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MUSICAL THEATRE
An overview of the history, theory, and key shows!
WHAT IS MUSICAL THEATRE?
• Musical theatre is theatre that utilizes singing, acting,
and dancing to tell a story
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUSICALS
HISTORY OF MUSICALS: THE BEGINNING
• Music has been used in onstage performances
throughout the years – Greek theatre, medieval
theatre, Tudor theatre, and Elizabethan theatre
all saw the use of music and/or dance in some
form to entertain audiences
HISTORY OF MUSICALS: THE BEGINNING
• The oldest main influences of musical theatre are
operas and operettas
• Opera: the voice and the orchestra are the only media of
performance; “total music”
• Conversations are sung, not spoken
• Operetta: includes lighter music and the singer/actor
speaks lines rather than sings them
• Usually have light plots that are used to connect songs
HISTORY OF MUSICALS: THE BEGINNING
• 18th century: most popular form of musical theatre in
Britain was ballad operas
• Ballad operas: satirical spoofs; lyrics set to popular
tunes of the time
• John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728); music by
Johann Christoph Pepusch
• Satirized Italian opera; story focused on corruption
HISTORY OF MUSICALS: THE BEGINNING
• In America 18th-20th century, musical theatre-type entertainment
included :
• Variety – stage entertainment that included circus acts, singers, dancers,
comics – not refined
• Minstrel shows – variety shows with racist themes; performers donned
blackface; unfortunately, the first theatrical form that was distinctly
American; a dark spot in our history & history of musical theatre
• Vaudeville – variety shows that strove to be inoffensive and appeal to
many people (bridge the gap); included specialty acts, such as mind
readers and escape artists
• Burlesque – comedic work that caricatured subjects; in its decline began
using immodestly dressed women to maintain audiences
THE BLACK CROOK (1860)
• Often considered the be the first piece of musical theatre that
conforms to “book musical”
• “Book musical:” a musical play where songs and dances are
intertwined with a well-planned story with serious dramatic goals –
wants to make audience feel range of emotions rather than just
laughter
• Book by: Charles M. Barras
• Music: mostly adaptations, but some new pieces were composed
• Opened September 12, 1866 on Broadway; ran for 474
performances
• Gave America the claim that we originated the musical – opened
way for development of American musicals in 1860s.
GILBERT & SULLIVAN
• Theatrical Partnership
• W.S. Gilbert : wrote librettos
• Arthur Sullivan: composed
music
• Created comic operas
• Huge impact on musical
theatre – showed how to
make musicals where lyrics
and dialogue advanced a
coherent story
G&S: TRIAL BY JURY (1875)
• Comic opera in one act
• First produced March 25, 1875 at the
London’s Royalty Theatre
• Ran for 131 performances
• Story: satire of legal system; tells the
story of a breach of promise of marriage
G&S: H.M.S. PINAFORE (1878)
• Comic opera in two acts
• First produced May 25, 1878 at the
Opera Comique in London
• Ran for 571 performances
• Story: satire of class system;
Josephine, the captain’s daughter,
falls in love with a low-class sailor –
surprise twist at the end (like many
G&S stories!)
G&S: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (1879)
• Comic opera in two acts
• Premiered December 31, 1879 at Fifth Avenue
Theatre in NYC
• Story: Frederic falls in love with Mabel, the
daughter of a Major-General. Frederic is an
indentured servant who must serve until his
“twenty-first birthday,” but because he was born on
a leap day, that means he must serve for another 63
years.
“HOLD MONSTERS”/ “I AM THE VERY MODEL OF A
MODERN MAJOR GENERAL ”
G&S: THE MIKADO (1885)
• A comic opera in two acts
• Opened March 14, 1885 in London
• Ran for 672 performances
• Story: set in Japan, Nanki-Poo wants to marry
Yum-Yum – runs away from home to avoid
marrying an elderly lady, but there are many
obstacles that stand in the way of their marriage!
