Broadway Musical Burlesque Week 4 段馨君 Iris Hsin-chun Tuan Associate Professor Department of Humanities and Social Sciences NCTU

Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

The word derives from the Italian burlesco, which itself derives from the Italian burla – a joke, ridicule or mockery.

Burlesque dancer Zorita Burlesque overlaps in meaning with caricature, parody and travesty, and, in its theatrical sense, with extravaganza, as presented during the Victorian era.

A later use of the term, particularly in the United States, refers to performances in a variety show format. These were popular from the 1860s to the 1940s, often in cabarets and clubs, as well as theatres, and featured bawdy comedy and female striptease.  Las Vegas Burlesque dancer Miss Redd with 30"x40" prints from our live shoot at WPPI Sony Booth

American burlesque American burlesque shows were originally an offshoot of Victorian burlesque. The English genre had been successfully staged in New York from the 1840s, and it was popularised by a visiting British burlesque troupe, Lydia Thompson and the "British Blondes", beginning in 1868. Gypsy Rose Lee, full-length portrait, seated at typewriter, facing slightly right / World Telegram & Sun photo by Fred Palumbo

While burlesque went out of fashion in England towards the end of the 19th century, to be replaced by Edwardian musical comedy, the American style of burlesque flourished, but with increasing focus on female nudity. Advertisement for a burlesque troupe, 1898

By the early 20th century, there were two national circuits of burlesque shows competing with the vaudeville circuit, as well as resident companies in New York, such as Minsky's at the Winter Garden. The house was designed by w:Henry Isaac Stevens for Francis Wright of the Butterley Iron Company and completed in 1849 it was demolished c1969

origins The term burlesque generally referred to musical sex-and-comedy-travesty entertainment. The wheel in burlesque corresponded to the circuit in vaudeville--- standardized system to control the mechanics and business operation of touring entertainments. Lydia Thompson 1838 – 1908 Known for introducing Burlesque to America in the late 1860’s

The black crook The characteristic elements that distinguished early burlesque derived from one successful, scandalous, and unsuspecting forerunner, the black crook. The Chorus of "The Black Crook"

Comedy The most consistent contribution of burlesque? The greatest laughter, the greatest tragedy. always remember that! The burlesque system represented that forum for some of the most celebrated professional comedian of the era, one o whom was Be Brad of the comedy team of Bard and Pearl.

Women Burlesque management exploited the Salome dancers, the hula-hula dancers, and aud1ience participation exhibition. Pauline Markham in Costume for Ixion 1870 in IXION in the 1800's by Albert

During the 1930s, only sophisticated strippers like Gypsy Rose Lee could crossover from burlesque to Broadway revues, nightclub entertainments and motion pictures. Gypsy Rose Lee strip routine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m9kd_nD1mA Picture of Gypsy Rose Lee

Decline Today, burlesque is a dirty word sadly appropriate for the coarse and vulgar exhibitions of mechanical sexuality performed in rank and decaying theater. MADEMOISELLE FIFI, Wise's second film working as director with producer Val Lewton, provided a great challenge for the new director

Variety determined that the demise of the modest, old-style burlesque began around 1910 when the western wheel began giving so-called dirty shows. "Mademoiselle Fifi" Mae West http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh21alaxalc

On the big-time Minsky circuit, the routine began with a “parade”, a promenade around the stage by girls wearing anything from a gown and furs to a boa constrictor Burlesque abandoned its revered traditions willingly, but time, change and growing permissiveness in sexual mores proved just as responsible for its decline.

The Broadway revue initiated the fashion of displaying nude female bodies in respectable and “artistic” tableaus. The limitation of the playhouse go far to influence the limitation of the art practiced within. Sadly for burlesque, the place and the art fell apart simultaneously. Musical comedy learned a lesson for burlesque. Never abandon comedy.

Extravaganza and Spectacle Parralleling burlesque in character and popularity were the extravaganzas, elaborate theater pieces loosely adapted from European models and offered to audienrles as spectacles featuring female dancers. There is no doubt that competing management used the names burlesque, extravaganza, and spectacle interchangeably.

The hippodrome When a symbol of the spectacle/extravaganza emerged, it was neither show, nor song, nor performer, but--- appropriately a theater. Like burlesque, spectacle/extravaganza succumbed to rapid changes in public taste and theater economics.

Movie : Burlesque Burlesque is a 2010 musical film directed and written by Steven Antin and starring Christina Aguilera and Cher. The film was released on November 24, 2010 in North America.

The film starts with Ali working in a restaurant The film starts with Ali working in a restaurant. Her boss hasn't paid the workers for the previous month, so Ali takes what he owes her from the cash register. After planning to leave, she packs up her belongings (Something's Got A Hold On Me) and after scoffing at the ticket agent who asks her if it's one way or round trip, gets a one-way ticket to paradise in Los Angeles. Tough Lover http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4nWAZU9mu8&feature=related