Rockin' in the USA

Genre: Musical Theater

Musical theater combines dialogue, music and dance on the stage, and more recently, on the screen. This combination dates back to the ancient Greeks in the 5th century B.C. The art form gained more popularity during the Renaissance and opera was born around 1600. Operas, however, are performed exclusively in song and it wasn't until the 1800's that operettas, smaller comedic operas that included dialogue, became popular. Musicals were not born until the 20th century, however, in America. Many of the earlier musicals were very similar to operas. Oklahoma! (1943), written by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II, is considered the first musical play. Some other famous musicals written in the 20th century are Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Singin' in the Rain, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz, The Fantasticks, Les Miserables, and Rent.

Cover song: Think of Me from The Phantom of the Opera

I chose this song because, one, I am already familiar with it and love it, but it is also a solo song that would be great for me (cello) and Jill (voice) to perform! The song is sung by Christine, a chorus girl, during her first opera performance as a main character on the stage. This song is significant because that character in the opera in the musical was going to be sung by a famous singer, but the Phantom of the opera house makes sure that Christine, whom he has fallen in love with, gets the part instead. The words "Think of me, think of me fondly when we've said good-bye. Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try" are actually what the Phantom wants to say to Christine (he is the one that worte that opera).

Original Composition: A Dark Side

The musical I thought up to back up my song is a variation of the story of Beauty and the Beast. The main character is a girl who meets a young man in her town. At the point this song is sung, they have only spoken a few times, but she already likes him. The twist is that she just discovered that he is a demon creature who spends most of his time in human form. In A Dark Side, she is reflecting on the discovery as well as addressing her own dark past and the way people judge others by their faults.

Honors Book Report

Funke, Cornelia. Inkspell. Scholastic, Inc. New York, NY. 2005.

I chose to read Inkspell for three reasons. First, I have read Inkheart, to which Inkspell is the sequel, and it is coming out as a movie! Also, one of my friends, who is a really big bookworm said I should read it. It is a 635 page fantasy book that revolves around the ability of the main character, Meggie, a few others in the story to read characters off the pages of books and into being. The story takes place in two worlds, ours and the Inkworld, but it is not clear where in our world, or what the time period is. (I would guess that it is current.)

Where as Inkheart takes place in our world, the characters in Inkspell dive into the Inkworld, inside the pages of Inkheart, a book written by talented author, Fenoglio. When Meggie's mother, Resa, was rescued from Inkworld in Inkheart, Meggie began asking her everything about the world inside Inkheart. Her obsession became so great that when Farid, a boy out of Tales of the Arabian Nights, asks her to read him into Inkworld to follow Dustfinger, a fire-eater from Inkworld and a hero in Inkheart, she agrees to read herself there too, something no one had accomplished before. What they find, however, is a world on the verge of being taken over by the villan of the story.