Musical Theatre

THEA 110 Intro to Theatre

Musical Theatre General Info

Is an Anti-Realist form of theatre, for obvious

reasons. We all just dont break into song or sing

our conversations.
It was also different than the other Anti-Realist

movements that we have discussed as it was not

necessarily rebelling against Verisimilitude.
But because it is unique with its own

performances with song and dance

Musical Theatre General Info

Theatre has always had music, song, and dance

It is one of Aristotles 6 parts of a drama

Rituals contained songs and dance to enhance

meaning
Greeks had dance and the chorus was introduced
with a song or ode (Remember Tragedy means
goat song)
25 of 37 of Shakespeares plays contain music
Ben Jonson & Moliere wrote musical pieces for the
court
Even Anti-Realist pieces had music (Brechts 3
penny opera)

Musical Theatre General Info

New York City is the home of Musical Theatre

But London, Toronto, Sydney are big as well

Over the last 2 decades 80% of Broadways gross

profits have come from musicals
Also very popular Off-Broadway (In fact many shows
start Off-Broadway and later move to Bway)
Musicals are also very popular across the country
with tours
Musicals have become so popular that it is not
uncommon for them to win Pulitzer Prizes

Americas Contribution

The Musical as we think of it today is truly Americas 1 st contribution to the

theatre

Started in the late 19th century in NYC

Originally called Extravaganzas

First productions

Seven Sisters Niblo Garden Theater in 1860

More of a Vaudville & Burlesque

Vaudville- collection of musical numbers and variety acts

Burlesque- broad parodies of major works some had cross dressing

Continued into the 20th Century

The Black Crook 1866

1st true musical

Was originally a Melodrama

French dance troupe was stranded in NY when they missed their boat backed to France

Offered room & board to join cast

Became a big hit

Birth of Dancing Girls

Florenz Ziegfeld (1867-1932)

-Began annual Ziegfeld Follies with the Follies of 1907
-Lasted until 1931
-Glorified the American Girl
-Girls were adorned with Beautiful gowns and headdresses
-Contained music from well known composers
of the time
-Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern
-Also featured the biggest stars of the era
-W.C. Fields, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, Fanny
Brice
-Home of the Follies was the New Amsterdam
Theatre on 42nd St. on Times Square
-Also built the Ziegfeld Theatre where he produced
the classic musical Show Boat

Early Musical Theatre

American Originals

Victor Herbert (Irish immigrant)

Americas 1st great

Babes in Toyland (1903)

Naughty Marietta (1910) contained Oh Sweet Mystery of Life

George M. Cohan

From Rhode Island

Little Johnny Jones (1904) Give My Regards to Broadway, Yankee

Doodle Boy

3 dozen shows and over 500 songs

European Imports

Gilbert and Sullivan

Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado

Jaques Offenbach

Orpheus in the Underworld, Featuring the Can-Can

Musical Comedy
Dominated the first third of the 20th cent.
Emphasized Comedy, Song & Dance, Youthful Romance,

Patriotism
Started Dance Crazes

Spectacular dances
Tap Dance
Usually to Jazzy or Ragtime melodies

FEATURES
Simple
Plots

Solely for Romantic and Comic

Characters

Unchallenging Themes

Lots of pretty dancing girls

Lots of Song and Dance that had

little to do

with the plot

Musical Comedy Pioneers

1920s 1930s

George and Ira Gershwin

Vincent Yeoman

Hit the Deck, No No Nanette (Tea for Two)

Rodgers and Hart

Oh Kay, Funny Face, Girl Crazy

A Connecticut Yankee, Babes In Arms

Cole Porter

Anything Goes

[Link] qo6lPifGnGA

A Golden Age (late 20s-early

60s)

In 1925 four musicals all ran at least 300

performances and two lasted for over 500

Sunny
Dearest Enemy

The Vagabond King

No, No, Nanette

This was a time when shows that lasted a few weeks

were a hit. These show all ran for a year or longer

This ushered in A Golden Age and led to the

introduction of a new type of musical style.

