ABSTRACT
This chapter explores special significance and considers the affect of sound, the way developing technologies have enabled increasingly versatile uses of sound in the theater, and the way the megamusical form derived a particular acoustic aesthetic from dramaturgically exploiting sound possibilities. The breakthrough came with Starlight Express, whose combination of technology, musicality, and spectacle tapped into an aesthetic unique to the megamusical, at least in its original London production. The Phantom and Christine are referred to as the “Angel of Music,” as if they inhabit the same spectral presence when influenced by the muse. Reconsider Stilgoe’s comments about how he and Lloyd Webber used Lon Satton’s operatic bass thoughtfully in Starlight Express; comparable moments are equally crafted in Phantom. To understand the genesis of the megamusical, the contribution of Webber, and the significance of sound design in its aesthetic, it’s worth returning to 1971 to consider Jesus Christ Superstar.
