1. Evolution of Musical Theatre

2. What makes a musical?
“It can be anything it wants to be. There is only one thing a musical absolutely has to have - music.”
Oscar Hammerstein II

3. The Basics
Has evolved to include varied styles, subjects and themes, music and instrumentation
Styles range from opera to rock, to jazz, to pop
“Musical” can mean musical comedy, musical drama, or musical tragedy
Since 1830, Broadway (in New York City), also called “The Great White Way,” has been the center of
American theatre

4. The Basics (continued)
Off-Broadway shows are in locations somewhat outside the central area and having less than 300 seats
The success of a show is based on the length of its run and the amount of its profit
Broadway bests are recipients of
the Tony Award, named for
Antoinette Perry

5. Early Forms Include elements of drama, song and dance side by side
Songs arise out of dialogue
England - Shakespeare’s plays often included music
France - Moliere’s plays
often included ballet
dance, songs and an
orchestra

6. 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
Video
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 

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

8. 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
Stephen Foster wrote songs for Christy Minstrels

9. 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

10. Minstrel show clip Cakewalk
Blackface performer The Cakewalk
Minstrel show clip Cakewalk

11. Christy Minstrels
Part 2 – The Olio

12. Early Influences - The Operetta
Satirical operas by the English team of Gilbert and Sullivan were popular in America: Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado
Operettas have both dialogue and song accompanied by a classical score
Most early American operetta composers were German-born or trained (Sigmund Romberg, Victor Herbert)

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

14. 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

15. 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)

16. 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

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

18. Birth of the American Musical
Vaudeville was an early style that offered variety acts - songs, dances, skits, etc. to suit the multiclass and multiethnic population in cities
Extravaganzas were lavish productions
White performers imitated the songs, dances and diction of slaves in minstrel shows
Revues were variety shows with a theme (Ziegfeld Follies)

19. Development in the Early 1900’s
Early musical composers were songwriters for popular music publishing houses – Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin
Musicals consisted of a flimsy “book” as a framework for popular songs and dances of the era
Jazz, a uniquely American music style became popular in the 1920’s

20. Showboat
In 1927, Showboat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein opened on Broadway
Considered to be the first American musical – a jazz opera style
First to have musical numbers spring directly from the dialogue
Famous songs: “Old Man River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”

21. Showboat Dealt with more serious themes
of racial discrimination and alienation between marriage partners

22. The Depression Days One-third of all theatres closed
People could not afford tickets
Beginning of movies which cost less to attend
1927 – the movie musical was born in Hollywood
Porgy and Bess by Gershwin opened in 1935; billed as an America Folk Opera

23. Porgy and Bess

24. The Classic Musical – Oklahoma!
After WWII, themes were more timeless and universal
Oklahoma!, the first collaboration of Rogers and Hammerstein opened in 1943
It was a “unified work of art” integrating plot, music and dance for the first time

25. Musical Themes
Irving Berlin wrote Annie Get Your Gun about Annie Oakley
Cole Porter wrote Kiss Me Kate based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew
Guys & Dolls by Frank Loesser was based on short stories by Damon Runyon
Gypsy by Jule Styne (and young Stephen Sondheim) was based on the life of Gypsy Rose Lee
My Fair Lady by Lerner and Lowe was based on G.B. Shaw’s Pygmalion
Leonard Bernstein wrote West Side Story as an adaptation of Romeo & Juliet

26. Kiss Me Kate
Note Bob Fosse on the right…!

27. Guys & Dolls
“Sue Me” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat”

28. West Side Story
Lyrics also by young Stephen Sondheim!

29. Musicals in the Era of Rock
In the early 1900’s musicals and popular music were linked together
Popular music of the 50’s and 60’s had no voice on Broadway – styles and subjects of previous eras prevailed:
Hello Dolly – opera, 1920’s popular
Fiddler on the Roof – folk music
Cabaret – 1930’s jazz

30. Hello Dolly by Jerry Herman set in 1900’s New York, based on The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder

31. Hair “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical”
In 1968, Hair opened on Broadway and broke many Broadway “rules”:
Rock & roll – return to popular music
Characters were high school socially discontented kids
Songs evoked a wide range of emotions (especially outrage!)
“Let the Sunshine In”, “Hair”, “Easy to Be Hard”, “Good Morning Starshine”

32. Hair by MacDermot & Ragni

33. Broadway in Decline
The 1970’s began suffered from few new ideas, death of many golden age composers, and capitalize on popular trends.
Trends – revivals, revues, shows imported from England, technological extravaganzas

34. Godspell – 1971 by Stephen Schwartz

35. Fiddler on the Roof set in tsarist Russia by Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick - 1971

36. Jesus Christ Superstar - 1971 by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice

37. Cabaret by Kander & Ebb is set in pre-WWII Weimar, Germany - 1972

38. Grease

39. A Chorus Line

40. Modern Composers & Producers
Stephen Sondheim
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Boublil & Schoenberg
Disney

41. Stephen Sondheim
Into the Woods
A Little Night Music
Sweeney Todd

42. by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Cats
Chess
Phantom of the Opera

43. by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg

44. Revivals
Gypsy
Pippin
Chicago
Grease

45. New Shows
Spamalot
Hairspray
Spring Awakening
Legally Blonde