Beating Broadway: How to Create Stories for Musicals That Get Standing Ovations

by Steve Cuden

CATHARSIS After journeying through so much difficult terrain and overcoming so much struggle and strife, getting to the resolution ought to then result in catharsis for the audience. Audiences live for this moment. It is the main reason why we bother to get dressed, pay serious money, and spend a part of our lives watching a show. This is the big payoff that audiences crave. Do general audiences know this? No. But you must. Catharsis comes from a Greek word meaning an emotional purging or purification. To storytellers it simply means an emotional relief or release. After a buildup of tension over the majority of a well-made story, the audience will experience a sense of completeness because they finally have an answer to whether or not the protagonist has reached his goal. It is a relief to know when the protagonist’s struggle is over regardless of whether or not the outcome is positive or negative. To reiterate, many successful stories wind up with resolutions that are not upbeat or happy, but the climax must result in some form of catharsis that leaves an audience feeling satisfied by the story’s conclusion and therefore glad that they went along on the journey.