Greek Theatre - 534 BC
0 Greek Theatre was where
Musical Theatre began.
0 They had a chorus which
would sing songs to help
tell a story.
0 Their plays would consist
of religious themes and
would usually use the
Gods like Zeus and
Hades as characters.
Ballad Opera - 1728 -1750
0 Featured farcical or extravaganza
plots that poked fun at popular
Italian Opera- much easier for the
common folk to identify with.
0 Used folk tunes from England,
Scotland and Ireland but rewrote the
lyrics.
0 A famous Ballad Opera is “The
Beggars Opera” which is still
performed on occasions today.
Music Halls – 1850
● Involved a mixture of
popular songs, comedy,
specialty acts and variety
entertainment
● Venues would have chairs
and tables that people
would sit around and
would chat and drink
while being entertained.
● After WWI, big band acts
and restrictions on
drinking in the venue
killed off Music Halls.
Burlesque – 1860
0 Burlesque Musicals were
comedy entertainment
parodying well known opera or
classical theatre in risque style.
0 Featured musical scores
ranging from popular
contemporary songs to
operatic arias
0 Burlesque grew longer and
longer until it became a
musical that would last all
evening.
Vaudeville - 1870
0 Vaudeville was variety
entertainment without
psychological or moral
intention.
0 Types of acts included
musicians, comedians, trained
animals, .magicians, strongmen
jugglers, minstrels and
impersonators.
0 Vaudeville also included freak
shows and American
burlesque.
Daisy and Violet Hilton - Conjoined twins who toured in
vaudeville and American burlesque circuits in the
1920’s and 1930’s.
Harry Houdini Houdini earned his name as a
magician by performing death
defying magic tricks by
escaping such perils as being
locked in a box underwater and
being buried alive. The picture
depicts his death defying trick
where he was locked into a milk
jug filled with water and
escaped!
Golden Age Musical 1943-1960
0This period gave way
to musicals that
incorporated strong
storylines into their
performance.
0The songs were
specifically written to
fit in with a story.
0They brought in
famous actors to take
the lead roles.
The King and I
Written by: Rodgers and Hammerstein
Year: 1951
Synopsis: Widowed Welsh mother Anna
Loenowens becomes and governess and english
tutor to the wives and children of the stubborn
King Mongkut of Siam. Although her and the
kings personalities clash, she works hard to
prepare a party for a group of European
diplomats who must change their opinion about
the king.
Fun Fact: In Thailand (previously Siam) the “King
and I” film is banned due to the perceived
disrespect to the monarchy. The “King of Siam”
as portrayed in the movie is very rigid and stuck
in his ways. However, the real king of Siam was a
very progressive king who led the way for
modernization, improved relations with the West
and instituted many cultural and social reforms in
Thailand.
My Fair Lady
Written by: George Bernard Shaw and
Frederick Loewe
Year: 1956
Short Synopsis: Noted phonetician
Professor Henry Higgins makes a bet that
he can pass off Eliza, a cockney flower girl,
as a proper lady with speech tutoring.
What he didn’t bet on is that he would fall
in love with her.
Fun Fact: The role of Eliza was originally
played by Julie Andrews, but when they
decided to take the show to the Silver
Screen, they asked the better known
Audrey Hepburn to play the role.
Oliver!
Written by: Lionel Bart
Year: 1968
Synopsis: Oliver, an orphaned boy falls in with
group of pickpockets lead by the artful Dodger
and masterminded by the criminal Fagin. When
Oliver is offered a home, Fagins henchman Bill
Sikes plots to kidnap the boy to keep him from
talking about the thievery.
Fun Fact:
Ten-year-old Mark Lester – who played the title
role as the orphan Oliver – didn’t sing any of his
songs in the film. Branded ‘tone-deaf and
arrhythmic’ by the musical arranger Johnny
Green, Lester’s songs were instead dubbed by
the arranger’s daughter, Kathe Green.
Fun Fact:
Sound of
Music
Written by: Rodgers and Hammerstein
Debut 1959
Synopsis: Based on the real life story of
the Von Trapp Family singers. Maria,
the tomboyish postulant at an Austrian
abbey who becomes a governess in the
home of a widowed naval captain with
seven children, and brings a new love
of life and music into the home.
