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Part 5 Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater

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Presentation on theme: "Part 5 Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater"— Presentation transcript:

1 Part 5 Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
America’s Musical Landscape th edition Part 5 Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

2 Music and Theater: Historical and Cultural Perspective
Music and theater create a union greater than the sum of its parts Long history – back to ancient Greek choruses The mutual attraction of music and drama remains as strong today as it was in ancient times Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 2

3 Music and Theater: Musical Theater in America
America’s earliest professional musical performances mostly operas and operettas imported from England or Europe British Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operettas were favorites Early American productions included some based on British ballad operas incorporated popular songs into melodramatic stage presentations The Black Crook – first notable American musical Little Johnny Jones – first American musical comedy Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 3

4 Music and Theater: Broadway Musicals
The Broadway musical stage reflected changing styles and mores George Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing was a political satire His Porgy and Bess offered a sympathetic view of Negro life in Charleston Jerome Kern’s Showboat and Pins and Needles were social commentaries Late 20th century British invasion Predominantly white and mainstream Popularity of revivals Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 4

5 Music and Theater: Opera
Today’s musicals and operas are nearly interchangeable Many American operas based on stories of American life, legend, or current events Others based on popular Italian operas Some current Broadway shows are largely sung throughout, as in opera Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 5

6 Music and Theater: Films
Several outstanding Broadway composers worked on Hollywood films Adapting old musicals Writing new musical scores Movie musicals are making a comeback Audiences continue to fill theaters and movie houses and buy recordings of theater music Despite the glut of entertainment available on video, computers and television Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 6

7 Chapter 17: Musical Theater: Variety Shows
Vaudeville Invented by Tony (Antonio) Pastor ( ) Shared characteristics of minstrel shows, but involved different performers Featured a variety of entertainment such as circus stunts, jugglers, songs, dances Team of Harrigan and Hart depicted scenes of everyday life in America Chicago – 1975 Broadway musical that celebrated the vaudeville tradition New or postmodern vaudevillians are younger Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 7

8 Variety Shows: Burlesque
A type of variety of show that ridicules something important – a kind of satire Strip shows were included between acts 1920s – Burlesque had degenerated to strip shows Sugar Babies (1979) – Broadway show highlighting the best of early burlesque Burlesque on television Saturday Night Live The Jerry Springer Show Burlesque is no longer a fading form Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 8

9 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Variety Shows: Revues A form of a variety show in which scenes are related by a common theme Ziegfeld Follies – Most popular of all revues Extravagant staging and costumes Celebrated the American girl Recent revues are based on the music of one composer Side By Side by Stephen Sondheim Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 9

10 Variety Shows: Operetta
A story told in speech and song with an integrated plot Sometimes called “light opera, ” includes songs, dances, instrumental pieces Gilbert and Sullivan – Gilbert’s patter songs ridiculed politics in humorous rhyming words Sullivan’s music poked fun at opera American Operettas John Philip Sousa composed fifteen operettas Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 10

11 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Musical Comedies These new musical show were gaudy, boisterous productions George M. Cohan ( ) Child of vaudeville performers Little Johnny Jones (1904) considered the first real musical comedy Composed hits such as Give My Regards to Broadway and Yankee Doodle Boy Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 11

12 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Listening Example 59 This piece from Cohan’s first full-length show, Little Johnny Jones, is usually considered to be the first musical comedy. The plot concerns a jockey who is accused of throwing a race. Give My Regards to Broadway (from Little Johnny Jones) By George M. Cohan (1878 – 1942) Listening Guide page 299 Meter: Duple Tempo: Brisk Form: Verse-chorus Timbre: Male vocalist (Al Jolson) accompanied by theater orchestra and chorus Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 12

13 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Black Musical Theater African Americans were influential on Broadway Will Marion Cook ( ) – composed for several black shows including In Dahoney (1903) Shuffle Along (1921) – Broadway hit which included Josephine Baker, who was later a star in Paris, in the cast Revived interest in black musical theater Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 13

