Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 1

Early Influences

What is Musical Theatre?

mu·si·cal the·a·ter noun: musical theatre is a genre of drama in which singing and dancing play an essential part

It is an American creation

Influenced by English ballad opera, ragtime, jazz music, minstrelsy, vaudeville, burlesque, follies and revues

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

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 

The Beggar’s Opera – 1728 by John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch

Video Clip "Fill Every Glass"

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

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

1929 audio recording that follows the classic format of a minstrel show

Minstrel show clip

Blackface performer The Cakewalk

Early Influences - Minstrel Show

Ed Christy Minstrel Show – featured Stephen Foster, composer “My Old Kentucky Home” – touring show

Olio grew into variety or vaudeville show

Fantasia became Broadway Revue

Satire became used as themes for later musicals

Christy Minstrels - 1847

Part 2 – The Olio

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)

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

The Black Crook – 1866 Melodrama

First American Acting Troupe Using Women - 1893

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

Early Influences - Operetta

HMS Pinafore

“Captain of the Pinafore” 10:30

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 2

American Influence

American Influences – 1918-1929

U.S. was the economic world leader

U.S. was victorious after WWI

Optimistic society – an American not European culture was developing

Development of American Writers and Performers

Women and Black performers allowed onstage

Revues/Follies were dominant form of entertainment

American Songwriters

Wrote for major music publishing houses in New York City (“Tin Pan Alley”) – before the phonograph, people used to purchase sheet music to sing around the piano

Wrote swinging optimistic melodies

Songs were recycled and moved from one revue to another

American Revues – the Follies

Featured stars of the day and a chorus of beautiful women in elaborate costumes and scenery such as in the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931) and George White’s Scandals (1919-1939)

American Musical Comedy

Showed a picture of contemporary America

Had a shallow insubstantial look

Music and plot were not integrated

Had happy endings

Vincent Youmans 1898-1946

Influenced by popular music; worked as a rehearsal pianist for many songwriters

Wrote the most produced musical in the 1920’s “Tea for Two” and ” I Want to Be Happy” from

No, No Nannette

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 3

Age of Development

The Age of Development 1925-1945

Factors that influenced the development of musical theatre during this period were:

Global economic crisis (depression)

Global warfare (WWII)

Since theatre often mirrors its environment, operettas and large scale productions seemed out-of place.

A new kind of musical was developed using great literature as the story base (like feature films)

Jerome Kern - Showboat - 1927

Showboat with music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein

Based on the novel by Edna Ferber

Music was integrated with the libretto

Famous songs “Ol’ Man River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’Dat Man”

Showboat – first “musical comedy”

Showboat was the first “book musical”

Was a social documentary based on serious and profound themes

Major conflict involves what makes people “black” or “white” in America

Had first integrated cast

George Gershwin 1898-1937

Influenced by jazz music

Music was strongly syncopated, “swingy” using a jazz offbeat (emphasis on the 2 and 4)

1924 wrote “Rhapsody in Blue”

1931 - Of Thee I Sing – serious satire on American politics

1935 – Porgy and Bess–wrote jazz opera that examines racism in America ; “Summertime”

Cole Porter - 1927

Cole Porter, composer, introduced an era of social grace and upper class charm

1930 – Anything GoesPopular Songs: “Let’s Do

It,” “Love for Sale,” “Night and Day”

Richard Rodgers 1902-1979

Influenced by operetta tradition; Worked with Lorenz Hart as his early lyricist

Rodgers & Hart continued to use meaningful literature as the basis of the story such as: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court 1927 based on novel by Mark Twain; Boys from Syracuse 1938 based on The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare

Kurt Weill 1900-1950

Refugee from fascist Europe

His work reflected the awareness of social and political issues

Made serious avant-garde attempts with setless, costumeless, orchestraless, political satires

Most famous was The ThreePenny Opera made “Mack the Knife” a hit

 

Musical Theatre

A Brief History - Part 4

The Golden Age

Golden Age of Musicals 1945-1968

Musicals lost their innocence by the end of WWII

Broadway activity was reduced to a trickle

In 1943 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein formed a partnership to produce a musical on the play Green Grow the Lilacs 

Reign of R & H

Oklahoma! developed a new formula for a new Era:

Song and dialogue were interspersed

Used Agnes de Mille ballet as dance form

Had a sympathetic villain

Threw out much of the rules of the previous era (unrelated song, music and dance, happy endings, small scale)

R & H Domination

R & H continued to dominate the American musical for the next 20 years

Musicals were based on great literature

Had profound, universal, humanistic theme:

Carousel (domestic violence), South Pacific (racial bias), The King & I (role of women), The Sound of Music (anti-Semitism)

Characters were rarely trite; plots rarely predictable; endings not always happy