Does anyone else find it difficult to decipher every word sung in a musical?

A musical’s score is one of its primary means of communication, yet how often during a show do you ask yourself, “Wait, what did they just sing?”

A solution to this problem presented itself at my open-caption performance of Bees & Honey at MCC. The supertitles are projected unobtrusively on a screen in the top-right corner of the stage, a placement that stands as a corrective to audiences who believe surtitles distract from the “purity” of their tableaus. If I heard a line clearly, then my eyes remained glued to the action. But if I missed a word here or there? Then I easily glanced over at the readily available scrolling-text to ensure total comprehension.

And Bees & Honey is a mere play; this predicament rears its head ears a lot more frequently with crooning. And I promise that understanding every sung word can facilitate deeper engagement with your average musical.

These thoughts come to you courtesy of robbed-of-a-Pulitzer Dark Disabled Stories.