Transcript Intro to Musical Theatre

What is Theater?
 Theater as a PLACE
 Theater as an ART
What is Theater?
 Theater can refer to any space where performances
take place
 Plays, music or dance concerts and operas are all
performed in theaters
 A theater can be a formal building or a temporary
platform placed inside or outside
 Can also be known as an auditorium or stage
What is Theater?
 Theater also refers to everything connected with the
theatrical arts










The play itself
The stage
Scenery
Lighting
Makeup
Costumes
Music
Dancing
Acting
Actors
Kinds of Shows
 Broadway
 Off-Broadway
 West End
Kinds of Shows- Broadway
 The term Broadway comes from the legendary street
found in New York City: Broadway
 A “Broadway show” is a play or musical performed in
one of the specially designated theaters along or very
near the street
 It can also refer to a traveling show that has once been
in one of these theaters
 Many towns have a “Broadway Series” featuring the
famous plays and musicals that have been performed on
Broadway
Broadway St. New York City
Broadway Shows
 The Lion King
 Sister Act
 Wicked
 Phantom of the Opera
 Spider-Man
 Mamma Mia
 Jersey Boys
 Billy Elliot
 Mary Poppins
 Anything Goes
 Chicago
 Porgy and Bess
 How to Succeed in
 Godspell
Business Without Really
Trying
 The Addams Family
Kinds of Shows- Off-Broadway
 Off-Broadway refers to theaters that are smaller than
those on Broadway
 These theaters show different kinds of plays or musicals
that works better in small settings/areas
 Draw smaller audiences and are about less popular
topics
 The longest running play in the history of New York, The
Fantasticks, played Off-Broadway for 42 years!
Off Broadway Shows
 Stomp
 Blue Man Group
 Rent
 Avenue Q
 The Fantastiks
 You’re A Good Man,
Charlie Brown
 Rock of Ages
Shows that may no
longer be showing on
Broadway
Kinds of Shows-West End
 In London England, Broadway style shows are called
West End shows because they are performed in the
West End of London
 When people begin to see enough shows in one area,
they begin to call the plays by that location
 Depending on where you are, you might call the play a
Broadway show, an Off-Broadway show or a West End
show
Mary Poppins plays at Broadway’s
New Amsterdam Theatre
The Lion King plays in London’s
Lyceum Theatre in the West End
Touring Shows
 A show that is popular in New York or London is often
restaged around the country or around the world.
 A domestic tour is a show that is loaded into trucks so
that the show can be seen all over the United States
 An international tour is a show that is loaded into
boats or airplanes and taken all over the world
 The Lion King is performed in English, Dutch, German,
Korean, Japanese and French!
Touring Show
 Jersey Boys is currently
performed on Broadway
and is also a Domestic
Touring show.
 Currently showing at the
Ohio Theater in
Columbus August 17th
through September 4th!
Other Theaters
 Regional Theaters: professional theater companies
located in cities throughout the United States
 Actors Theatre of Columbus
 California Shakespeare Theater
 Children’s Theater Company
 Cincinnati Theater in the Park
 Old Globe Theatre
 Players Theatre Columbus
Other Theaters
 Summer Stock Theaters: plays put on in a tourist area
by professionals and students. These shows are put
together in only a few weeks
 Carousel Theatre in Akron/Canton Ohio
Other Theaters
 Community Theaters: plays put on by amateurs or
people that are not paid. These are people that do it for
the love of theater and to have fun with friends and
other people who love putting on shows
 Columbus: Curtain Players, Center Stage Players,
Worthington Community Theatre, St. Brigid Players,
Emerald City Players
 Columbus Children’s Theatre?
Styles of Theaters
 Just like there are lots of types of shows, there are
many different kinds of theaters
 The main thing that makes them different is where the
audience sits in relation to the stage
 There are several options
Proscenium
 The most familiar kind, a proscenium theater is where
the action of the show takes place on a stage at the
front of the room and the audience sits facing the
stage
Thrust Stage
 A thrust stage is like a proscenium, but with an
additional piece: the “thrust” is an extra section of the
stage area that extends beyond the proscenium into
the audience
Amphitheater
 One of the oldest styles of theaters that was originally
built outside, this theater is a half circle of seating
raised up to look down on the stage
Theater-In-The-Round
 Any theater where the audience is seated on all sides of
the stage is known as theater-in-the-round but it can
be not only round but square, triangular or any closed
shape
Oklahoma!
 A musical by Rogers and Hammerstein
 Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein joined together
to write many musicals together including Carousel,
State Fair, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound
of Music
 They have been awarded 34 Tony’s, 15 Acadamey
Awards, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 2 Grammy’s and 2 Emmy’s.
 They are considered the most successful musical writers
Broadway has ever seen.
Oklahoma!
 Based on a play called Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn




Riggs
Curly (good guy) and Jud (bad guy) are 2 cowboys who
compete for the love of a girl named Laurey.
Eventually, Curly and Laurey fall and love and get
married.
Jud picks a fight with Curly and is accidentally killed
when he falls on his own knife.
Throughout the musical they are celebrating the new
state of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! Lyrics
 Eller:
They couldn't pick a better time as that in life
Andrew:
It ain't too early and it ain't too late
Laurey:
Startin' as a farmer with a brand new wife
Curley:
Soon'll be livin' in a brand new state
 Company:
Brand new state, gonna treat you great!
Gonna give you barley, carrots and pertaters,
Pasture fer the cattle,
Spinach and termayters!
Flowers on the prarie where the June bugs zoom,
Plen'y of air and plen'y of room,
Plen'y of room to swing a rope!
Plen'y of heart and plen'y of hope.
Oklahoma! Lyrics pg. 2
 Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.
Oklahoma, Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk
Makin' lazy circles in the sky.
We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say
Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma O.K.
(REPEAT)
Oklahoma! Lyrics pg.3
 Okla-homa-Okla-homa-Okla-homa
Okla-homa-Okla-homa-Okla-homa...
We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say
Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!
Oklahoma O.K.
L-A-H-O-M-A
OKLAHOMA!
Yeeow!