The Emergence Of Musical Theatre Part One Ms. Lirette

Vocab chassé : (sha-SAY) “to chase” A triple step gliding movement (step, close, step) pas de bourrée  : (pah duh boo-RAY) A sideways movement or transition step where a person steps behind, to the side, and then steps to the front.

What is A Musical? A performing art Form that combines Singing Spoken Dialogue Acting Dancing There is an Emphasis on the Music, hence “Musicals”

When did we start calling them musicals? What was the first musical? What makes a musical unique from other performing art forms?

Roots: Ancient 5th Century BCE Grecian Theatre amphitheaters comedies and tragedies Greek Chorus Aeschylus and Sophocles

Roots: Ancient 3rd Century BCE Roman Theatre Plautus’s comedies Sabilla = tap shoes! Flinn, Denny M. (c. 1997). Musical! : a grand tour : the rise, glory and fall of an American institution. New York: Schirmer Books.

Roots: Western Europe Medieval Christianity Liturgical chant Mystery plays Pageant Wagons

Roots: Western Europe Renaissance Commedia dell’Arte

Roots: Western Europe “Enlightenment” 18th and 19th Century Opera Buffa intermezzo from La Serva Padrona (Pergolesi) Premier September 5, 1733

Eastern roots and branches Chinese Opera Boats Taiwanese Opera Indian Dance Sanskrit Drama Replica of a Cantonese Red boat From late 19th early 20th century

Roots: 19th-20th century Europe Ballad Operas Comic Operas Operetta W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan 14 comic operas between 1871 and 1896 The Mikado H.M.S. Pinafore Pirates of Penzance

“I’ve Got a Little List” from The Mikado Patter song As some day it may happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list — I've got a little list Of society offenders who might well be underground, And who never would be missed — who never would be missed! There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs — All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs — All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat — All persons who in shaking hands, shake hands with you like that — And all third persons who on spoiling tête-á-têtes insist — They'd none of 'em be missed — they'd none of 'em be missed!

America! What was being performed? Burletta Minstrel shows Music halls/saloons Burlesque Pre-cursors to Vaudeville musical comedies featured characters and situations taken from the everyday life of New York's lower classes and represented a significant step from

Emergence of a new art form? Musical comedy September 12, 1866

What makes a musical a musical? Emphasis Stephen Sondheim said, "I really think that when something plays Broadway it's a musical, and when it plays in an opera house it's opera. That's it. It's the terrain, the countryside, the expectations of the audience that make it one thing or another.”