2Development of the American Musical European antecedents Ancient Greek Theatre Major influence for ALL Western theatre Spectacle masks Introduction of the chorus chanting voice of the people help set tone exposition introduce characters judge characters question things happening around them Choral songs which comment on the action voice of the people Choral dance So We think Opera Dramatic works usually tragic primarily sung arias and recitative with orchestral accompaniment opulent staging Mythical creatures royalty highly trained grand costumes Ballad Opera weird al Used popular tunes with rewritten lyrics Written about the lower class Spoken dialogue instead of recitative Satirical Operetta little opera Comic or romantic plots Dialogue instead of recitative usually Happy endings Simple plots but still required virtuosity from performers Presentational acting style directly to the audience o 2 styles of action presentational vs representational in moment in scene wall between audience and characters operetta Sir W S Gilbert lyricist librettist Sir Arthur Sullivan composer Patter song lots of lyrics sung quickly for comic effect Introduced main 2 types in all theatre Reflective song thinks about moment situation reflects on it Active song character undergoes significant transformation during course of the song Melodrama music drama Before Minstrelsy most popular form of entertainment Spoken text action has musical underscoring Stock characters one dimensional know who is good bad Simple morality poetic justice good comes to those who are good Contrived plotThe Black Crook 1866 the 1st musical Charles M Barress Melodrama ballerinas music words movement Troop of ballerinas into the melodrama Made over a million dollars extremely successful American Operetta Victor Herbert Dominant composer of the early American stage Musical versatility Naughty Marietta most famous Conductor AND composer AND orchestrator Minstrelsy Began in early 19th century White male performers in black face 1846 Christie Minstels o Mr Tams tambourines Mr Bones percussion Mr Interlocutor straight man Negative stereotypes of racial ethnic minorities Most popular form of entertainment from 1850 1870 o Georgia minstrels AA put on own show o Creole show added women Legacy folk music gospel blues tap dance Revues A series of songs and sketches linked by a theme Work of one individual or might be compilation of works by numerous artists Florenz Ziegfeld Jr 1867 1932 father of revues o Most successful and influential producer of the earliest 20 th century o Florenz Ziegfeld Jr found SANDOW worlds 1st sex object 1893 World s Fair muscle display performances Discovers sex sells leads to the follies The Follies Very sexualized tame version of French show o Names after the French Folies Bergeres Grandiose production numbers Novelty acts Sketches Tableau vivant life size replications of famous paintings of naked or half naked women curtain up and then curtain down gets around the censors o Glorifying the American girl he wasn t trying to sexualize the American girl he was trying to celebrate them More on Florenz impresario star maker Ziegfeld Theatre build own theatre in NY Stock market crash lost everything Ziegfeld hires Williams Huge hit and controversy o Shuffling coon o Signature Number nobody famous successful guy but when he walks the streets no one knows him b c of his race cellophane BERT WILLIAMS o One of the most popular comedians of all time o Began in vaudeville and minstrel shows o In Dahomey 1st full length broadway musical written and performed entirely by African Americans Broadway 2000 seats vs off broadway 500 1999 off off less than 500 seats Tin pan alley cacophony of sound West 28th st between Broadway and 6th avenue 1903 most music publishers were located on this block Song Plugger used car salesman play songs and try to get producers singers to buy sheet music Stooge plant they would listen in on the songs and act like they were producers and say that song is so catchy I love it they would also do the same in night clubs Vaudeville Series of unrelated acts a variety show america s got talent Immigrant entertainment European acrobats sword swallower o Appealed to non english speakers o Negative stereotypes of minority groups negative stereotypes of eastern Europeans but that was their audience they laughed at themselves felt like they were part of the conversation o 1890 1920 most popular form of entertainment in US family friendly version o Hard life conditions pay very little travel no protection for workers Tony Pastor Father of Vaudeville made it family friendly o Opens first theater for family trade in 1865 o Cheap tickets so families could come o turns vaudeville term for acts o The circuit acts travel across the country on circuits George M Cohan got his start in vaudeville only performer to have a statue in time square Very patriotic glorified the US Father of American Musical theatre Joined the family act with sister Josie successful performance team o Played fiddle and dance completely self taught Known as the four cohan s the full family Always ended with waving American flags and a patriot song Passion patriotism Religion show business First musical he made Little Johnny Jones plot horse jockey from san fran goes to London to race in derby says bye to gf but she goldie gates secretly follows him to London to spy on him Anthony Ancy tries to blackmale johnny jones but he refuses but he ends up losing the race anyway Rumors that he lost the race on purpose He hires detective to figure out who is spreading rumors Anthony spreads rumors He goes back to US to get goldie gates but she has been kidnapped by Anthony eventually finds and marries her Filled with pro American references He did it all composer lyricist librettist director producer and the star the Yankee you re a grand old flag 1st to sell a million copies of sheet music yankee doodle dandy give my regards to broadway over there Jerome Kern Father of the American musical theatre legitimized musical theatre COMPOSER showboat Knew the style of Ballad operas and operettas very well Americanize European antecedents Worked as song plugger etc when he came back to NY very ambitious Over 7 year period wrote 100 songs 30 different Broadway shows 1915 small princess theatre going out of business 299 seats Elisabeth Marby agent decided to scale down musical and make them feel more intimate hired jerome to be the composer everything was