Throughout the development of American musical theatre, we have witnessed an amazingly wide gamut of lyrics and musical compositions – from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim and Guettels. In this class Phil Simmons takes a close look at how the styles and trends in musical-theatre lyrics have affected the ease, or the difficulty, of creating fully-realized, believable characters. Join Phil as he examines how several composers have either helped or hindered the actors who sing their music to become "real" characters in the production.