Children's Musical as a Popular Genre of Ukrainian Stage Art in 1960s-1990s: Formation and Development

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to identify the peculiarities of formation and the main trends in the development of children's musical as a popular genre of Ukrainian stage art in the 1960s-1990s. Research methodology. The historical and cultural method was used to summarise the factual material related to the time of creation and the logic of development of the children's musical in the Ukrainian stage art of the 1960s-1990s. The methods of art historical and genre-stylistic analysis were applied to help identify specific artistic and aesthetic, genre and stylistic features in the productions of children's musical on the stages of Ukrainian theatres. Scientific novelty. The history of the formation and development of the Ukrainian children's musical in the stage art of the 1960s-1990s is studied; its musical, artistic, staging and performance features are revealed. The chronological sequence of writing the most significant in the context of the development of the genre of the first national children's musicals is presented. The contribution of Ukrainian composers (Zh. Kolodub and L. Kolodub, O. Bilash, I. Poklad, S. Bedusenko) and directors (P. Kolisnyk, M. Lukavetskyi) in the formation of the national musical for children's audiences is revealed. Children's musicals by Ukrainian composers included in the "golden fund" of national stage art are analysed ("Fox Mykyta" (libretto by R. Kudlyk) and "Tom Sawyer" (libretto by M. Petrenko based on Mark Twain's novel) by B.-Yu. Yanivskyi). Conclusions. The process of integrating the musical genre into the Ukrainian stage art of the last third of the 20th century took place in accordance with the peculiarities of the socio-cultural space of that time, socio-political events and artistic trends. The creative rethinking of content and structural features of the Western genre invariant in the 1960s-1990s became the basis for the formation of the national Ukrainian children's musical as a factor in the internationalisation of the world music and stage culture. At the same time, the formation of the Ukrainian children's musical is connected with the process of nationalisation of the genre, as evidenced by the reliance of the libretto on stories from folklore and traditional Ukrainian culture, the introduction of traditional principles and techniques inherent in the stage art of Ukraine. The peculiarities of the formation and further development of children's musicals in Ukraine were conditioned by the creative searches of domestic composers (B.-Yu. Yanovskyi, I. Poklad, S. Bedusenko, Zh. and L. Kolodub, E. Lapeika, O. Kolomiitseva, A. Bondarenko) and theatre directors. The productions of children's musicals from the 1960s-1990s allow us to talk about the rethinking of the Western archetype of the genre and the beginning of the formation of a national Ukrainian musical.
 Key words: children's musical, Ukrainian stage art, children's musical theatre, genre, production and performance features.