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[Xavier_Onassis]

Gilbert and Sullivan are cornball, but there are definitely endurable moments in them. They run both G &S and Italian  operas on PBS. I can stand G & S for 45 minutes before it begins to annoy me, but at the first  female soprano number, I am outta there. It irritates me like fingernails on a chalkboard. It have tried to endure it, but I just can't. Italian operas have interesting plots and beautiful set designs, but the screeching tremolo is simply unbearable to my ears. I cannot force myself to sit through an entire opera.

I can endure Spanish zarzuelas, for some reason.

[Plane]

http://www.zarzuela.net/ref/history.htm

I had to look that up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIdYJRl8xJg&feature=player_detailpage


What keeps this from being Opera?

I do like Spanish Style , the Spanish Gypsy music is terrific.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scus9teTdjo&feature=player_detailpage

[Xavier_Onassis]

Zarzuela is in fact a type of opera.  However, it is opera without so much screeching.

Musical theatre suffers from two major problems as I see it:

(1) The plots and the scripts can get away with being really stupid. When someone drops his hat and starts to sing about it, that is unnatural behavior and ti makes the actors look like idiots. Some songs fit in pretty well: South Pacific, Evita, West Side Story.
Some are just silly; Guys and Dolls, The Mikado. There is one really dumb song in the Sound of Music. All of Mary Poppins is just dumb.

(2) The style of singing can really get on one's nerves. This is a matter of taste, of course.

I have seen staged versions and film versions of many musicals. The film version has ALWAYS been more enjoyable. Not all were enjoyable, but the stage version always seems rather stupid to me,

Again. it is a matter of taste.