Ancient Times to 1850
“Playgoers, I Bid You Welcome”
Chapter One, MUSICAL THEATRE-A History
Theatre is a communal activity, yet there is
scant evidence of ancient rituals and rites.
The Glory That Was Greece
Early Greek dramas were musicals
Aeschylus, Sophocles and Aristophanes were dramatists
AND COMPOSERS and LYRICISTS
Perhaps we should date the musical from the 5th Century
BCE
Early Greek dramas were musicals
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Theatre to the Greeks was not only an entertainment
and a form of worship…it was dedicated to the divine
patron of the harvest, theatre, wine and dance…Dionysus
Early Greek dramas were musicals
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Even before the great Attic festivals, DITHYRAMBS were
sung and danced to honor Dionysus
Thespis, a choric singer was not only the first actor, but
the first to win the City Dionysia in 534 BCE
Three distinct forms developed in Greece
TRAGEDY was somber in tone, using familiar stories from
mythology
COMEDY was light in tone and provided a happy ending,
characters openly address the audience. Comic
competition was added to the City Dionysia by 487 BCE
Classical forms in Greece
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SATYR PLAYS involved profane man-beasts who lived in a
perpetual state of arousal. Although not satirical
themselves, our modern work satire derives from the
form
At the festivals, dramatists often served
as his own director and sometimes as
the leading actor
Support for the festival was provided by the local government
Other production expenses fell to the CHOREGOS, a position the
wealthiest men openly coveted
The winning dramatist collected bragging rites and a modest prize
Showtime in ancient Athens
Ruins of Theatre at Epidaurus
Actors wore masks which might have aided
in projection
Role of the chorus
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Singing
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Dancing
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Playing musical instruments including the harp, flute and
drums
EXISTING songs were often interpolated into tragedies
and comedies
Stretches of monologues and dialogues were often
interspersed with choral numbers
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In short…
Greek comedies, tragedies and satyr
plays were performed like integrated
musicals today.
Aristophanes – “The Birds”
A modern Greek production of THE BIRDS. Performed by the Theatre Technis Karolos
Koun of Greece as part of the 12th International Festival of Ancient Greek Drama.
The end of the City Dionysia came in
404 BCE due to the Peloponnesian
Wars between Athens and Sparta
The Roman Empire
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Greek theatre forms were “borrowed” by the theatre of
ancient Rome
Like the Greeks, plays were performed as part of festivals
to honor the gods
Eventually, they built permanent open-air theatres
Ancient Roman Theatre at Aspendos
Plautus (born 254 BCE)
PLAUTUS is the best remembered
Roman playwright. His comedies
included song, dance and musical
accompaniment. Among his most
popular works is the Menaechmi
Menaechmi is the basis of the 1960
musical…
THE MIDDLE AGES
Saints and Clowns
Medieval “audiences” were illiterate and
theatre was developed to teach
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ORIGINALLY performed inside churches, as the forms
popularized, the plays moved out of doors
MYSTERY PLAYS were dramatizations of Bible stories
MIRACLE PLAYS involved the lives of the Saints
MORALITY PLAYS were allegories illustrating the seven
deadly sins
FOLK PLAYS involved popular myths, such as the legend
of Robin Hood
A few plays have survived including THE PLAY OF HEROD
and THE SECOND SHEPHERD’S PLAY
Some scholars suggest a crude follow spot using polished
metal bowls was introduced for these outdoor dramas
The Second Shepherd’s Play
In the 1400s commedia dell’arte
developed in Italy
Innovations of the commedia
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Improvised scripts
Stock characters (innamorati, vecchi, zanni)
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Slapstick bits (lazzi)
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Developments in the Renaissance
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Rediscovered the classical texts which led to the
development of opera as a through-sung entertainment
by Monteverdi and the Camarata Fiorentina
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Shakespeare included songs into his plays
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Moliere turned our comedies with song and dance for
the court of Louis XIV
Popular forms in the Age of Enlightenment
(17th century in Europe)
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As prosperity grew, greater demands for popular
entertainment developed
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Grand Opera enjoyed widespread popularity
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COMIC OPERA became an all-purpose classification for
any form of 18th or 19th century stage entertainment that
included songs
COMIC OPERA developed as a unique form
in the mid-19th century
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An example is Michael Falfe’s THE BOHEMIAN GIRL
(1845) the story of an Austrian noblewoman kidnapped in
infancy who falls in love with a Polish Count.
Comic opera was a precursor to operetta
…and was developed in France in the mid-1800s by
Jacques Offenbach
Pantomime was a form that included
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Songs
Dialogue
Dance
Physical Comedy
Acrobatics
Special effects
Clowning
English pantomime developed along its own
lines presented annually at Christmas as
satirical entertainments for children
Ballad Opera
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This hybrid form used existing popular ballads and
operatic arias, usually in such a way that the original title
or lyrics of a song added to their meaning.
“The first BALLAD OPERA ever written is still frequently
discussed and even occasionally performed today. In the
eyes of some, it is the great-grandfather of modern-day
English-language musical theatre. That designation is an
exaggeration, but only because governmental oppression
stifled this new art form in its cradle.” (page 29)
THE BEGGAR’S OPERA (1728)
by John Gay
Developed as a response to opera and as a
means to satirize the corruption of power
The Beggar’s Opera was a response to a Whig
government that Gay believed had enriched
itself at the nation’s expense
If government administrators were no better
than common thieves, why not skewer the
form of opera (so beloved by the upper crust)
with a story that depicts the upper class as
criminals
Of the 69 songs, 41 used melodies taken
from popular tavern ballads
In the early 20th century Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill
transformed THE BEGGAR’S OPERA
into the THREEPENNY OPERA
BEGGAR’S OPERA set precedent for
musical theatre throughout the American
and European theatre
It’s lasting
influence
is seen in
works as
diverse as
Gilbert &
Sullivan or
Mel Brooks
Such are the earliest roots…
While early works like THE BIRDS, THE
BOHEMIAN GIRL, THE BEGGAR’S
OPERA, etc. are sometimes performed
today, the modern musical’s family tree
formally reaches no further back than the
1840s, when a new strain emerged in
Paris…