Or, as a firend of mine reviewed it: “Both notes were terrible.”
Obviously, the impresario who conducted Bugs Bunny’s excursions into opera (The Rabbit of Seville, Hare of the Golden West, etc.) 
More seriously, they are two areas on a spectrum.
In Grand Opera, everything is sung, and plot by and large plays second fiddle to the music – generally it’s a romance triangle or revenge/romance scenario.
In Opera Bouffe or Light Opera, there is spoken dialogue linking the musical pieces.
This led to Operetta (Sigmund Romberg, Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald, et al.), which in turn led to Musical Theatre.
It was Rodgers and Hart who worked the great innovation in Musical Comedy, re-integrating the songs into vehicles advancing the plot – prior to that, they were incidents where cast members burst into song (often an already popular song) as the plot stood still. This proved so popular that it’s now canon, and except for revivals nobody ever puts on any of the “set-piece” musicals of the pre-Rodgers-and-Hart era.
Porgy and Bess was Gershwin’s effort to write true grand opera in a jazz motif, set in a rural black community in the American South. (I believe Eubie Blake also wrote a similar opus.)
Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, and other lesser pieces were efforts to write a rock opera, a grand opera in which the action was done completely to music.
:smack: That’ll teach me to try and post without my computer glasses. :smack:
I knew Bernstein was kinky but oral pedicures? Wow.
And where does Wagner fit into this? Monteverdi? Britten? If you state that there’s this straightforward divide into two sub-genres, you need to be clear that you’re not simply dividing “opera” in the first place.
Also where does the works of Gilbert and Sullivan fit in. Are they operas, operettas or musicals?
I’ve always heard them described as operettas.
Moe gave a very good description of the distiction.
In short*, a musical is “a play with singing,” whereas an opera is a “drama [that] is conveyed wholly or predominantly through music and singing.” The (now very blurred) line is deliniated at how important the music is, because a play is a form of literature and opera is a form of music.
*: Quotes taken from wikipedia articles, look 'em up yourself, dammit, it’s not hard.
As a listener of operas, operettas and musicals, the only distinction that makes sense to me is the type of singing. To my ears, I can’t imagine anything more inappropriate than an opera singer singing pop songs. I’ve heard a lot of this, and it ***never, ever ***works. It’s an entirely different type of sound, and I’ve never heard a voice that could do justice to both.
And by the way, there are quite a few “grand” operas with dialog.
Musicals are for the homosexual community and Operas are for the Rich community. No doubt with some overlap.
What?
Ezio Pinza.
Which brings me to a bad joke.
A Type-A businessman had a nervous breakdown from his work, and was sent by his doctor on a retreat to the Trappist monastery, where he could have peace and solitude.
In this particular monastery, as in many Trappist ones, talking was forbidden. But the monks would chant the responses at the Canonical Hours when they gathered for prayer. And, to preserve the sense of community, before Morning and Evening Prayer the Abbot would chant “Good morning, brothers” or “Good evening, brothers” and they would respond by chanting, “Good morning, abbot” or “Good evening, abbot” as appropriate.
Due to the stress the businessman had gone through, he was excused from Morning Prayer, but expected to attend Evening Prayer with the monks. And this continued for some weeks, and he came to enjoy chanting the responses to prayer along with them, along with the opening “Good evening, abbot.”
Then, recuperating, he decided to attend Morning Prayer with the monks. And they gathered, and in strode the abbot. In a sonorous baritone, he chanted “Good morning, brothers.” And they all responded “Good morning, abbot.”
Except the businessman, who was taken off guard and responded with the “Good evening, abbot” that preceded Evning Prayer.
Startled, the abbot chanted out: “Someone chanted ‘Evening.’ He must be a stranger.”
I can support your statement most of the way, until you say never, ever, and then my mind balks because I have heard Renee’ Fleming and Kiri Te Kanawa do quite respectable versions of what I consider “pop” songs. We may differ on where to draw that particular line, but there are at least those two opera stars who don’t fall flat on their faces. I would at least listen to some of the male singers try as well.
But as a general statement, I think opera singers voices are distinctive enough for that differentiation.
Ok - here’s another difference - I’ve been in several musicals (and G&S operettas) (school and community - nothing professional) but never any operas.
Actually, I was just seconding panache45’s comment about the singing styles.
This recalls a favorite observation of mine, having studied some music history.
The ancient Greeks, famous for their acceptance of homosexual lifestyle, initiated the famous Greek Drama. Opera, when begun, was meant to be a revival of the form, under the erroneous assumption that the Greek Drama was sung all the way through. Later, evidence pointed to the idea that the Greek Dramas were an alternation of spoken and sung sections.
Which just goes to show that gays have ALWAYS liked musicals.
Placido Domingo’s tangos & Mexican rancheros sound pretty fine to me. His parents moved to Mexico to perform Zarzuela–yet another genre. (Spanish operetta with dancing?)
I agree with those who see Grand Opera & musicals as various styles of musical theater. There are differences, but there’s no Great Wall between the genres. Of course, at the SDMB, it’s fun to quibble about details.
Houston Grand Opera uses surtitles–projected on the proscenium arch. (Most operas are not in “foreign languages” as an elitist thing; they just happen to have been written in “foreign countries.”) And quite a few HGO productions have a bit of spectacle.
HGO mounted an early production of Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha–to continue with the genre bending.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s collaborations are typically listed under the heading of operetta, on the same shelf with The Merry Widow, Die Fleidermaus, Orpheus in the Underworld, etc.
To the purists, though, they belong to a category all their own: Savoy Opera.
Confused yet?
In my opinion I would rate most G&S collaborations as operettas. There is one exception though. This is Yeoman of the Guard, which to all intents and purposes is a “proper” opera. The reason I say this is because it’s a much darker story, with music to match.
As many have said, the line is far too blurry to define well. For anything ambiguous, my rule is this: if done by an opera company, it’s an opera (Sweeney Todd often crosses over). If done by a musical theater company, it’s musical theater (the Broadway Boheme). There are far too many shows that can go either way to make a consistent distinction.
As for the Magic Flute - if you want to confuddle things further, feel free to refer to it as a singspiel.