10/21/11
A (very) BRIEF
History of Musical Theatre
2000 BCE
Earliest recorded dramatic performance
534 BCE
Thespis
500 BCE
First dialogue
Roman Drama
Medieval Drama
Renaissance Patronage
1600 First Opera
1843
Minstrelsy
1700 First Comic Opera
1865
Vaudeville
1735 First musical theatre in the colonies
(1866 The Black Crook)
Continuation of Opera in Europe
1870s Burlesque
Minstrelsy
Minstrelsy
3 Acts
I. Variety Entertainment (“Olio”)
Act I
Variety Entertainment
4 performers: Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones
Ends with “Walkaround” (e.g., Dixie)
II. Fantasia
Individual specialty acts (e.g., Variations on Carnival of Venice on Tin Whistle)
III. Burlesque Parody of previous acts, recent events, politics, etc. Often improvised
Vaudeville
Act II Fantasia Act III
Burlesque
Revue Burlesque
Minstrelsy spawned lots of great/famous performers, music, and dance
Al Jolson
Dixie (Dan Emmett), Camptown Races (Stephen Foster), Scott
Joplin ragtime tunes
1
10/21/11
Vaudeville (1865)
Burlesque
Single acts booked together
First inexpensive and popular musical theatre in America for families
Strictly enforced clean humor, etc.
No class discrimination
2000 theaters were built in the U.S.
Continued through early 30’s
Al Jolson, George Burns
Original balance of low comedy and female anatomy
Weber & Fields (short/fat and tall/thin)
Comic violence
Eventually comedians left for Musical Comedy All that was left …
Sample Humor
YOUNG MAN: I want to ask for the hand of your daughter in marriage.
OLD MAN: You’re an idiot!
YOUNG MAN: I know it. But I didn’t suppose you’d object to another one in the family.
Comic Opera and Operetta (European Influence)
1878 HMS Pinafore in England
Musical Comedy
1907-31 Ziegfeld Follies
1924  Intimate Revues
Gershwin
Rodgers & Hart
Cole Porter
Irving Berlin
Musical Play
1907-14 American Operetta
1915-18 Princess Theatre
1921-24 Cinderella Era
1927 Showboat
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Cole Porter Anything Goes (1934)
Kiss Me Kate (1948) Irving Berlin Annie Get Your Gun (1946)
Lerner and Loewe:
Brigadoon (1947) Paint Your Wagon (1951) My Fair Lady (1956) Camelot (1960)
Frank Loesser
Guys & Dolls (1950) How To Succeed In Business ... (1961) Most Happy Fella (1956)
Meredith Willson
Music Man (1957) Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960)
1927
Showboat
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Oklahoma! 1943
Carousel 1945
South Pacific 1949
The King & I 1951
The Sound of Music 1959
Leonard Bernstein
On The Town (1944)
Wonderful Town (1953)
Candide (1956) West Side Story (1957) (with Sondheim)
Stephen Sondheim
West Side Story (1957) (lyricist, with Bernstein) Gypsy (1959) (lyricist, with Styne) A Funny Thing ... (1962) (composer/lyricist)
Company (1970) (composer/lyricist)
Follies (1971) (composer/lyricist)
A Little Night Music (1973) Sweeney Todd (1979)
(Side by Side by Sondheim – 1977) Into The Woods (1987)
Passion (1994)
2
10/21/11
Leonard Bernstein
On The Town (1944)
Wonderful Town (1953)
Candide (1956) West Side Story (1957) (with Sondheim)
Stephen Sondheim
West Side Story (1957) (lyricist, with Bernstein) Gypsy (1959) (lyricist, with Styne) A Funny Thing ... (1962) (composer/lyricist)
Company (1970) (composer/lyricist)
Follies (1971) (composer/lyricist)
A Little Night Music (1973) Sweeney Todd (1979)
(Side by Side by Sondheim – 1977) Into The Woods (1987)
Passion (1994)
Adler & Ross
Pajama Game (1954) Damn Yankees (1955)
Bock & Harnick
Fiddler On The Roof (1964)
Merrill
Carnival (1961) Sugar (1972) - with Styne
Strouse & Adams
Bye Bye Birdie (1960) Applause (1970) Annie (1977) Jerry Herman
Hello Dolly (1964) Mame (1966) La Cage aux Folles (1983)
Jones & Schmidt
The Fantasticks (1960) I Do! I Do! (1966)
Andrew Lloyd Webber
with Tim Rice
Jesus Christ Superstar (1970)
Evita (1979)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1982)
Cats (1982)
Starlight Express (1987)
The Phantom of The Opera (1988)
Stephen Schwartz:
Godspell (1971) Pippin (1972) The Magic Show (1974) Working (1978) Marvin Hamlisch
A Chorus Line (1975) They’re Playing Our Song (1979) Schönberg
Les Miserables (1987) Miss Saigon (1989)
Other Shows
Finian’s Rainbow (1947) - Lane
Lil Abner (1956) - Mercer and dePaul
Once Upon A Mattress (1959) - Rodgers (Mary) & Barer
Oliver (1963) - Bart
Man of La Mancha (1965) - Leigh and Darion
Cabaret (1966) - Kander/Ebb
Hair (1967) – MacDermot You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967) - Gesner
Promises, Promises (1968) - Bacharach & David
1776 (1969) - Edwards
Grease (1972) - The Wiz (1975) – Smalls 42nd Street (1980)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982)
Little Shop of Horrors (1982)
Sunday In The Park with George (1984)
Big River (1985) - Miller
Chess (1988) - Tim Rice
1990s
Very small number of memorable new musicals
Revivals were big Guys and Dolls, Carousel, Showboat
Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate
Disney movies to the stage Beauty and The Beast
The Lion King
The Secret Garden (1991)
Rent (1996)
Jekyll & Hyde (1997) Ragtime (1998)
2000 – Present
Aida (2000) – Elton John & Tim Rice
The Producers (2001)
Hairspray (2002)
Wicked (2003)
Avenue Q (2003)
Spamalot (2005)
3
10/21/11
Music Theatre International (MTI): Junior versions
Annie
Aladdin
High School Musical
Fame
Fiddler On The Roof
Godspell
Guys and Dolls
Into The Woods
Music Man
Pirates of Penzance
Schoolhouse Rock Live!
Seussical
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Willy Wonka
Elementary Musicals
Michael and Jill Gallina: gallinamusic.com
4