Sem 1 Lesson 2

7/21/2019 Sem 1 Lesson 2

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Musical-Theater History Semester 1 - Lesson 2

I. George M. Cohan

II. The Princess Shows

III. The Ziegfeld Follies

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George M. Cohan

Little Johnny Jones (1904)

George M. Cohan

• (1878-1942)

• Actually born on the 3rd of July,

contrary to rumor

• Modernized and Americanized

musical comedy

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George M. Cohan


Vaudeville

• Started in vaudeville

with his parents and

sister: The Four Cohans

•Cohan embodied the

transition from

vaudeville to book show

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George M. Cohan

Little Johnny Jones

Cohan himself

• A “grotesquely agile"dancer

• Had a gift for making

ordinary lines seem

unusually funny

• Musically illiterate, like

Irving Berlin

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George M. Cohan

Immigration

• Time of unprecedentedinflux of refugees

• Fleeing war, persecution,

famine, poverty

• Not romantic about

homeland

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George M. Cohan

"[The] nation was confident in its superiority.Immigrants sat in happy isolation from the old country."

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Audience

• Cohan tailored his shows

to people who wanted to

see themselves onstage

• Audience members were

looking to celebrate their

new home

George M. Cohan Little Johnny Jones

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George M. Cohan

Little Johnny Jones

Populist

• Critics weren't crazy about

him, but he was the audience’sdarling

• (Cough, cough...Andrew Lloyd

Webber...cough, cough)

• Shows ran a few months, thentoured. Became hits on the

road, then returned to NY in

triumph

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George M. Cohan

Little Johnny Jones

Integration

• The Princess trio are

often credited with

creating the American

musical

• Cohan was making strides

a decade before

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George M. Cohan



• Made Cohan a star

• PLOT: An American jockey,

accused of throwing the English

Derby, clears his name andmarries rich girl despite his

lowly upbringing

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George M. Cohan


Dance

• Before Cohan, leading men

didn’t dance

• Cohan’s dances were

athletic and masculine

• Film: "Yankee Doodle

Dandy" !

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George M. Cohan


Hit songs, now classics

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Class

• Cohan shows frequentlyfeature the leveling of social

classes

• In Forty-Five Minutes From

Broadway, a rich girl gives upfortune to be with the man she

loves

George M. Cohan


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George M. Cohan

Little Johnny Jones

Talent

• "Small Town Gal" "

• Cohan wasn't much of a

singer. His musicality

was primitive. His acting was stiff

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George M. Cohan

Little Johnny Jones

"George is not the best actor or author

or composer or dancer or playwright.

But be can dance better than any

author, compose better than any

manager, and manage better than any

playwright. And that makes him a very

great man."

- William Collier, longtime friend and

fellow actor

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George M. Cohan Little Johnny Jones (1904)

Cohan's work reflected apatriotic zeal

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George M. Cohan

jin!go!ism /! jiNGg!"iz"m/

1. extreme patriotism, esp. inthe form of aggressive or

warlike foreign policy

synonyms: chauvinism,

nationalism, xenophobia, flag- waving

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Racism

• Song in the second actcalled “March of the

Frisco Chinks"

• Stage directions indicate

"Chinks exit stage right"

• Product of his time

George M. Cohan

Little Johnny Jones

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Other Cohan shows

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George M. Cohan


Prolific

• Cohan wrote 21 musicals

total

• But they became formulaic

and archaic

• Didn’t evolve with times

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George M. Cohan


The shows haven't lasted, although the songs have

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Equity

•Strongly opposed formation of

actors union

• Public showdown with Equity

contributed to his decline

• Never joined. Had to getEquity permission when he

performed


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George M. Cohan


Even so

• He's the only theater

personality with a

statue in New York

City

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The Three Revolutions

The innovations that led toOklahoma!

1. The Princess Shows

2. Show Boat (1927)

3. Pal Joey (1940) / Lady in the Dark (1941)

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The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

The First Revolution

• The Princess shows,

generally regarded as first

attempts to offer modern,

cohesive shows

• (But, as we just saw, Cohan

deserves some credit too)

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The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

Necessity: The mother of

invention

• 299-seat theater, fourteen

rows, two rows in balcony

• Very little wing or fly space.

No room for more people or

bigger set

• "Midget musical

comedy" (Bolton)

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The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

On the cheap

• Limited resources so the

shows themselves needed to

hold the audience’s

attention

• Couldn't afford big-name

stars

• Economical, intimate,

efficient, and entertaining

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The Princess ShowsVery Good Eddie

Personnel

• Kern, Bolton, & Wodehouse

• Of the seven Princess shows,

only four actually played the

Princess Theater

• Defined by personnel, not

location

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The Princess Shows

Jerome Kern (1885-1945)

• The first, influential,

American–born composer

• Rehearsal pianist for revues

and operettas

•Combined both influences to

create uniquely American

sound

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The Princess Shows

P. G. Wodehouse(1881-1975)

Lyricist

Guy Bolton(1884-1979)

Librettist

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Very Good Eddie (1915)

• Not the first Princess show, but

the first to be a hit

• PLOT: Two mismatched couples

(tall, short) are on their

honeymoon cruise. The tall ones

accidentally left behind, and shortones wind up falling for each other

on cruise

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Notice

• Unit set (one per act)

• Small cast (compared to

other shows at the time)

• Two mismatched couples

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The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

Integration

• Humor more sophisticatedthan labored puns of yore

• Humor came from character

and situation, rather than

hoary jokes

• Songs helped tell the story,

grew out of the drama

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The Princess Shows

Song

• "Thirteen Collar" "

• Character number

Very Good Eddie

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Later...

