Musical Theatre FOUNDATION AND BEGINNINGS • OPERA • OPERETTA • VAUDEVILLE Opera • Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi – First great opera in history, written in 1607 • Based on ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice • Madrigal-like choruses, dances, and instrumental interludes • Recitative – imitates the freedom of expressive speech. Sung by one singer accompanied by the continued bass (instrumental). Flexible Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) • One of the most important musical genres of this time • Opera seria (serious opera) • Opera buffa (comic opera) Mozart and Opera Broke away from the conventional norm Introduced comic scenes into serious opera Explored aspects of character and emotional extremes Produced works of extraordinary variety and psychological insight Melodies were simple, graceful and full of feeling He often wrote in German, the language of the people Mozart’s Operas The Marriage of Figaro Don Giovanni Così fan Tutte The Magic Flute (22 in all) Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Wagner had his own opera house built, the Bayreuth Theatre Famous for turning the lights out on the audience Emphasized Romantic ideals and tried to transport the audience away from reality the Ring or "Ring cycle", is a set of four operas based loosely on figures and elements of Germanic mythology— particularly from the later Norse mythology Moments in Musical Theatre Gilbert and Sullivan – operettas The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which HMS Pinafore, Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado are among the best known. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGzv4 vufN-k (start: 1:25:00) Musicals of Impact Showboat (1927) Oklahoma (1943) West Side Story (1957) Hair (1967) Les Miserables (1980) Rent (1996) Hamilton (2015) https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=42IQ29b8YIU (Les Miz) https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=Fb4GlOabb1M (Hamilton) The Modern Theatre Shift away from Romanticism and Neo-Classicism • Causes of shift towards Realism • Box sets and the Fourth Wall • Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (1826-1914) – The Modern Director • Henrik Ibsen (1826-1906) A Doll’s House (1879) • Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) The Seagull (1896) • Konstantin Stanislavsky (1863-1938) The Moscow Art Theatre and Method Acting Various Important Movements Realism Naturalism Dada Epic Theatre (Bertolt Brecht): alienation effect Expressionism Absurdism Examples for Class Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Absurdism Joe Versus the Volcano (film) opening scene Expressionism True West by Sam Shepard Naturalism The Seagull by Anton Chekhov Realism The Avant Garde Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) and The Theatre of Cruelty The Living Theatre The Open Theatre Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999) Towards a Poor Theatre Joseph Chaikin (1935-2003) Broadway – Off-Broadway – Regional Theatre
