1. The Harlem Renaissance And the history of musicals

2. The Harlem Renaissance, a cultural, social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York, spanned the 1920s.

3. The Harlem Renaissance was considered to be a rebirth of African-American arts. It was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The Harlem Renaissance is generally considered to have spanned from about 1918 until the mid-1930s. Many of its ideas lived on much longer.

4. The first stage of the Harlem Renaissance started in the late 1910s
The first stage of the Harlem Renaissance started in the late 1910s. In 1917, the premiere of Three Plays for a Negro Theatre took place. These plays, written by white playwright Ridgely Torrence, featured African-American actors showing complex human emotions and yearnings. They rejected stereotypes.

5.  Another landmark came in 1919, when the poet Claude McKay published his militant sonnet, "If We Must Die," which introduced a dramatically political dimension to the themes of African cultural inheritance and modern urban experience. Although "If We Must Die" never alluded to race, African-American readers heard its note of defiance in the face of racism and the nationwide race riots that were taking place at the time.

6. Another theater movement that gained a lot of attention in the 1920’s was the birth of the modern musical. Because audiences loved musicals so much, investors did as well. In 1927 Oscar Hammerstein 2nd wrote Showboat, a musical still performed today and probably the first well known modern musical.

7. The great depression did not stop Broadway musicals, in fact this industry grew! People needed an escape from their everyday life. It didn’t stop during the second world war either. For the same reasons.

8. The 1960’s were the beginning of rock opera’s
The 1960’s were the beginning of rock opera’s. This is a performance where all or most sentences are sung. Also during the 1960’s many of these rock opera’s were political in nature. The underlying theme was often anti-establishment.

9. The 1980’s was the decade of the mega musical. The bigger the better
The 1980’s was the decade of the mega musical. The bigger the better. Set designs were extravagant, the music was phenomenal and the actors were stars. Think of musicals such as cats, les miserables, and phantom of the opera.

10. In the 1990’s these super big productions were not as popular as they had once been and theater simplified. Musicals were still great but with a simpler set and and often fewer actors, like Once. They also took existing stories and turned them into musicals, think of the Lion King.

11. Theater has been around since ancient times
Theater has been around since ancient times. It is a way for people to express themselves, to explain how they are feeling, what they want and or need. We can learn so much about the history of cultures simply by looking at their theaters. The art, the words, the movement, even the buildings, all explains what people were going through at the time it was written. And at the end of it all, it is still nothing more than simple story telling.