The Musical Drama

(Golden

Age cont)

Features

Serious plots, More sophisticated musical styles, Lyrical Dance

Early major Musical Drama

Joseph Kern & Oscar Hammerstein

Show Boat (1927)

Fully acted not just sung, Based on Novel by Edna Ferber, dealt with Race relations in the
US

George and Ira Gershwin

Of Thee I Sing (1932) first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize

Porgy and Bess (1935) folk opera

Rodgers and Hart

Pal Joey (1940)

From New Yorker stories

Gigolo and unsavory characters, nightclubs settings, sexual infidelity, famous stripper
scene while she dances she is thinking of other daily chores

My Funny Valentine

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Zip

[Link] dAZB20R_2nY

Rodgers and Hammerstein

(Golden Age cont)

Wrote during the 40s and 50s

Rodgers wrote the music Hammerstein wrote the
Lyrics
Their shows and movies won 34 Tonys, 15
Academy
Awards, Pulitzer Prize (South Pacific), 2
Grammys
-Both previously worked with other partners but
came

together to write Oklahoma! when partners

declined
-Oklahoma! (1943)
Social and Sexual tension in the West
Dancing Girls replaced by real dance by
Choreographer Agnes deMille
Dance advanced the plot Dream Ballet
[Link]
Onstage killing and Western Justice
Video
[Link]

Rodgers and Hammerstein

(Golden Age cont)

Features
Social conflict, romantic settings, soaring solos
Loving duets, huge chorus #s, dance, orchestr
Carousel (spousal abuse)

If I Loved You
[Link]
Youll Never Walk Alone
[Link]

South Pacific (racial prejudice)

[Link]

The King and I (gender prejudice & ethnocentricit

[Link]

The Sound of Music (Nazism)

[Link]
[Link]

Other Golden Age Notables

Leonard Bernstein

(w/ Stephen Sondheim Lyrics)

West Side Story Romeo and Juliet set in NY w/ 50s gangs

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Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick

Fiddler on the Roof Jewish Life in Russia under the Tsar

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Frank Loesser

Guys and Dolls

[Link]

[Link]

How to Succeed in Business.

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Richard Adler & Jerry Ross

Damn Yankees

[Link]

The Contemporary Musical

The Choreographer-Director
Last of the Golden Age

Agnes de Mille

Plot advancing dance

Oklahoma! dream ballet

Jerome Robbins

The King and I Small House of Uncle Thomas

West Side Story Street Rumbles Gym Dance

First Choreographer-Director

Gypsy Stripteases

Fiddler on the Roof Tradition Russian Wedding

Jerome Robbins Broadway Career Retrospective,

Won Tony

The Contemporary Musical

The Choreographer-Director

60s & 70s

Really where D-C became a movements

Gower Champion (1921-1980)

From same generation as Robbins but truly something different

Placed dance at the center of the dramatic action

Bye Bye Birdie, Hello Dolly, Carnival much lighter fare

42nd Street his valentine to Bway, died on opening night, huge hit

[Link]

Bob Fosse (1927-1987)

Also started in Golden Age Pajama Game, Damn Yankees

But later developed a new style

Quick jerky movement, Slow sinuous come-ons, bump & grind, white gloves
and bowler hats, dance as sex & sex as dance

Chicago [Link]

Cabaret (film) [Link]

Pippin [Link]

All That Jazz auto biographical film

Fosse retrospective of work opened in 1999 won Tony for Best Musical

The Contemporary Musical

The Choreographer-Director
70s & 80s

Tommy Tune (1939)

Known for Tap Dance but equally excels at other styles

Has won Tony award in 4 cat. (Best Director,

Choreographer, Actor, Featured Actor

My One and Only, Grand Hotel, Will Rogers Follies

Michael Bennett (1943-1987)

More conceptual

A Chorus Line (1975)

[Link]

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related

The Contemporary Musical

Stephen Sondheim (1930)

