CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
When discussing musicals, what we cannot ignore are the relevant cultural and other social elements. The tragicomedy in ancient Greece and Rome was the first mature form of drama. Musicals in the western world emerged along with the development and prosperity of capitalistic civilization and economy at that time. It has been developing over 300 hundred years since the first musicals The Beggar`s Opera performed on the stage in 1728. The renaissance of drama in Europe played an indispensable part in breaking away from feudal convention and initiating humanism. Unlike the classical Chinese drama, the form and style of western drama change continuously all the time. In the early age, the drama was divided into three directions including opera, dance drama and stage plays. Dance, music, and text were not combined again until Wilhelm Richard Wagner proposed the concept of "total work of art" in the 19th century. Light opera in the 19th century also had a significant impact on the form of musicals, which brought both pressure and inspiration to the development of American music. The prevalence of cultural consumerism, the prosperity of the industrial civilization and the increasing influence of media in the 20th century have become the internal motivation of the development of musicals, which also changed public consumption ideas towards it. In 1927, the book musicals Show Boat written by Oscar Hammerstein was performed on the stage, launching a new era of musicals. The performance of Show Boat on the stage also marked the transition of aesthetic standard in musicals from merely singing and dancing show to the combination of text and songs, laying the foundation of the unshakable position of the American musicals. After that, America gradually became the center of musical industry except for the West End in London.
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1.2 The significance of the study
Compared with traditional drama which has only lines, background music and sound effect on the stage, songs and dances make it more attractive and catching to the audience. Also, pop songs are much more acceptable for amateurs to appreciate musical performance rather than opera which is more exquisite but obscure. Therefore, it is easier for them to be immersed in the dreamlike environment on the stage in two hours. That is the reason why musicals has become one of the most popular performances in the theatre. Meanwhile, the musical industry had become quite mature in America, one of the reasons is considered that, except for special occasions like opera and concert, foreign songs in musicals and opera are almost adapted in English to meet domestic demands. For example, the Chinese popular song “玫瑰玫瑰我爱你” was adapted into “Rose Rose I Love You”, and “My Sun” was adapted from Italian song “O sole mio”, as well as “Moscow Nights”, the English translation of the Russian folk “Подмосковные Вечера”. The world-celebrated musicals Les Misérables was translated to English The Miserable Ones when performed on the stage in America. The most widely circulated song in it, “I dreamed a dream”, was the translation of “J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie” in French. Same things happened in U.K as well. In recent years, there are more than 40 operas in different foreign languages that were translated into English and published in the market. Without their efforts which make English audience have a better understanding of original musicals, these gorgeous songs cannot be widespread from mouth to mouth worldwide. Therefore, it is sufficient to demonstrate the imperative role of translation works for the popularity of western musicals and the international communication among different cultures as wel .
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CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Studies on musical translation
Domestic research on the musicals study started from the end of the 20th century. From the beginning to the mid of 20th century, works on the musicals study were mainly about appreciation of classical selections of the western musicals, collections of songs in musicals and operas or other basic introductions to musicals. Researches on western musicals at this period are mainly about American musicals, while traditional Chinese musicals and musicals in other countries were less mentioned. Also, the literature research method was the most frequently used research methods, which lack diversity.
The number of books and papers reached remarkable growth in recent years. After the introduction of classical musicals like Cats and Mamma Mia to China in the early 21st century, according to the statistics provided by Wang Xin and Zou Minhua, the number of books studying musicals up to more than 1400, and papers more than 3000 (2017, p. 84), among which master and doctor degree papers became the new components of the research achievement. Scholars started to show their interests and deepen their studies in musicals, which are embodied in the following aspects: firstly, the research objects expanded from classical western musicals to multiple kinds of musicals including traditional Chinese opera, Japanese musicals and musicals in other countries. Moreover, achievements at the present stage are more diversified than ever including the formation and development of musicals home and abroad, introduction and analysis of scripts and choreography, singing skills, musicals education, etc. Scholars pay attention to the combination of theory and practice as well. Besides several literary research methods frequently used in the 1980s-1990s, several new methods were adopted such as case analysis, questionnaire investigation, analytical induction, and interdisciplinary approach, etc.
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2.2 Introduction to performability
2.2.1 Perspectives of drama translation research
Drama is a relatively broad concept because, according to different performing features, it can be classified into various types, for example, drama play, opera, musicals and dance drama based on the performing form; or full- length plays, one-act plays and opusculum based on the length. Therefore, drama translation theory on particular form should be relatively differentiated from each other.
The most recognized feature of drama is its complexity, for there are multiple interpretations of the conception of “drama” and “script.” Especially under the domestic cultural content, drama can be interpreted as the play on the stage, plays in general, western plays or the collective name of all dramatic forms. Drama has become an ambiguous topic which makes it more difficult for scholars to study. One of the vital concepts in drama translation study is the precise definition of drama itself, and the other one could be the type of scripts. The author needs to narrow down the research objects in his or her thesis so that the result can be more targeted and effective.
Considering that script is the literary work which can be both performed on the stage or written on the page, translators should be clearly aware of the usage of the script — for stage or page, because not every script will or has been performed on the stage, and not every script is translated for stage usage. Translated texts need to be distinctive from each other considering their usage and intention. This thesis is intended to focus on the musicals script for stage, which is also the research focus in the field of drama translation theory in recent years. Beca use of the features of stage performance, strategies used in the process of translation can be different from those for page.
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CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.................................25
3.1 Differences among drama, musicals and opera..............................25
3.2 Characteristics of musicals............................27
CHAPTER FOUR A CASE STUDY ON CATS...........................39
4.1 The introduction of Cats and its Chinese translations...……............39
4.2 Singablity in translations of Cats..............................40
CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION.....................................57
5.1 Findings and implications......................................58
5.2 Limitations................................59
CHAPTER FOUR A CASE STUDY ON CATS
4.1 The introduction of Cats and its Chinese translations
Cats is a world-celebrated musicals theater adapted from a long verse named Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats written by T. S. Eliot and then composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It firstly performed in the West End in 1981 and then on Broadway in 1982, directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne. As one of the most famous musical in broadway, Cats won numerous prestigious awards including both the Laurence Olivier Award and the Tony Award, the Nobel Prize in musicals field, for Best Musicals of the year. Basically, it tells a tribe of cats called the Jellicles gather once a year at the night known as the “the Jellicle choice” to decide the cat who can be ascended to the Heavyside Layer for a new life. The Jellicle cats have distinctive characters, each main character has an introduction in the musicals, and the plot develops through the songs. Cats has the highest box office in the history of musicals and is the second longest-running show in Broadway history. It has been performed worldwide thousands of times and has been translated into more than 40 languages.
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CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION
5.1 Major findings and implications
musicals have the duality of both literariness and musicalsity, and dramatic function as well, it should be the core of the musical translation study. Moreover, songs are the distinctive feature of musicals from drama; therefore, whether the translated lyrics can be sung along with the melody is a crucial standard for perfomablity in musical translation; otherwise, the translation cannot fulfill the function as the original lyrics.
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