Style/Specific types of releases/Theatre

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Status: This page describes an active style guideline proposal and is not official.



Proposal number: RFC-28
Champion: BrianFreud
Current status: In development


Trac ticket # 2146

Note: This proposal would also rename this guideline from "Musical Soundtrack Style" to "Theatre Style".


A "theatre" release is a recording of a work for the theatre involving music, songs, and/or spoken dialogue, occasionally also including dance. Typically these works are of a musical nature, but they may also be dramatic or comedic.

Applicability

This guideline specifically applies only to non-opera theatre releases. Opera, video game soundtracks, non-musical theatre other types of soundtracks are covered by different style guidelines. Depending on the release, it may be more appropriate to instead apply classical style or audiobook style.

Basic Guidelines

  • The release type should be Soundtrack.
  • The release, release group, and track artist should be the composer(s), not the performer(s), lyricist(s), and/or librettist(s).
    • Performer(s), lyricist(s), and/or librettist(s) should be indicated using advanced relationships.
    • For non-musical theatre releases, the author of the work should be used as the artist.
  • The release and release group titles should exclude extra title information information such as "Original Soundtrack", "Music from," etc., except that:
  • For compilations of songs from different shows being sung by a one or more performers where the songs are not compiled as part of a specific theatrical revue, the release and release group titles should not include the cast information, unless it already appears as part of the title of the release.
  • Within the cast information in the release and release group titles, only proper nouns (e.g. 'London', 'Broadway', 'Senator Theatre') should be capitalized. All other words (e.g. 'revival', 'original', 'cast') ought to be lower-cased.
Incorrect:    Allegro (1947 Original Broadway Cast)
Correct: Allegro (1947 original Broadway cast)

Examples

Applies:
Studio recording of a musical theatre work
Recording of a filmed musical theatre work. Theatre Style overrides the generic Soundtrack Style.
Demo cast recording for a musical theatre work.
Non-musical theatre release, using the author, William Shakespeare, as the artist.
  • Note that this example overlaps with Audiobook Style; as there is a single reader, rather than a dramatic performing cast, there is no cast information included in the title.
Live bootleg of a theatre cast with a known performance date.
Differences from normal Live Bootleg Style:
  • Exclude the colon after the date.
  • If the city is easily identifiable (e.g. Toronto, London, Paris, New York, etc.), other location information may be excluded.
Live bootleg of a theatre cast with an unknown performance date, where only the performance season is known.
  • Original and revival casts. Note that "Broadway revival cast" is correct, not "new Broadway cast", as the 2004 Broadway cast is only the "new" cast until the next "newer" cast performs that same show in the same location.
Does not apply:
Operas, thus Opera Track Style, not Theatre Style, would apply.
A musical theater-themed album is not automatically considered a 'theatre release'.