14 Jerome Kern’s Show Boat
Jerome Kern was a Tin Pan Alley songwriter Wrote several successful Broadway shows Collaborated with Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse Show Boat (1927) – landmark show with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, focused on interracial relations Had an integrated plot based on a novel by an established author, Edna Ferber Literature-based musicals didn’t become common for years Called both a musical and an operetta Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 14

15 Golden Age of Broadway Musicals (1930-1955)
Irving Berlin’s Watch Your Step (1914) Famous dance couple Irene and Vernon Castle sparked a dance craze George Gershwin’s Lady Be Good (1924) – featured great song and dance After 1929 sound movies became popular Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 15

16 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Listening Example 60 Singers including Robeson have altered the original lyrics of this song to avoid the racial terms commonly used in the composers’ time. Ol’ Man River (from Show Boat) Composer Jerome Kern ( ) Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II ( ) Listening Guide page 303 Meter: Verse: Triple. Chorus: Quadruple. Texture: Homophonic Timbre: Bass voice (Paul Robeson) accompanied by string orchestra Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 16

17 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Rodgers and Hart Richard Rodgers ( ) – songwriter Lorenz Hart ( ) – lyricist On Your Toes (1936) – Rodgers and Hart musical featuring choreographer, George Balanchine, who designed dance steps to integrate with the drama Pal Joey (1940) Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 17

18 Rodgers and Hammerstein
Oklahoma! – The product of a new collaboration between Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II Carousel (1945) King and I (1951) South Pacific (1949) The Sound of Music (1959) Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 18

19 Expansion of the Broadway Musical
Frank Loesser ( ) – composer of Broadway shows that required a heightened sense of singing Lerner and Loewe – famous Broadway team (lyricist and composer) Brigadoon Camelot My Fair Lady Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 19

20 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Leonard Bernstein ( ) Pianist, composer, conductor Adapted On the Town from ballet Composed Broadway masterpiece West Side Story (1957) featuring heightened use of dance with choreography by Jerome Robbins Ensemble – several characters present their own point of view, singly and collectively Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 20

21 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Listening Example 61 West Side Story, based on Romeo and Juliet, is set in modern times (New York City in the 1950s). Tonight (from West Side Story) Composer Leonard Bernstein ( ) Lyricist Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930) Listening Guide page 309 Meter: Changing Texture: Homophonic/polyphonic Timbres: Vocal soloists, solo and choral ensembles, and orchestra Notice how sophisticated rhythms and changing meters lend excitement to the finale. Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 21

22 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930) Intended to compose concert music, but drawn to Broadway A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) Follies (1971) – parodies the Ziegfeld Follies A Little Night Music (1973) Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) – a musical about murder and cannibalism Company – a “concept musical” which addresses controversial subjects Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 22

23 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Listening Example 62 Although a critical success, audiences criticized A Little Night Music for not having enough “good” songs. Every Day a Little Death (from A Little Night Music) Composer and Lyricist Stephen Sondheim (b. 1930) Listening Guide page 311 Meter: Quadruple Form: A B A Texture: Homophonic Timbre: Female vocal duet, accompanied by orchestra Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 23

24 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
More Black Musicals The Wiz – a black interpretation of The Wizard of Oz A black version of Guys and Dolls Bubbling Brown Sugar – all black revue featuring music by “Fats” Waller, Duke Ellington and Eubie Blake Dream Girls – a show based on the experiences of the Supremes Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 24

25 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
The Music of Musicals Use of jazz, country-western, blues Use of rock music Hair , Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease, Mama Mia Use of indie rock Spring Awakening Use of Latin and hip-hop Def Poetry Jam In the Heights Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 25

26 Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater
Current Trends Revivals of shows including Cabaret (1998) and Oklahoma (2002) From film to Broadway The Producers The Lion King Effects other than music Increasing interest in multi-media shows Audience involvement Dance Concern for addressing children (Cats, Beauty and the Beast) Part 5: Music for Theater and Film Chapter 17: Musical Theater 26

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