THAR 281 1st Edition Lecture 11Outline of Last LectureI. Eugene O’NeilII. Thorton WilderIII. Famous playwrightsIV. Little Theatresa. Provincetown Playersb. Washington Square Playhousec. The group theatreV. Federal Theatre Projecta. Living Newspapersb. Negro Theatre Projectc. The Cradle will RockOutline of Current Lecture I. Musical Revuesa. George Cohan b. Florence Ziegfeldc. Tin Pan Alley d. JazzThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.II. Musical Comedies a. George Gershwin i. Porgy and Bessb. Cole Porterc. Rodgers and Hart i. Pal Joey III. Show BoatIV. Movie Musicalsa. Buzzy Berkley Current Lecture – American musicalI. Americans contribute jazz and musical theatre. Musical Revues takes ideas of the three variety shows with a theme and twist. They have collections of songs and skits based loosely around a theme. They are filled with spectacle, lights and costumes, chorus girls, and dancers. a. George Cohan had patriotic themes. He was a producer, performer, director, and writer. His famous work was Yankee Doodle Dandy. He has a statue in Times Square and he is the only person in Broadway to have one. b. Florence Ziegfeld was a producer. He produced Ziegfeld follies which were extravagant spectacles. Chorus girls in these follies were the best of the best, beautiful, and everyone wanted to be one of these. Also, these girls were very crazy costumes. This was basically a clean version of burlesque.c. Tin Pan Alley was 28th street in New York City. It was sometimes called America’s song book. This was the heart of American composition. There were buildings filled with pianos for people to come to write songs. These songs were short 2-3 minutes and fairly confined, usually about love. i. Irving Berlin tried to descandalize rag time music. He tried to ease peopleinto this type of music often referred to a black music. He wrote for many revues, Ziegfeld follies, musical shows, and sometimes must for fun. d. Jazz was a combination of work music, spirituals, and European marches. This type of music was strictly unique to America. It favor brass instruments and drums, which created a beat. Eathal Waters used blues to bring jazz toaudiences. Josephine Baker was a performer of sing and dance. She is famous fordancing in only a banana skirt. She helped bring people to jazz. With jazz, there was an integration of theatres, The Shuffle Along Revue. This had all black performers. Also, this revue influenced song writers of the period. The best seats in the house were given to black visitors. II. Musical Comedies was a result of jazz. It contained weak plots, but therefore, making it story. It was just an excuse to sing and dance because most of the time they did not relate to the context of the story. The songs for these comedies were written by popular composers and sometimes made it to the radio. a. George Gershwin wrote songs with his brother. There was strong jazz influence in his songs. His famous is Crazy for you, of Thee I Sing, and Porgy and Bess. i. Porgy and Bess, 1935, takes place on catfish row, SC, a made up place. It was sensibly operatic. It required trained operas, but the sounds were jazz. Often called the great American opera or folk opera. This was the next step in musical theater. Also, considered a master piece. b. Cole Porter was known for his wit and entrendre, double or triple meanings. He often contained the explicit side of love. He was a play boy a jet setter. He had rich friends all over. He is famous for anything goes and kiss me Kate.c. Rodgers and Hart wrote 29 shows together in 24 years. This is really incredible, today one every three years is average. This meant they had a show on Broadwayevery season. They are famous for babes in arms, the boys from Syracuse, and pal joey. i. Pal Joey was a musical comedy and was the first with an anti hero. The main character is Joey and ends without love or money, not a happy ending. The tone is unsympathetic, which is different from what was going on. This was the last show Rodger and Hart wrote together. III. In 1927, Show Boat came out and was a direct reflection of musical, comedies and theater. Jerome Kern wrote the songs and Austin Hammerstein wrote the book and lyric.This ay spans over four decades and follows the life of people living in cotton blossom (show boat) that goes down the Mississippi River. In this musical, the themes were racial discrimination, marriage conflict, and alcoholism. The songs for this play was well related and arose from dramatic actions. IV. Movie Musicals were great for west coast producers because performers get paid one time and in the end it is fairly cheap. The jazz singer emerged, which attached the sound and voice. There were new technical innovations such as sound and color. a. Buzzy Berkley was from Broadway. He thought of tilting the camera up to see an angled bird view of the stage so the audience can see the patterns and performerformations and not just the front line