Musical Theatre - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 1 Early InfluencesSlide2

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

 Slide3

The Beggar’s Opera – 1728

by John Gay & John Christopher Pepusch

Music Clip "Fill Every Glass"Slide4

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 plantationSlide5

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

“Camptown Races” by Stephen Foster - Al Jolson performing

Blackface performer

The Cakewalk

Slide6

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

musicalsSlide7

Christy Minstrels - 1847

Part 2 – The OlioSlide8

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 importantSlide9

The Black Crook

– 1866

First

American Acting Troupe Using

Women - 1893Slide10

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

” 9:30Slide11

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 2

American InfluenceSlide12

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 entertainmentSlide13

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 1910Slide14

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”Slide15

Songs of Tin Pan Alley

1911 Irving Berlin

1919

George Gershwin

1911

George M. CohanSlide16

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

1925Slide17

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)Slide18

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.Slide19

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 Nannette

- Opened 1925 on Broadway – 321 performances!Slide20

Musical Theatre

A Brief History – Part 3

Age of DevelopmentSlide21

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 baseSlide22

Jerome Kern

- Showboat - 1927

Music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein

Based on the novel by Edna Ferber was a social documentary based on serious and profound themes;

S

o

ngs

“Ol’ Man River,”

“Can’t Help Lovin’Dat Man”

Music was integrated with the libretto

“Here we come to a completely new genre – the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Now... the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. Now... came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity."Slide23

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”Slide24

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”Slide25

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 ShakespeareSlide26

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

New Broadway Version Three Penny OperaSlide27

Musical Theatre

A Brief History - Part 4

The Golden AgeSlide28

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 Slide29

Reign of R & H

Oklahoma!

developed a new formula for a new Era.

(3:30 “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”)

Song and dialogue were interspersed

Used

Agnes de Mille

ballet as dance form

(1:30:30 “Dream Ballet”)

Had a sympathetic villain

Threw out much of the rules of the previous era (unrelated song, music and dance, happy endings, small scale)Slide30

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 happySlide31

Other Golden Age Composers

In 1950’s music of Broadway was popular music of western world

1950 Frank Loesser –

Guys & Dolls

1956 Lerner & Lowe –

My Fair Lady

1957 Leonard Bernstein –

West Side Story

1957 Meredith Wilson –

The Music Man

1964 Sheldon

Harnick

-

Fiddler on the RoofSlide32

Hair

– the era of “rock”

James

Rado

and Jerome

Ragni

The musical broke new

ground in musicals by creating the “

rock musical

”

Racially integrated cast

Invited audience onstage

Much controversy due to profanity, use of drugs’ irreverence for American flag and onstage nudity