Evolution of Musical Theatre

1. Evolution of Musical Theatre

2. What makes a musical? “It can be anything it wants to be. There is only one thing a musical absolutely has to have - music.” Oscar Hammerstein II

3. The Basics • Has evolved to include varied styles, subjects and themes, music and instrumentation • Styles range from opera to rock, to jazz, to pop • “Musical” can mean musical comedy, musical drama, or musical tragedy • Since 1830, Broadway (in New York City), also called “The Great White Way,” has been the center of American theatre

4. The Basics (continued) • Off-Broadway shows are in locations somewhat outside the central area and having less than 300 seats • The success of a show is based on the length of its run and the amount of its profit • Broadway bests are recipients of the Tony Award, named for Antoinette Perry

5. Early Forms • Include elements of drama, song and dance side by side • Songs arise out of dialogue • England - Shakespeare’s plays often included music • France - Moliere’s plays often included ballet dance, songs and an orchestra

6. Early Influences - English ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera– 1728; Flora – 1735 • No historical scenery or costumes • Spoken play with preexisting popular songs amid dialogue • Video Musical parody - Late 18th, early 19th century • Satire of famous story or performer – burlesques • Pantomime with songs and dances for entertainment and variety • 1828 – Hamlet

7. The Beggar’s Opera – 1728 by John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch Video Clip "Fill Every Glass"

8. Early Influences - Minstrel Show • First major contribution to theatre by blacks in America • Product of black slave culture mingled with white colonial potpourri • Dan Emmet, composer “Old Dan Tucker”, “Blue-Tail Fly”,1843, brought Virginia Minstrels to NY – touring show • Stephen Foster wrote songs for Christy Minstrels

9. Three part show - performed in “blackface 1- Fantasia - The Walkaround (Cakewalk) singing & dancing 2 - Olio – snappy banter, jokes, solo musical (banjo, fiddle, tambourine, singing, bone castanets) 3 - Burlesque (parody) – one-act vignette; satire of plays or carefree life on the plantation

10. Blackface performer The Cakewalk Minstrel show clip Cakewalk

11. Christy Minstrels - 1847 Part 2 – The Olio

12. Early Influences - The Operetta • Satirical operas by the English team of Gilbert and Sullivan were popular in America: Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado • Operettas have both dialogue and song accompanied by a classical score • Most early American operetta composers were German-born or trained (Sigmund Romberg, Victor Herbert)

13. Early Influences - Operetta HMS Pinafore “Captain of the Pinafore” 10:30

14. Early Influences - Operetta • 1890’s – 1920, European Operetta was an instant success as it toured U.S. • Gilbert & Sullivan’s satirical operetta was especially popular • Gave way to American imitations (Sousa) W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan

15. Early Influences – New York City • Shift from rural to city life created a demand for permanent theatres and pleasure gardens • 1866 – The Black Crook – used theatrical effect and sensual pleasures to become a theatre extravaganza • Showed producers and investors that frivolity could substitute for dramatic and musical substance (as in European opera)

16. Early Shows in NYC • 1874 – Evangeline was first to use an original musical score – first musical comedy • 1879 – The Brook used a common locale or event to interweave stories (like a sitcom/serial) – first desire for meaningful story • Mulligan Shows – 1880’s was a burlesque on the common people of NY – tales of the ordinary became important

17. The Black Crook – 1866 Melodrama First American Acting Troupe Using Women - 1893

18. Birth of the American Musical • Vaudeville was an early style that offered variety acts - songs, dances, skits, etc. to suit the multiclass and multiethnic population in cities • Extravaganzas were lavish productions • White performers imitated the songs, dances and diction of slaves in minstrel shows • Revues were variety shows with a theme (Ziegfeld Follies)

19. Development in the Early 1900’s • Early musical composers were songwriters for popular music publishing houses – Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin • Musicals consisted of a flimsy “book” as a framework for popular songs and dances of the era • Jazz, a uniquely American music style became popular in the 1920’s

20. Showboat • In 1927, Showboat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein opened on Broadway • Considered to be the first American musical – a jazz opera style • First to have musical numbers spring directly from the dialogue • Famous songs: “Old Man River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”

21. Showboat Dealt with more serious themes of racial discrimination and alienation between marriage partners

22. The Depression Days • One-third of all theatres closed • People could not afford tickets • Beginning of movies which cost less to attend • 1927 – the movie musical was born in Hollywood • Porgy and Bess by Gershwin opened in 1935; billed as an America Folk Opera

23. Porgy and Bess

24. The Classic Musical – Oklahoma! • After WWII, themes were more timeless and universal • Oklahoma!, the first collaboration of Rogers and Hammerstein opened in 1943 • It was a “unified work of art” integrating plot, music and dance for the first time

25. Musical Themes • Irving Berlin wrote Annie Get Your Gun about Annie Oakley • Cole Porter wrote Kiss Me Kate based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew • Guys & Dolls by Frank Loesser was based on short stories by Damon Runyon • Gypsy by Jule Styne (and young Stephen Sondheim) was based on the life of Gypsy Rose Lee • My Fair Lady by Lerner and Lowe was based on G.B. Shaw’s Pygmalion • Leonard Bernstein wrote West Side Story as an adaptation of Romeo & Juliet

26. Kiss Me Kate - 1948 • Note Bob Fosse on the right…!

27. Guys & Dolls - 1955 • “Sue Me” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat”

28. West Side Story - 1957 • Lyrics also by young Stephen Sondheim!

29. Musicals in the Era of Rock • In the early 1900’s musicals and popular music were linked together • Popular music of the 50’s and 60’s had no voice on Broadway – styles and subjects of previous eras prevailed: Hello Dolly – opera, 1920’s popular Fiddler on the Roof – folk music Cabaret – 1930’s jazz

30. Hello Dolly by Jerry Herman set in 1900’s New York, based on The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder - 1964

31. Hair “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” • In 1968, Hair opened on Broadway and broke many Broadway “rules”: • Rock & roll – return to popular music • Characters were high school socially discontented kids • Songs evoked a wide range of emotions (especially outrage!) “Let the Sunshine In”, “Hair”, “Easy to Be Hard”, “Good Morning Starshine”

32. Hair by MacDermot & Ragni

33. Broadway in Decline • The 1970’s began suffered from few new ideas, death of many golden age composers, and capitalize on popular trends. • Trends – revivals, revues, shows imported from England, technological extravaganzas

34. Godspell– 1971 by Stephen Schwartz

35. Fiddler on the Roof set in tsarist Russia by Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick - 1971

36. Jesus Christ Superstar- 1971by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice

37. Cabaret by Kander & Ebb is set in pre-WWII Weimar, Germany - 1972

38. Grease - 1972

39. A Chorus Line - 1975

40. Modern Composers & Producers • Stephen Sondheim • Andrew Lloyd Webber • Boublil & Schoenberg • Disney

41. Stephen Sondheim Into the Woods A Little Night Music Sweeney Todd

42. by Andrew Lloyd Webber Cats Chess Phantom of the Opera

43. by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg

44. Revivals Gypsy Pippin Chicago Grease

45. New Shows Spamalot Hairspray Spring Awakening Legally Blonde