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The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

Song

• "Isn't It Great to Be

Married?" "

• Character and plot

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The Princess shows

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Fluffy

• Not much substance

• But they were popular

and well-executed

The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

Leave It to Jane

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The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

Influence

• Richard Rodgers saw Very Good Eddie 12 times to study the invigorating new

style

• George Gershwin heard a Kern a song

at 16 and resolved to emulate

• Lorenz Hart greatly influenced by the

breezy Princess style

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The Princess Shows

Very Good Eddie

Princess and Cohan recap:

• The American musical would never be the same old hodgepodge

• Firmly and forever launched

toward integration

• The musical was now fast, clever,

and dramatically efficient

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The Ziegfeld Follies


• Annual editions, 1907-1931

• Modeled on the Folies

Bergère

• Ziegfeld's wife saw the Folies

in Paris and suggested an American version

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"Hey, Mr. Producer"

• The most celebrated producerin Broadway history

• His name is still synonymous

with the revue form

• Produced book shows too,

including Show Boat

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"The Glorification of the

American Girl"

• At first, Ziegfeld couldn’t afford

stars. So he made the girls the

stars

• Revealing but tasteful costumes

• Audience appeal: men came for

the gams, women for the gowns

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Signature song

• "A Pretty Girl Is Like

a Melody" !

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Yes, "girl" is patronizing, condescending, and

paternalistic.

Welcome to 1907.

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Revues vs. early musicals

• Not much difference

• Many revues featured a thread

of a story

• Many musical comedies

featured paper-thin books

• Both interpolated outside songs,

and changed material to stay

topical and suit performers


Th Zi f ld F lli

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The Follies of 1907

• Had a plot. Sort of

• Introducing Captain John Smith andPocahontas to modern life. Along the

way, they meet John D. Rockefeller,

Enrico Caruso, and Teddy Roosevelt

• Upshot: Not much difference betweenThe Wizard of Oz (1903) and the first

Follies show

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Blacks

• Ziegfeld also progressive ingiving blacks their first chance

to work with whites onstage

• Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

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Bert Williams (1874-1922)

• The Ziegfeld Follies of 1910

• Several white cast members

threatened to walk out rather than

work on the same stage as a negro

• Ziegfeld pointed to the door, sayinghe could do the show without any of

them, but not without Williams

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Stereotypes

• Williams dispensed with minstrel

stereotypes and portrayed an all-

suffering everyman

• Despite rampant racism, he was

one of the most beloved performers

on the America stage

• Performed in blackface, literally to

his dying day


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Film

• A Natural Born Gambler (1916) !

• Williams performed his

famous poker gamepantomime

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Blackface

• Why would a blackman willingly wear

blackface?

• Williams refused toperform without it.


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"Nobody"

• Williams' signature song

• Williams recording "

• Modern interpretation !

M

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W.C. Fields

• “He was the funniest man

I ever saw, and the

saddest man I ever knew"

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Ziegfeld copycats

•The Follies spawned a

series of similar attractions

• George White’s Scandals

• The Passing Shows

• The Music Box Revue

• Earl Carroll's Vanities

Th Zi f ld F lli

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Sophie Tucker Fanny Brice Marilyn Miller

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Eddie Cantor W.C. Fields Will Rogers

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• Paragraph 1: State thesis, explain thesis, preview

examples

• Paragraph 2: A song that doesn't achieve its intended

purpose (quote the show)

• Paragraph 3: A major character who isn't fully

developed (quote the show)

• Paragraph 4: A plot point that isn't fully developed

(quote the show)

• Paragraph 5: Acknowledge the strong points, then

conclude

The Most Overrated Musical

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Paragraph 2: A song that doesn't achieve its

intended purpose

• "Put on a Happy Face," Bye Bye Birdie

• "Inutil," In the Heights

• "Song of Purple Summer," Spring Awakening


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Paragraph 3: A major* character who isn't

fully developed

• Vivienne, Legally Blonde

• Raoul, The Phantom of the Opera

• Grace, Annie

*Almost any show will have undeveloped

minor characters. Choose a major character.

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Paragraph 4: A plot point that isn't fully

developed

• The abuse and gay subplots in Spring

Awakening

• Why Claude goes to war in Hair

• Lt. Cable's death in South Pacific

Sem 1 Lesson 2

Documents

Transcript of Sem 1 Lesson 2