12 Musical Theatre © Paul Kolnik Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved The Connections Between Music and Drama Greek tragedy Opera Shakespeare Nineteenth-century melodrama Popular entertainment in the nineteenth century The musical is predominately an American form that evolved in the twentieth century What is the appeal of music and dance? Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Types of Musical Theatre Opera –Drama set entirely to music Operetta –Predominately drama set to music but with some spoken portions (usually a romantic story) Musical comedy –Developed in America in the 1920s—light, comic story interspersed with popular music Musical –Evolved from the operetta and musical comedy Revue –Comic sketches and vignettes alternated with musical numbers—no single story and stand-alone songs © Michal Daniel

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. 1920s and 1930s American Musicals Show Boat—the landmark musical of its age –Produced in 1927 –Serious story (romance between a white man and a woman of mixed-race) –Songs integrated into the plot –Elimination of the chorus line –Produced by Joseph Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II –Lyrics of wit “You’re the Top”, “Anything Goes” 12-4 © Catherine Ashmore

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved s and 1930s American Musicals Other landmark productions of the time: –1931: Of Thee I Sing (George and Ira Gershwin) –1935: Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward, and Ira Gershwin) –1940: Pal Joey (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart) –Dealing with American themes of race, presidential elections, the antihero.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Musical Theatre of the 1940s and 1950s Oklahoma! –Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II – First collaboration –Integration of music, dance, and story— Agnes de Mille, choreographer –Songs integrated with story, violence onstage, ballet © Martha Swope Guys and Dolls, words and music by Frank Loesser.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Musical Theatre of the 1940s and 1950s Other landmark musicals of the period: –Carousel (1945) / South Pacific (1949) –Guys & Dolls (1950) / The King & I (1951) –My Fair Lady (1956) / West Side Story (1957) –The Sound of Music (1959) –Surge in choreography, composers and lyricists – range and depth.

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Musicals from the 1960s through the 1980s End of the golden age –Fiddler on the Roof (1964) – jewish family, pogrom –Hair (1967)—representative of the anti-establishment culture of young America, fragmented –A Chorus Line (1975)—emphasized the connections between choreographer, dancers, and the musical Emergence of the concept musical –Stephen Sondheim (Follies / Company) –Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cats / Starlight Express) The British invasion (1970s-1980s) –Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Macintosh

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Musicals from the 1960s through the 1980s Sunday in the Park with George –Stephen Sondheim –the “concept musical” in which the production is built around an idea or a theme rather than a story. –Follies and Assassins 12-9 © Martha Swope

© 2015 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Musicals from 1990 to the Present Four current trends on Broadway: –Revivals from the past – less risk to produce Chicago / Annie / Cabaret / Pippin –Contemporary shows Rent / Avenue Q / Hamilton / In the Heights –Musicals from films Monty Python’s Spamalot / The Producers / Hairspray –Musicals from popular music Mamma Mia! / Rock of Ages What will the future musical encompass? Why have musicals remained so popular? 12-10