No one has had a greater influence on the

modern musical

First important work was as lyricist for West Side

Story and Gypsy during Golden Age

Broke out on his own as composer as well with A

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

But from 1970 onward his style changed

Disturbing Plots, Ironic and Cynical tone, skepticism

about morality, sophisticated and adult themes,
intricately rhymed lyrics

He has almost single handedly influenced todays

generation of musical theatre artists

Jonathan Larson, Jason Robert Brown, Andrew Lippa

The Contemporary Musical

Stephen Sondheim (1930)

Early Works

Company (1970) looks at sexual pairings and relationships and

turning 35

Follies (1971) reunion of aging Bway performers

A Little Night Music (1973) summer dalliances in Sweden

His Golden Age

Sweeney Todd (1979) Brechtian, Victorian Melodrama,

Revenge

[Link]

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Sunday In the Park with George (1984) Bio of artist George Seurat,
and his fictional descendants

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More Recent Works

Assassins (1991) Historical Fiction of those who have or tried

to assassinate the President

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The Contemporary Musical

Foreign Invasion

Started in the 70s became huge in the 80s and continues today

Andrew Lloyd Weber

Early partnership with Tim Rice (lyrics) very Rock and Roll influenced

Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing

[Link]

On his own (more classical)

Cats, Phantom of the Opera (longest running Bway show), Evita

[Link]

Boubil & Schonberg (France)

Les Miserables (adaption of Victor Hugo)

[Link]

Miss Saigon (Vietnam war and aftermath)

Others

Elton John

Aida, Billy Elliot

Benny Anderson (Abba, Tim Rice)

Chess, Mamma Mia

The Contemporary Musical

Disney Invasion

Has mastered the Musical Theatre since the 90s

Of course in their films, but also adaptations of those films for the
stage

Built a home on Bway by refurbishing the New Amsterdam

Theater

Adaptions

The Lion King [Link]

Beauty and the Beast [Link]

Mary Poppins

Tarzan

Little Mermaid

Hunchback of Notre Dame (Berlin only)

Original

Aida (adaptation of Verdi Opera)

[Link]

The Contemporary Musical

Musicals of the 21st Century

Today Musicals are taken from all kinds of source

material
And have a wide range from small intimate
shows to grand spectacles.
There are adaptations from novels, movies,
biographies
There is also a trend for small musicals to start
Off-Bway and then transfer to Broadway. And
then some move back
We still have comically entertaining shows as
well as deeply serious shows
And we are currently in a new era of a younger

The Contemporary Musical

Musicals of the 21st Century

Movie Adaptations

Mel Brooks: The Producers, Young Frankenstein

Elton John: Billy Elliot
Others: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Color Purple, Full
Monty, Legally Blonde, Xanadu, Spamalot (MP and the
Holy Grail)
Many others

Smaller Musicals and new subject Material

Jason Robert Brown: Last 5 Years, Parade, Songs for a
New World
Others: Urinetown [Link]
Avenue Q [Link]
Spring Awakening [Link]

Title of Show

[Link]

The Contemporary Musical

Musicals of the 21st Century

Epic Spectacles and the Rest

Jonathan Larson (1960-1996)

Tick, Tick, Boom

Rent (1996, adaptation of La Boheme, Won Pulitzer, Died night before

opening)

[Link]

Stephen Schwartz

Has been writing since the 60s and has had many hits Pippin,
Godspell, but his biggest hit came in 2005

Wicked [Link]

Yorkey and Kitt

Next to Normal (2008, started off-bway and transferred in 2009)

Pulitzer Prize

[Link]

Musical Theatre
We could have added so many other shows and

many have been left out (Brad how could you

have left out Kander and Ebb?!?!?!)
Okay, Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, Steel

Pier, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Scottsboro

Boys) Easily the greatest writing duo since R&H
and just as prolific and important!!
Musicals are a part of our culture. They have been

and are popular music, started dance crazes, won

important awards, and have entertained us. They
will continue to be important to your kids and
grandkids as well.