1. A Brief History – Part 1 Early Influences
Musical Theatre
A Brief History – Part 1
Early Influences

2. 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

3. 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 

4. The Beggar’s Opera – 1728 by John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch
Video Clip "Fill Every Glass"

5. 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

6. 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

7. Blackface performer The Cakewalk
1929 audio recording that follows the classic format of a minstrel show Minstrel show clip

8. 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

9. Christy Minstrels
Part 2 – The Olio

10. 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)

11. 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

12. The Black Crook – 1866 Melodrama
First American Acting Troupe Using Women

13. 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

14. Early Influences - Operetta
HMS Pinafore
“Captain of the Pinafore” 10:30

15. A Brief History – Part 2 American Influence
Musical Theatre
A Brief History – Part 2
American Influence

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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 ( ) and George White’s Scandals ( )

19. American Musical Comedy
Showed a picture of contemporary America
Had a shallow insubstantial look
Music and plot were not integrated
Had happy endings

20. Vincent Youmans
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

21. A Brief History – Part 3 Age of Development
Musical Theatre
A Brief History – Part 3
Age of Development

22. 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)

23. 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”

24. 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

25. 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”
Of Thee I Sing – serious satire on American politics
1935 – Porgy and Bess–wrote jazz opera that examines racism in America ; “Summertime”

26. Cole Porter
Cole Porter, composer, introduced an era of social grace and upper class charm
1930 – Anything Goes
Popular Songs: “Let’s Do It,” “Love for Sale,” “Night and Day”

27. Richard Rodgers
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

28. 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

29. A Brief History - Part 4 The Golden Age
Musical Theatre
A Brief History - Part 4
The Golden Age

30. 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 

31. 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)

32. 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