1. Musical Theatre History
Development of the Musical

2. Primitive Man -Medieval Europe
Caveman - explained customs through music, song, dance, and acting
5th Century B.C. - sang (chanted) lines, chorus moved rhythmically to music
Rome - pantomimes used a dancer to relate story through movement as chorus sang narration
Medieval Europe - wandering performers provided entertainment for castles (nobles) and town festivals (everyone else)

3. Renaissance - 18th Century
Italian
Commedia dell’arte used singing and dancing
Intermezzo (between acts) used songs, dancers, music, scenery, SFX
1st opera: Dafne 1597 (chanted lines to music)
English
Used masques, intermezzos and background musicians for entertainment as well as pantomime (the English version of commedia dell’arte)
Burlesques which featured scantily dressed women
Ballad Operas which featured plots, dialogues songs with new lyrics to old melodies (A Beggars Opera)
Comic Opera which featured original music (Pirates of Penzance)

4. 19th Century - USA Comic Operas and Pantomimes performed
Minstrel shows - played banjos, tambourines, “bones”, sang, danced, and made jokes
Music Halls and Vaudevilles - unrelated acts, magic, jugglers, acrobats, sketches, animals, singers, and dancers

5. 1st Musical The Black Crook - Sept 12, 1866 in New York
Ran 474 performances
5 1/2 hours long
Mixture of drama, spectacle, scenery, transformations with ballet and scantily clad dancers
Lots of scenic special effects

6. Early 20th Century - USA
Ziegfield Follies (and other revues) were the main source of entertainment
Composers such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert, Richard Rodgers, and George Gershwin got their start in these venues
Foreshadowed our demands for glitz, glamour, and expense in entertainment
Preproduction expenses topped $250,000 with $123,000 going to costumes alone (the average American earned $19.20 per week in 1920)

7. 1920s By the time the “Roaring 20s” came around… Melodramas took rise
Realism and naturalism were introduces
Lots of pressure on technical theatre to accommodate both styles of theatre
In reaction to these styles, anti-realistic and anti-traditional modes of theatre began to arise

8. 1920s (continued) “New age of American Musical”
Showboat in 1927 by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
Events span 40 years
Serious theme with musical #s and plot
Represented the departure from standard musicals by introducing new elements including spectacle, details,realism, in depth characters
Influenced by Opera, Blues, and current dances (Charleston)
Grossed $50,000/wk for 2+ year run
Revived in 1966 where it grossed $100,000/wk

9. 1930s
The public became more aware that quality theatre was more important than it being cheap, thoughtless entertainment.
By the time the Great Depression too hold of NY, theatre in general began to suffer. More than 1/3 of the 68 commercial theatres in the Broadway district closed by the end of the 30s. (the only other time in American history this many theatre companies closed at one time was right after 9/11)

10. 1930s Technically: 1st Pulitzer Prize for Best Play of the Year
Spectacle and razzle-dazzle OR
Realistic details
1st Pulitzer Prize for Best Play of the Year
Of Thee I Sing
1931
George and Ira Gershwin, Geory Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind
Raised the status of what musicals should be

11. 1930s 1st Innovative Operatic Musical Other 30s Hits Porgy and Bess
1935
By Gershwins and Heyward
Other 30s Hits
The Bandwagon 1931
Anything Goes 1934
Dead End 1935
The Boys from Syracuse 1938
DuBarry Was A Lady 1939

12. 1940s As the Depression ended, so did the falling economy.
WWII left an impression on Broadway - one of pride and nationalism
This was reflected in Theatre of this decade
1st Book Musical - Oklahoma! Rogers and Hammerstein - 2 year run
Reflected foundations previously set by Show Boat
New Element - Opening Number
Emphasis on character and book rather than spectacle
Plot progressed through songs closely integrated w/book
Full Orchestra, large cast of singers, dancers, and actors

13. 1940s Other 40 hits Carousel - 1945 Annie Get Your Gun - 1946
Kiss Me, Kate
South Pacific
Brigadoon
State Fair

