musicals then & now. back in the day -musical theater elements go back to greek theater when...

MusicalsThen & Now

Back in the Day

-Musical theater elements go back to Greek theater when music and dance were important aspects of a performance.

-Tap dance started with the Greeks- They would put metal on the bottom of their shoes so their dancing would be more audible in those large omni theaters

-The Christian Church also used musical theater aspects as a means to tell their stories

-But we’re going to focus on 1800-present

Types of Musical

- Book Musical- what we are most accustomed to now, music with a strong story that drives the play

-Revue- A collection of songs, generally with a common element present

(Ziegfeld's Follies)

Types of Musicals cont.

-Concept Musical: the concept or message is just as important, if not more than the story

(Rent)

-Jukebox Musical: using only songs from a group or artist (Jersey Boys)

-Rock/Pop Musical: rock or pop with little to no dialogue (Hair)

19th Century Musical Theater

Gilbert & Sullivan-British writer and composer-These two were the ones who future

composers and writers looked to as a model for integrating words and music together almost seamlessly, to move the plot forward.

- “Pirates of Penzance” opened in NYC in attempts to save the theater district

19th Century Musical Theater cont.

-Opera was still the common form of musical performance pieces for the most part

-But change was happening all around-NYC and London had set themselves up as

major theater districts

19th Century Musical Theater cont.

How’s this for a show? It’s called “Mikado”The characters’ names are:Pitty-Sing, Yum-Yum, Nanki-Poo, & Pish-Tush

Early 20th Century Musical Theater

-Vaudeville Theater-In the early 1900’s, people used the theater as

an escapist experience from the realities of war

-In the 20’s, the shows began to highlight key actors, big routines, and songs in lieu of the plot

-Many shows were revues-“Showboat” in 1927, was another stepping

stone towards musical theater today

Showboat

I’ll give you a dollar if you can sing like this:

20th Century Musicals cont.

-The 1930s light-hearted musicals held on through the depression as well as the booming movie industry

-1940-60 “The Golden Age” Rodgers & Hammerstein had finally come

together and “Oklahoma” was born.-Quickly followed by “Carousel,” “South

Pacific,” “The King and I,” and “The Sound of Music”

Traits of Golden Age MusicalsThe formula for the Golden Age musicals reflected one or

more of four widely-held perceptions of the "American dream": That stability and worth derives from a love relationship sanctioned and restricted by Protestant ideals of marriage; that a married couple should make a moral home with children away from the city in a suburb or small town; that the woman's function was as homemaker and mother; and that Americans incorporate an independent and pioneering spirit or that their success is self-made

Golden Age Musicals

Big choreographed dance numbersFollow gender roles closelyAs far as content goes, definitely “school

appropriate”The go-to shows for schools to put on

Golden Age Musicals Examples:

AnnieThe Music Man

Annie Get Your Gun My Fair LadyBye Bye Birdie

OklahomaDamn Yankees

ShowboatThe Fantasticks Sound

of MusicGuys and Dolls South

PacificGypsy

West Side StoryThe King & I 42nd

Street

Bye Bye Birdie “Telephone Hour”

The 1970s

The Decade of Rock MusicalsJesus Christ Superstar, Hair, The Rocky Horror

Picture Show, GodspellThere was also a significant African-American

impact on Broadway with: Dreamgirls, The Wiz, Purlie

1975, A Chorus LinePippin, Chicago, & Cabaret utilized the old

Vaudeville style

Rocky Horror Picture Show

“Time Warp”

The 1980s

Influence from Europe with “mega musicals” or “pop musicals”

big casts, big effects, and big budgetsLes Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Cats,

Little Shop of HorrorsAndrew Lloyd Webber is the musical man of

80sThe large budgets of the shows were redefining

what financial success on Broadway meant--from a few shows running to a few years of shows running

Les Miserables

“Do You Hear the People Sing”

The 1990s

New Composers and writers were emergingAs well as Disney’s presence on Broadway

Rent debuted and pulled the young crowd back into musicals

Disney also brought out The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Aida

Again, big shows, big budgetsBut also a comeback from the little guys

Beauty & The Beast “Human Again”

The 2000s

Bring on the new and unusual!Avenue Q (puppets), Urinetown (being poor),

Spring Awakening(nudity/profanity/sex), Wicked(the before of Wizard of Oz), Hairspray(remake of Jon Waters’ movie), Legally Blonde(remake of movie)

A reuse of film plotsMaking musicals out of plots of hits from artistsJersey Boys(Frankie Vallie, Movin’ Out (Billy

Joel), Mamma Mia (ABBA)

Hairspray“Good Morning Baltimore”

So How BIG are Musicals?

Last season, Broadway grossed $1,139,000,000

46 new productions opened11.57 million people went to see the shows

TOURING SHOWS:$877,000,00013.7 million viewers

Average Ticket Price: $40-$200