CALL FOR PAPERS – REVISTA CIENTÍFICA/FAP - Dossier: “Musical Theatre: Investigations, Poetics, Perspectives” (ISSN 1980-5071)

2026-03-02

 

Thematic Dossier:

“Musical Theatre: Investigations, Poetics, Perspectives”

 

The call for submissions to the Revista Científica/FAP , vol. 35 no. 2 (Jul-Dec/2026), is now open. This online journal, focused on the field of Arts (encompassing Visual Arts; Photography; Video Arts; Cinema; Dance; Performing Arts or Theatre; Performance and Music), is a semi-annual publication of the Curitiba II campus (Faculty of Arts of Paraná) of UNESPAR, and aims to disseminate articles, reviews, essays, interviews and translations produced by PhDs and Masters. In addition to the Continuous Flow (works in the Arts field, in the sub-areas specified above, without thematic delimitation), the Journal will accept works for the Thematic Dossier “Musical Theatre: investigations, poetics, perspectives”, organized by professors André Ricardo Souza (Unespar), Débora Bérgamo (Unespar), Jones Oliveira Mota (UNEB) and Lívia Sudare (UFSC).

The term "musical theatre," depending on the context, can refer to the staging of shows aligned with the repertoire of American commercial theatre (the model established on Broadway and in the West End), but also, in a broader sense, it can encompass a wide variety of theatrical genres in which all or part of the action unfolds amidst music, with the characters singing and possibly dancing. Genres such as opera, operetta, vaudeville, musicals, revues, cabaret, burlesque, magic shows, among many others, are examples of the immense variety of possible combinations between music and dramatic action. Its roots lie in the spectacles of classical antiquity, but its current matrix derives from the musical theatre established in Europe from the 17th century onwards, initially with opera and then with its adaptations for different audiences and musical styles, and the exploration of new staging proposals, even overflowing the limits of the theatrical stage in the 20th and 21st centuries. Musical dramaturgy as a language has also established itself and expanded its visibility through contemporary media.

Commercial musical theater in Brazil has had a significant impact on the professional performance of artists from a wide variety of disciplines, fostering a specialized ecosystem of producers, artists, technical staff, and teachers, supported by numerous audiences composed of both occasional and regular spectators – legitimate fans of the genre – and critics, thus presupposing the existence of an audience specialized in the language. On the other hand, research and development of new theatrical shows have frequently resorted to the interaction between music and dramatic action in their creative processes, expanding the poetic possibilities of musical theater beyond the already established genres. The practice of musical theater, in its broadest sense, in educational spaces also deserves highlighting, due to its ability to promote an interdisciplinary environment conducive to the interaction of artistic languages.

In this context, the Revista Científica/FAP) invites Master's and Doctoral researchers to submit papers that reflect on the concepts, history, production, and reception of musical theatre in the field of Arts and in society as a whole, with the aim of creating a document that brings together information on the state of the art of research in musical theatre in Brazil and points to new fronts of research and artistic creation.

Suggested Thematic Areas (non-exhaustive):

 

  • definitions, concepts, and poetics in and of musical theatre
  • historiographical, sociological, and anthropological approaches to musical theatre
  • performance in musical theatre: acting, singing, dancing, playing instruments
  • musical theatre and education: training, teaching, artistic mediation
  • musical dramaturgy, integration between sound and image on stage (word-voice-movement)
  • tradition and contemporaneity: trends in musical theatre
  • dialogues with other languages, media, and other spaces (cinema, television, internet)
  • translation, version, and adaptation in and for musical theatre

 

DEADLINES: Submissions for the Dossier are open until June 30, 2026, upon registration and completion of all data on the website:

 http://periodicos.unespar.edu.br/index.php/revistacientifica.

We suggest that interested authors check the sections "Conditions for submission" and "Guidelines for authors" in:

https://periodicos.unespar.edu.br/index.php/revistacientifica/about/submissions