Chapter 14 – The American Musical When Broadway history is being made, you can feel it. What you feel is a seismic emotional jolt that sends the audience, as one, right out of its wits. —Frank Rich

Chapter Summary The forty-two block neighborhood around Times Square, identified as New York’s central theatre district, has been home to great plays and musicals since the turn of the century.

Musical Theatre: Precedents Dates from colonial period: –Ballad operas After American Revolution: –Comic operas By 1840s: –Melodrama –Burlesques –Musical spectacles –Minstrel shows: Perpetuated stereotypes

Musical Theatre: Precedents After Civil War: –Burlesque and minstrelsy still popular –The Black Crook (1866): Cited as starting point for American musical theatre –U.S. premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore in 1879: –Made British operetta dominant musical form until turn of century

An American Musical Idiom Librettos (story line or “book”): –Originally allowed for songs, dances, specialty acts unrelated to plot This loose format led to development of revue: –Musical form featuring songs, dances, skits –The Passing Show (1894) –Ziegfeld’s Follies (1907)

An American Musical Idiom: Early 20 th Century Revues, comic operettas, musical comedies dominant Ragtime: –Introduced by black musicians –Irving Berlin’s Watch Your Step (1914) Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s Shuffle Along (1921): –First black musical to play a major Broadway theatre

An American Musical Idiom: Early 20 th Century “Princess musicals”: –Created by Jerome Kern (composer) Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse (librettists) –Intimate musicals for small casts, small orchestra Kern’s Show Boat (1927): –Incorporated serious themes (miscegenation, “passing,” addiction) –Paved way for serious musical plays of 1940s and ’50s

An American Musical Idiom: George and Ira Gershwin Developed jazz-influenced musical theatre Of Thee I Sing: –First musical to win Pulitzer Prize for Drama Well-known songs: –“I Got Rhythm” –“Embraceable You” Porgy and Bess (1935): –Based on Porgy by Dorothy and DuBose Heywood –Gershwin’s most enduring work

An American Musical Idiom: The 1927–1928 Season High point in history of Broadway stage 250 shows produced Also point of decline: –Stock market crash, Depression, advent of sound films led to decline in theatre attendance

Post-WW II Musical Theatre: Rogers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (1943) Broadway firsts: –Murder onstage –“Dream ballet” –No opening chorus number Set new standard for integration of story and song Introduced dramatic ballet that advanced story Longest-running musical on Broadway up to that time

Musical Theatre at Midcentury Operetta and musical theatre flourished: –Musicals and their stars became household names: My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews Fiddler on the Roof, Zero Mostel Gypsy, Ethel Merman Hello, Dolly!, Carol Channing –New creative teams: Lerner and Loewe Adler and Ross Burrows and Loesser Bernstein and Sondheim

Musical Theatre at Midcentury West Side Story (1957): –Operetta score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim –Book by Arthur Laurents –Energetic choreography by Jerome Robbins –Recreates Romeo and Juliet among NY street gangs –Addressed violence, urban decay head-on

Sixties Alternatives to Broadway Musicals Vietnam era (1955–1975) brought new sounds and subjects onto musical stages: –Rock music –Antiwar protest Hair (1967): –Brought new elements to Broadway: Cursing Frontal nudity References to taboo subjects (homosexuality, miscegenation, antipatriotism) –Helped show that spectacle wasn’t necessary

New Directions: The Concept Musical Composer, lyricist, director, and choreographer create show loosely tied around a theme Lacks elements of traditional storytelling Popularized by Stephen Sondheim

New Directions: The Concept Musical Company (1970): –Series of vignettes arranged around bachelor’s birthday party –Essentially plotless –Addressed issues of contemporary urban life Follies (1971): –Built around reunion of former Follies performers (and the ghosts that haunt them) –Psychological examination of characters

New Directions: The Concept Musical A Chorus Line (1975): –Michael Bennett, choreographer and director –Series of vignettes in which dancers at an audition reveal personal information (“psychological striptease”) –Renowned for inspired choreography –“Intimate big musical”

New Directions: Rock Opera Rent (1996): –Jonathan Larson –Update of Puccini’s La Bohéme –Addresses issues related to AIDS, early death –Music played onstage by five-member band

British Megamusicals Sung-through musicals in which spectacle was as important as music Big names: –Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer) –Sir Cameron Mackintosh (producer) Dominated Broadway in 1980s: Cats The Phantom of the Opera Les Misérables Miss Saigon

British Megamusicals: Miss Saigon (1989) Based on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly Larger-than-life spectacle used to underscore sociopolitical message: –Images of children in wartime –Helicopter used onstage to recreate American evacuation of Saigon –Sounds of rotors beating accompanied by thundering orchestration

Broadway’s Audiences All ages, ethnicities, nationalities Well-to-do: –Tickets $65 to more than $100 Buying tickets: –Fewer patrons waiting in line at box office: Ticketron Telecharge TKTS (day-of-performance ticket sales) –Theatre Development Fund: Sells 25 million seats annually

Core Concepts American musical theatre dates from colonial times. The form evolved from burlesque and minstrel shows, through operetta and revues, incorporating music from ragtime and jazz. By midcentury, story and song are fully integrated into a dramatic whole. Broadway musical evolved into concept musical, rock opera. Brritish megamusicals dominated Broadway in the 1980s.