14. 1950s War was over - economy healthy
Average ticket price for a show - $6.00-$8.00
Musicals during this decade were a strong mix of script and music
Movie versions of live musicals start to happen
Focus - less on spectacle and more on Dance
West Side Story
Specific dancing as a means to advance the plot and reveal characters (Jerome Robbins)
Based on Romeo and Juliet

15. 1950s
Other 50s Hits
Guys and Dolls (Best Director, Best Musical, Best Producers)
The King and I
My Fair Lady
Gypsy
The Sound of Music

16. 1960s Broadway money-making machine
Went from Artistic to business-driven
The Rock Musical is born
1st Rock Musical - Hair 1968
Minimal plot - sharp political commentary (anti-Vietnam war)
Simple scenery and props
Actors change costumes and roles in front of audience
Informal and spontaneous
Full frontal nudity
Amplified sound

17. 1960s Hits of the 60s Bye Bye Birdie - 1960 Camelot - 1960
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -
Hello Dolly
Funny Girl
Fiddler on the Roof
Man of LaMancha
Mame

18. 1970s Undertones of the 60s carried over to the 70s
Pushing the limit technically
Large-scale musicals and spectacle sets
Emphasis on concept - idea or theme not “boy gets girl” plots
Not melodic/singable tunes
Episodes = illustrate concept
Songs reveal character’s feelings, comment on action and are tailored for the situation
Workshop method
Writers and Composers write with performers
Potential backers go to the workshops

19. 1970s Cabaret - 1972 - Bob Fosse choreographer
Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince take control
Company
A Little Night Music
Sweeney Todd
Sunday in the Park With George
Into the Woods

20. 1970s Other 70 Hits Jesus Christ Super Star - 1971 Godspell - 1971
Grease
Pippin
The Rocky Horror Show
A Chorus Line
Chicago
Annie
Evita

21. 1980s Lots of musicals being imported from England
Costs continue to rise, making it more difficult to recover investments.
Decline was so sharp in only 31 new productions were mounted (compare to the 34 new musicals and 57 plays that opened in 2009)

22. 1980s 80s Hits Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - 1982
Cats (grossed over $915 million by April 1991)
Phantom of the Opera ($8 million initial investment - grossed $413 million by 1991)

23. 1980s Other 80 Hits Les Miserables - 1980
Little Shop of Horrors
Sunday in the Park
Big River
Into the Woods
Fame
Miss Saigon

24. 1990s Lots of Technical Overkill The Corporate Musical is created
Hits of the 90s
City of Angles
Jekyll & Hyde
Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Lion King
Rent
Titantic
Ragtime

25. 2000s
Musicals run the gamete between technical overkill and very simple.
Movies are becoming sources
“Jukebox” Musicals also becoming popular
“Disneyfication of Broadway”

26. 2000s Hits from this era include: Aida - 2000 The Full Monty - 2000
The Producers
Urinetown
Mama Mia
Hairspray
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Wicked
Avenue Q
25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee
Mary Poppins

27. 2000s Continued Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - 2004 Billy Elliot - 2005
Spamalot
Jersey Boys
The Drowsy Chaperone -2006
Spring Awakening
The Wedding Singer
Legally Blonde
Next to Normal

28. The Future of Musicals
“Musicals flourished into the early 60s, but there were few new playwrights and there seemed room for only one new writer of musicals, Stephen Sondheim. By the early 80s Broadway became a tourist attraction mounting fewer shows each year, some years not even 10, and these 10 were often star vehicles or extravaganzas that depended on sensational stage effects…It is difficult to imagine when Broadway will again play a significant role in NY’s literary life”

29. Future
“You have 2 kinds of shows on Broadway - revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for The Lion Kin a year in advance, and essentially a family comes as if to a picnic, and they pass on to their children the idea that that’s what the theatre is - a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theatre at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar. We live in a recycled culture…. I don’t think the theatre will die per se, but it’s never going to be what it was. You can’t bring it back. It’s gone. It’s a tourist attraction.” Stephen Sondheim