Musical Theatre - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 1 Early InfluencesSlide2

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

E

nglish

ballad opera, ragtime, jazz music, minstrelsy, vaudeville, burlesque, follies and revuesSlide3

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

M

usical parody -

Late

18

th

, early

19

th

century

Satire

of famous story or performer

–

burlesques

Pantomime

with songs and dances for entertainment and variety

1828

–

Hamlet

 Slide4

The Beggar’s Opera – 1728

by John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch

Video Clip "Fill Every Glass"Slide5

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

showSlide6

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 plantationSlide7

1929 audio recording that follows the classic format of a minstrel show

Minstrel show clip

Blackface performer The Cakewalk

Slide8

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

musicalsSlide9

Christy Minstrels - 1847

Part 2 – The OlioSlide10

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)Slide11

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 importantSlide12

The Black Crook

– 1866 Melodrama

First

American Acting Troupe Using

Women - 1893Slide13

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 SullivanSlide14

Early Influences -

Operetta

HMS Pinafore

“Captain of the Pinafore” 10:30Slide15

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 2

American InfluenceSlide16

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 entertainmentSlide17

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 anotherSlide18

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

(1907-1931) and George White’s Scandals (1919-1939)Slide19

American Musical Comedy

Showed a picture of contemporary America

Had a shallow insubstantial look

Music and plot were not integrated

Had happy endingsSlide20

Vincent

Youmans

1898-1946

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 NannetteSlide21

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 3

Age of DevelopmentSlide22

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)Slide23

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”Slide24

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 castSlide25

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”

1931 -

Of Thee I Sing

– serious satire on American politics

1935 –

Porgy and Bess

–wrote jazz opera that examines racism in America ; “Summertime”Slide26

Cole Porter

- 1927

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”Slide27

Richard Rodgers 1902-1979

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 ShakespeareSlide28

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

 Slide29

Musical Theatre

A Brief History - Part 4

The Golden AgeSlide30

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 Slide31

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)Slide32

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