EARLY 1900S
• Babes in Toyland
• Operetta – composed by Victor Herbert, libretto by Glen MacDonough
• Wove together characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed
musical
• Opened June 1903 in Chicago; opened in NY in October – ran for 192 performances
• Princess Theatre Shows (1915-1918)
• Jerome Kern, Guy Boulton, and P.G. Wodehouse
• Musicals produced at the Princess Theatre
• Believable people and situations – integrated innovative songs with their stories
• Considered an artistic step forward for American musicals
EARLY 1900S
• Babes in Toyland
• Operetta – composed by Victor Herbert, libretto by Glen MacDonough
• Wove together characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed
musical
• Opened June 1903 in Chicago; opened in NY in October – ran for 192 performances
• Princess Theatre Shows (1915-1918)
• Jerome Kern, Guy Boulton, and P.G. Wodehouse
• Musicals produced at the Princess Theatre
• Believable people and situations – integrated innovative songs with their stories
• Considered an artistic step forward for American musicals
EARLY 1900S
• WWI: people flocked to theatres for entertainment to escape the sad & scary times of
war
• Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931)
• Flo Ziegfeld – American Broadway producer, impresario (person who organizes/finances
plays/operas)
• Follies: a theatrical revue
• Revue: combines music, dance, and sketches
• Many top entertainers appeared in the shows
• Famous for displaying beautiful chorus girls – known as Ziegfeld girls
• Later became a radio show
ROARING TWENTIES
• Musicals of this time emphasized big dance
routines and popular songs
• Plot was not as strong/emphasized
• Many shows were revues
• Raised production values – musicals became
more expensive
SHOW BOAT (1927)
• Music: Jerome Kern, Book: Oscar Hammerstein II
• Stood out from typical 1920’s musicals – featured a
masterful integration of book and score
• Dramatic themes told through music, dialogue, setting, and
movement
• Story: follows the lives of performers, stage hands, and
dockworkers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River
show boat, over 40 years
• Themes: racial prejudice and tragic love
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
• People had little money to go see theatre public resumed wanting light, escapist
entertainment
• Of Thee I Sing (1931)
• First musical awarded the Pulitzer Prize
• Anything Goes (1934)
• On Your Toes (1936)
• First musical to make dramatic use of
classical dance
• Babes in Arms (1937)
THE EVOLUTION OF FILM & IMPACT ON
THEATRE
• Development of the motion picture posed a threat
to the theatre
• By end of the 1920s, “talkie” films were available
at low prices
• Effectively took vaudeville shows off the market
• Musical (and theatre!) survived – continued to
evolve thematically (whew!)
THE GOLDEN AGE (1940S-1960S)
• Oklahoma! (1943)
• Composer: Richard Rodgers, Libretto: Oscar Hammerstein II
(Rodgers & Hammerstein!)
• Opened March 31, 1943 – was a smash! Ran for 2,212 performances
• First fully integrated musical theatre piece– cohesive plot, each song
and dance developed the plot/characters, featured dream ballets,
developed characters
• Tells the story of Curly McLain and his romance with a farm girl,
Laurey. Had some dark aspects: the villain is a suspected murderer
and psychopath
• Had had numerous revivals and a film adaptation
• Rodgers and Hammerstein won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944
OPENING SCENE OF OKLAHOMA
THE GOLDEN AGE (1940S-1960S)
• After Oklahoma, Rogers & Hammerstein became some
of the most important and influential men on Broadway:
• Carousel (1945)
• Deals with spousal abuse, thievery, suicide, and the
afterlife
• South Pacific (1949)
• Centers on American nurse stationed on South Pacific
island during WWII, falls in love with a French plantation
owner
• The King and I (1951)
• A British schoolteacher is hired by the King of Siam to
teach his children & help modernize his country
• The hero dies onstage
THE GOLDEN AGE (1940S-1960S)
• Annie Get Your Gun (1946)
• Kiss Me, Kate (1947)