song draw inspiration?
The Aeneid!

4. “All that's known
In history, in science
Overthrown
At school, at home, by blind men
You doubt them
And soon they bark and hound you
Till everything you say is just
Another bad about you
All they say
Is 'Trust in what is written'
Wars are made
And somehow that is wisdom
Thought is suspect
And money is their idol
And nothing is okay unless
It's scripted in their Bible
But I know
There's so much more to find
Just in lookin' through myself
And not at them”
“Still, I know
To trust my own true mind
And to say
'There's a way through this'
On I go
To wonder and to learning
Name the stars
And know their dark returning
I'm calling
To know the world's true yearning
The hunger that a child feels
For everything they're shown
You watch me
Just watch me
I'm calling
And one day all will know
You watch me
Just watch me
I'm calling
I'm calling
And one day all will know”
Forsan et haec
olim meminisse
iuvābit
Aeneas
undergoes a
physical journey
and a
journey of
self-discovery

5. More Blatant/Obvious
Reception

6. Pygmalion (Ovid’s Metamorphoses)
Review
Who was Pygmalion?
How did he feel about women?
What was his craft?
What did he make?
How did he react to his creation?
What did he request from Venus?
How did that turn out for him?

7. My Fair Lady
George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, which took its inspiration

8. An Ordinary Man
‘Quās [Prōpoetidēs
fēminae] quod
Pygmaliōn aevum
agentēs per crīmen
viderat, offēnsus vitiīs,
quae plurima mentī
femineae natura dedit,
sine coniuge et caelebs
vīvēbat.
-Met. X.243-46

9. Higgin's Training of Eliza
You Did it–Higgin's marvels at his acheiving craft
intereā mīrā fēlīciter arte
niveum ebur sculpsit
fōrmamque dedit, quā
formā nulla fēmina nāscī
potest, operisque suī
concepit amorem.
virginis vērae est faciēs
-Met. X.247-50

10. I've Grown Accustomed to her Face
Pygmaliōn admīrātur statuam et haurit
pectore simulātī corporis ignēs.
saepe operī admovet manūs temptantēs, an sit
corpus an illud ebur, nec adhūc ebur esse fatetur.
-Met. X. 252-55

11. On the Street Where You Live
Exclūsus amātor
Paraclausithyron

12. Without You
Eliza vs. Galatea

13. Homework
English) to a modern musical source from the list below or choose your own. modern one; write a paragraph discussing their similarities and differences. Please • “I’ll Cover You” from Rent and Catullus 5
• “Another Day” (look specifically at Mimi’s part) from Rent and Horace 1.11
• “The Origin of Love” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Aristophanes’ argument in Plato’s
•“One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story (you may also look at other parts of this musical • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Plautus’ Pseudolus or Miles Gloriosus

14. Mini Musical Project
portion of a poem, create your own modern musical interpretation/