Musical TheatreHistory of Musical Theatre

Basic Definition Musical theatre is a form of theatre that combines

songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of the piece –

humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole.

Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements of the works. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals

Book Musicals A book musical is a musical play where

songs and dances are fully integrated into a well-made story with serious dramatic goals that is able to evoke genuine emotions other than laughter.

It has three main components:› Music (the instrumentation)› Lyrics (the words the singers sing; the

lyrics and music put together is called a score)

› Its book (the story, character development, and dramatic structure; the dialogue and lyrics together are called a libretto)

Who is Involved A team generally interprets how they

would like to put on a musical. This team involves:› The director: oversees everything to

ensure the quality and completeness of the musical

› A musical director: in charge of all the music- both instrumental and vocal

› A choreographer: designs the movement› An orchestrator: adapting the music for the

orchestra involved

Important aspects to a show Taking a look backstage

There are many technical elements to a show which are “backstage” › Set design› Costumes› Stage props› Lighting› Sound

More About Musicals There is no fixed length for a musical Musicals can run from one act to multi-

evening presentations Average musicals run two to three hours,

and are two acts in length (first act longer than the second, with an intermission)

Usually has four to six main musical songs that are played throughout in variations or reprises

Spoken dialogue is usually done between songs

More About Musicals Moments of greatest dramatic intensity

in a book musical are often performed in song.

Proverbially, "when the emotion becomes too strong for speech you sing; when it becomes too strong for song, you dance."

In a book musical, a song is ideally crafted to suit the character (or characters) and their situation within the story

More About Musicals The material presented in a musical

may be original, or it may be adapted from:› Novels (Wicked and Man of La Mancha)› Plays (Hello, Dolly!)› Classic legends (Camelot) › Historical events (Evita)› Films (The Producers and Hairspray)

On the other hand, many successful musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as The Sound of Music, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and Chicago.

Opera vs Musical Theatre Musical theatre is closely related to the

theatrical form of opera, but the two are usually distinguished by weighing a number of factors. › Musicals generally have a greater focus on

spoken dialogue and dancing› Musicals use more popular vocal styles› Musicals avoid classic opera styles› Musicals are usually written in the

language of the audience› Modern musicals use amplification

A Brief History Musical theatre in Europe dates back to the theatre of

ancient Greece where music and dance was included in stage comedies and tragedies during the 5th century BCE

The 3rd-century BCE Roman comedies included song and dance routines performed with orchestrations.

The Romans also introduced technical innovations. For example, to make the dance steps more audible in large open air theatres, Roman actors attached metal chips to their stage footwear – the first tap shoes 

By the Middle Ages, theatre in Europe consisted mostly of travelling minstrels and small performing troupes of performers singing and offering slapstick comedy.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, religious dramas taught the liturgy, set to church chants. Later "mystery plays" were created that told a biblical story in a sequence of entertaining parts. 

A Brief History The European Renaissance saw older forms evolve

into commedia dell'arte, an Italian tradition where raucous clowns improvised their way through familiar stories, and from there, opera buffa.

Plays, perhaps particularly the heavier histories and tragedies, were frequently broken up with a short musical play, perhaps derived from the Italian intermezzo, with music, jokes and dancing, and a dance at the end

Court masques also developed during the Tudor period that involved music, dancing, singing and acting, often with expensive costumes and a complex stage design

 The musical sections of masques developed into sung plays that are recognizable as English operas, the first usually being thought of as William Davenant's ”The Siege of Rhodes”

A Brief History By the 18th century, two forms of musical theatre

were popular in Britain: ballad operas that included lyrics written to the tunes of popular songs of the day (often spoofing opera), and comic operas, with original scores and mostly romantic plot lines

On the continent, singspiel, comédie en vaudeville, opéra comique and other forms of light musical entertainment were emerging.

Other musical theatre forms developed by the 19th century, such as music hall, melodrama, burlesque and vaudeville.

Melodramas and burlettas, in particular, were popularized partly because most London theatres were licensed only as music halls and not allowed to present plays without music.

A Brief History Colonial America did not have a significant theatre

presence until 1752, when London entrepreneur William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager.

They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist.

The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753

By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan.

In America, the first original theatre piece in English that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is generally considered to be The Black Crook, which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866

A Brief History Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually

to midtown from around 1850, seeking less expensive real estate prices, and did not arrive in the Times Square area until the 1920s and 1930s

The musicals of the Roaring Twenties, borrowing from vaudeville, music hall and other light entertainments, tended to emphasize star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs, at the expanse of plot. Many shows were revues, series of sketches and songs with little or no connection between them.

The motion picture mounted a challenge to the stage. At first, films were silent and presented only limited competition to theatre. But by the end of the 1920s, films could be presented with synchronized sound. "Talkie" films at low prices effectively killed off vaudeville by the early 1930s

A Brief History The 1940s would begin with more hits from

Porter, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, Weill and Gershwin, some with runs over 500 performances as the economy rebounded

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma by tightly integrating all the aspects of musical theatre, with a cohesive plot, songs that furthered the action of the story, and featured dream ballets and other dances that advanced the plot and developed the characters, rather than using dance as an excuse to parade scantily clad women across the stag

A Brief History As time progressed, shows began to

deal with more intense social matter- including societal issues and changing perpsectives

In the past four decades, themes such as tolerance have been widely popular

Musical styles have often mirrored the popular music styles of the times

Moving to Movies Hollywood began taking an interest in bringing

stage musicals to screen Made for TV movie musicals became popular in

1990- Cinderella, Annie, etc. Evita in 1996 was the first successful theatrical

release movie musical in twenty years. Moulin Rouge! continued to raise the popularity

in 2001 Since then, there have been many movie

musicals- Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Across the Universe, Enchanted, Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Mama Mia, Nine, Burlesque, Rent, and Les Miserables

Musicals through Time The Beggar’s Opera (1728) The Pirates of Penzance (1879) EL Capitain (1896) Oh Kay! (1926) 1930s

› Anything Goes› Porgy and Bess

1940s› Oklahoma! (1943)› South Pacific (1949)

1950s

Guys and Dolls West Side Story Gypsy

1960s

Fiddler on the Roof Sound of Music

1970s

Chicago A Little Night Music Sweeney Todd The Wiz

1980s

Phantom of the Opera Miss Saigon Evita Les Miserables

1990s

Rent Beauty and the Beast The Lion King

2000s

Avenue Q American Idiot Next to Normal Wicked