The dissertation is devoted to the study of the Broadway musical, which is the leading genre of American musical culture of the 20th – 21st centuries, which necessitates an analytical understanding and evaluation of a wide range of works written by legends of the Broadway stage (J. Kern, R. Rogers, O. Hammerstein, L. Bernstein, S. Sondheim), as well as representatives of younger generations (E. John, A. L. Webber, L. M. Miranda, S. Schwartz, T. Rice, T. Kitt). At the same time, until the last decade of the 20th century, literature in which the history and theory of the musical genre is thoroughly understood did not actually exist, as indicated by R. Knapp, S. McMillin, J. Swain, and the publication of the largest number of works at the beginning of the 21st century. In Ukrainian art history, the first thorough studies of the musical appeared even later (O. Verkhovenko, S. Manko, O. Oganezova-Hryhorenko, A. Belymenko, A. Styopina, O. Shevelyova, A. Komlikova).
To date, the history of the Broadway musical genre is covered mainly until the early 2000s, with special attention to the “Golden Age” period, while musicals of the turn of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century receive short critical remarks or remain poorly covered at all. So there is a ripe need for the development of a genre theory of the Broadway musical, in particular, the study of its general universal model. The common features that unite a significant part of the works give reason to put forward a hypothesis about the existence of a genre invariant.
The aim of the research is to reveal the specifics of the embodiment of the genre invariant of the Broadway musical in the works of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The object of research is a Broadway musical of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The subject of the research is a genre invariant of the Broadway musical.
The dissertation consists of three Chapters. In Chapter 1 (“Broadway musical and its genre invariant”), the state of development of issues related to the genre of the Broadway musical is studied, the main aspects of its analysis in foreign and domestic sources are revealed, the degree of development of issues of its dramaturgy and genre specificity is determined. An overview of the studies that form the modern theory of the genre invariant in Ukrainian musicology is carried out, as well as its equivalents in foreign science (Сanon) are considered and observations are made regarding the relationship between their content and interpretation.
Chapter 2 (“Implementation of the genre invariant in musicals of the turn of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century based on borrowed opera plots”) examines the musicals “Rent” by Jonathan Larson (1996) and “Aida” by E. John (2000), each of which starts from the previously written music and theater academic work – “La Boheme” (1896) by G. Puccini (for “Rent”) and “Aida” (1871) by G. Verdi accordingly.
Chapter 3 (“Implementation of the genre invariant in 21st century musicals based on original plots”) reveals the features of the libretto and composition of the musical “Wicked” by Stephen Schwartz (2003) and “Next to Normal” by Tom Kitt (2009), including the relationship between Winnie Holzman's libretto and the literary primary source – Gregory Maguire's novel in the musical “Wicked”.
The Conclusions summarize the results of the analysis and provide a description of the main features of the genre invariant, which are embodied in the Broadway musical at the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries, including: reliance on a secondary libretto; the immutability of the two-act structure, built on a special dramaturgy; the presence of three main dramaturgical nodes; the use of thematic arcs – a reprise; the special role of repeated motifs (leitmotifs); continuity of individual scenes and numbers with typical musical compositional units, both vocal and instrumental.
All these principles are embodied in the works of J. Larson, E. John, S. Schwartz and T. Kitt, which confirms the universality and stability of the genre invariant of the Broadway musical, which developed in the 20th century and retains its relevance at the modern stage.
Keywords: music; musical art; composer; contemporary music; genre; opera genre; dramaturgy; genre invatiant; libretto; genre-style interaction; musical; Broadway musical; opera; musical artist; singer; vocal work; musical semantics.
