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Adriana Pinto 179009491 Music Concert Paper

The show which I chose to discuss for this final paper is the musical Annie, which was

performed in a live theater setting. I attended the live performance on the 24th of March at the

Hamilton Stage of The Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, New Jersey. Prior to

attending the show, I had always maintained a mindset that theatrical music was one of my least

favorite out of any type of music. Throughout many years of my life, I have gone to the concerts

of R&B and rap artists. These concerts allowed me to experience the type of music that I can

relate to and have an interest in. Therefore, the idea of theatrical music which tends to be more

up-beat and displayed through a story-line did not appeal to me too much. However, I have been

to a few other theatrical plays in the past but this was my most recent one. I did agree to go to the

show because my younger brother, who absolutely loves theater, was acting and singing in it.

The show itself did unfortunately have a no photo policy, but I was able to take a photo of the

physical program. I was also able to obtain a photo that the director sent my family of my brother

singing during the show. I was very intrigued to see how I would feel towards the musical while

it was in action.

While watching the whole musical being performed live, I thought about concepts

learned in class from Turino’s Music as Social Life. Since I was an actual member of the
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audience and I was able to watch in front of my own eyes, the concept of presentational music

making really came to life. In class we watched videos of presentational music making which

refers to the idea of “situations where one group of people, the artists, prepare and provide music

to another group, the audience, who do not participate in making the music or dancing” (Turino,

26). Other than the videos watched in class, I also understood that typical concerts would also be

considered presentational music performance. However, when I thought about the term I learned

while actually watching the play I saw the meaning in a new light from a different perspective.

The group of performers who aimed to present the music of the show to the audience not only

sang along to the script but also demonstrated a story through it. I was very impressed to see all

of the performers working so hard to form the musical.

Furthermore, one moment of the musical that really gained my attention was the moment

of the story where all the children in the orphanage, along with the main character Annie, came

together to sing the song “It’s a Hard Knock Life”. While this scene of the musical may be one

of the most well-known parts of Annie I thought it was very interesting because I noticed

prevalent concepts in it as well. During this notorious scene, I noticed that all the children in the

play had formed their own identities and even arguably a culture; inside and outside of the script.

Within Turino’s textbook, identity is expressed as “the partial selection of habits and attributes

used to represent oneself to oneself and to others by oneself and by others” (Turino, 95). This

idea of identity was interesting and provoking to me during the show because not only do the

actors have an identity which they are showing from inside the script, the show itself enabled

them to display their own identities. The details of the story cause the actors to portray family-

less children who are individual to themselves and are able to show these selected habits and

attributes they have to their friends also in the orphanage. Moreover, outside of the story lines,
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the actors have their own identities being shown to every other actor when they are socializing,

going to practice, and even being chosen for their roles. In addition to this, I found it very

intriguing to think of a culture being formed among the performers of the show. According to

Turino, a culture is referred to as “the habits of thought and practice that are shared among

individuals” (Turino, 95). The idea of a formation of culture amidst the children in Annie

pertains to the inside of the show and also extends outside of it. The story includes a group of

children who considerably formed their own culture within the orphanage. The children

possessed similar habits of thought and practice pertaining to their lives in the orphanage. Living

that lifestyle with similar routines and desires for families caused them to have their own unique

culture. When thinking of this idea of culture the actors also have their own culture developed

outside of the story’s plot. Every single actor involved has their own passion, drive, and lifestyle

for acting and/or singing. They focus on their presentational music making for themselves and

others. These similar thoughts and practice exemplified together among the actors on the stage

results in their own “theatrical culture”. I think it was interesting to see this occurring live while

knowing its importance for the performance and the individuals in it.

Finally, while I analyzed the show being performed it was extremely compelling to think

of the idea of talent, which is presented in chapter four of Turino’s Music as Social Life. Talent is

the chapter is discussed as an idea which differs among societies in the world. Turino describes

how “in the United States it is commonly believed that musical talent is innate and that people

are either or are not ‘musical’” (Turino, 97). Along with this idea in the western society of

America, Turino too explains how others believe talent is available to anyone who puts their time

and effort towards something. Naturally, while watching myself I do admit that I did think that

all the people acting and singing had natural talent. I watched them recite every single line with
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perfect expression, pitch, hard work, and dedication. I did always think that talent “involves

propensities that makes an individual better suited for some activities over others” due to

watching my brother growing up and viewing natural abilities in him that I did not have myself

(Turino, 97). I do however think the term ‘talent’ is alluring because the energy and effort which

is required for it by other societies provides everyone with the chance at having talent. While the

type of music and performance was not typical of my interests, I found myself satisfied with the

work of everyone did, and how much the concepts of class related.