Abstract

We are familiar with the ubiquity of the word ‘Oh’ in all styles of song, yet it is possibly one of the most banal inclusions to any lyric line. Nevertheless, despite its apparent redundancy, the word becomes loaded with meaning in its performance, and thus becomes perhaps more laden with significance than other more apparently meaningful words. This paper will investigate the use of the word and sounds ‘Oh’ in a variety of different songs from the musical stage. We will see that in its simplicity its contribution to the musico-dramatic dynamic of musical theatre is in fact tremendously important. Perhaps it is even the semantic hollowness of the word itself (and ‘words’ like it) that enables, informs and establishes musical theatre as dramatic medium. In culmination we will recognise the performative importance of this and other non-semantic acoustic and verbalised signifiers.