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

2. 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 

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

4. 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
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

5. Blackface performer The Cakewalk
1929 audio recording that follows the classic format of a minstrel show “Camptown Races” by Stephen Foster - Al Jolson performing

6. 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

7. Christy Minstrels
Part 2 – The Olio

8. 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)
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

9. First American Acting Troupe Using Women - 1893
The Black Crook – 1866
First American Acting Troupe Using Women

10. 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)
HMS Pinafore “Captain of the Pinafore” 9:30

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

12. 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

13. 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
The rise of Tin Pan Alley—as music and institution—depended on the mass immigration of East European Jews to New York beginning in the early 1880s
Tin Pan Alley 1910

14. Birth of American Songwriters
Also the historical shift of America's black population from South to North where cultures interacted informally in neighborhoods, music halls and businesses created a new American sound
Wrote swinging optimistic melodies – “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, “In the Good Old Summertime”, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”

15. Songs of Tin Pan Alley 1911 George M. Cohan 1919 George Gershwin
1911 Irving Berlin

16. Early Composers
Victor Herbert – Irish/German - continued American Operetta style – Babes in Toyland 1903
George M. Cohan – Little Johnny Jones 1904
Irving Berlin – Russian/Jewish songwriter
George Gershwin – American born songwriter
Rudolf Friml – Austrian - brought European Opera style – Rose-Marie 1924, The Vagabond King 1925

17. 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 ( )

18. American Musical Comedy
Showed a picture of contemporary America
Had a shallow insubstantial look
Had happy endings
Music and plot were not integrated - Songs were recycled and moved from one revue to another
In 1924, ASCAP (co-founded by Herbert, Cohan, Berlin, Kern and others) won a long battle to give American composers creative control over their stage scores.

19. 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 - Opened 1925 on Broadway – 321 performances!