Fun Fact:
A major plot hole in the story… If the Von
Trapps had hiked over the mountains, as
the story depicts,they would have ended
up in Germany, near Adolf Hitler’s
mountain retreat. Clearly, that was not the
destination they intended.
West Side
Story
Written by: Leonard Bernstein and Stephen
Sondheim.
Year: 1957
Synopsis: A modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet,
true love is found despite hatred between the Jets
and the Sharks, two rival gangs in New York City.
Fun Fact: Originally, the story was going to be
about a Catholic boy and a Jewish girl. It was
decided that the whole Jewish-Catholic premise
was not very fresh. Instead they decided to focus
on two teenage gangs.
Fiddler on
the Roof
Written by: Joseph Stein
Broadway Debut:: 1964
Synopsis: A poor Jewish milkman,
determined to find good husbands for his
five daughters, consults the traditional
matchmaker - and also has a word with
God.
Fun Fact: Out of 50 original songs written
and scored, only 15 made the final cut!
Contemporary Musicals
1970’s to Present
Musicals in the1970’s
Rock musicals like Jesus
Christ Superstar,
Godspell and The Rocky
Horror Picture Show
flourished.
Stories were based on
concept albums where
songs fit together better
as a whole rather than by
themselves.
1970’s Diversity!
Shows like Raisins,
Dreamgirls, Purlie and
The Wiz brought a
significant AfricanAmerican influence to
Broadway.
Musicals in the 1980’s
The 1980’s saw the influence
of the MEGAMUSICAL which
typically featured a popinfluenced score, large
casts, spectacular sets and
special effects like a falling
chandelier in Phantom of the
Opera.
Big budgets were important!
Chandelier Drop
Musicals in the 1990’s
While tickets on Broadway
skyrocketed, Off- Broadway
productions began to bring in
more frugal theatre goers.
Shows like Rent and Little
Shop of Horrors were
marketed to increase the
popularity of musicals among
a younger audience with
cheaper tickets.
1990’s - Rise of Disney
Musicals
The 1990’s also saw the
influence of large corporations
on the production of musicals.
The most important has been
Disney Theatrical Productions
which began adapting musicals
for the stage starting with
Beauty and the Beast, Lion King
and Aida. The Lion King is the
Highest grossing musical in
Broadway History.
Musicals 2000 - 2010
In the new century,
familiarity has been
embraced by producers
and investors anxious to
recoup their
considerable
investments. Some took
chances on new creative
material such as
Urinetown, Avenue Q,
American Idiot, and In
the Heights.
2000-2010
Other producers took
the “safe” route with
revivals of familiar fare
like Fiddler on the Roof,
A Chorus Line, West Side
Story. Some have taken
adaptations of Literature
like Fun Home, Wicked,
and The Scarlet
Pimpernel and backed
the musical version.
Jukebox Musicals
Another trend has been
to create a minimal plot
to fit a collection of songs
that have already been a
success. This genre
includes musicals like
Mamma Mia (Abba), We
Will Rock You (Queen)
and Jagged Little Pill
(Alanis Morissette).
Film and TV Musicals
Live action film musicals
were nearly dead in the
1890s, but in 2001, there
began to be a revival of
the film musical with
Moulin Rouge, followed by
Chicago, Phantom of the
Opera, Rent, and so many
more, causing a landslide
of successful film-adapted
musicals.
MUSICALS
ADAPTED TO FILM
LIVE Musicals on TV
In 2013, NBC began a
series of live television
broadcasts of musicals
starting with The Sound
of Music. They then
followed with Peter
Pan Life!, Rocky Horror
Picture Show: Live, and
Grease: Live
Video
Bonus Musical Influence
Musical influence has
found its way into
several other genres of
entertainment like TV
shows and Cartoons.
Legally Blonde
Newsies
In the Heights
Hairspray
Wicked
Avenue Q
Next To Normal
Spring Awakening
NEW POPULAR MUSICALS