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. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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 

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

9. 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

10. 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

11. Blackface performer The Cakewalk
1929 audio recording that follows the classic format of a minstrel show Minstrel show clip Al Jolson – Camptown Races

12. 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

13. Christy Minstrels
Part 2 – The Olio

14. 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)

15. 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

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

17. 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

18. 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)

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

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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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 ( )

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

25. 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
1972 Revival

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

27. 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)

28. Showboat – 1927
Showboat with music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein
Based on the novel by Edna Ferber
Showboat was the first “book musical” – music was written specifically for it and the music was integrated with the libretto

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

30. Jerome Kern – Showboat Known as the first “musical comedy”
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
Famous songs “Ol’ Man River,” “Can’t Help Lovin’Dat Man”

31. 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 – wrote Porgy and Bess a jazz opera that examines racism in America ; “Summertime”

32. Porgy and Bess

33. 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”

34. 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

35. 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

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

37. 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 

38. 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

39. Reign of R & H Oklahoma! developed a new formula for a new Era:
Song and dialogue were interspersed
Used ballet (Agnes DeMille) 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)

40. 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).

41. R & H Domination The King & I (role of women),
The Sound of Music (anti- Semitism)
Characters were rarely trite; plots rarely predictable; endings not always happy

42. 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

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

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

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

46. 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 - jazz

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

48. Fiddler on the Roof set in tsarist Russia by Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick

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

50. 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”

51. Hair by MacDermot & Ragni

52. 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

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

54. Grease

55. A Chorus Line

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

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

58. by Andrew Lloyd Webber

59. by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg

60. Revivals
Gypsy
Chicago
Grease

61. New Shows