The Issue of Creative Collaboration in Uzbek Musical Dramas

This study examines the problem of creative cooperation in Uzbek musical dramas, focusing on the tie between playwright, composer, and director in achieving artistic wholeness. The paper raises an issue that requires further exploration, considering the imbalance of relations between theme and genre in the modern practice of national musical theatre as one of the main drivers of performance fragmentation. Employing analytical and comparative methods, the research investigates the works of Xoliq Khursandov in collaboration with Farhod Olimov and Bahodir Nazarov at the Muqimi Theatre: O‘lding, Aziz Bo‘lding, Toptalgan Tuygu, and Mehr Nuri. The results show that the majority of works lack cooperation at the creation stage as they do not observe the wholeness of dramatic and music structures. It is found that when the music, dramatic text, and inscenation are developed separately, the performance loses the integrity that is the main determining factor of its artistic quality. Due to extreme autonomy of the elements and, thereby, weak emotional and theme-related connection, musical dramas created in this manner do not correspond to the general purpose of an artistic work. The research implies that the groundbreaking success of a musical performance is possible only with continuous and concerted effort of all creators involved. Overall, the realization of cooperative models is key to the recreating the integrity of Uzbek national musical theatre and increasing its potential in addressing contemporary social and cultural issues.