Transcript Musical Theatre History Power Point

MUSICAL THEATRE
BY K. BURROWS
History of Musical Theatre
WHAT IS MUSICAL
THEATRE
 A theatre piece that contains music, spoken dialogue, and dance.
 Typically popular styles of music
 Story is told through all aspects of the piece
 Examples?
TYPES OF MUSICALS
 Book Musical: Traditional music with a strong story that drives the music and the characters
 Revue: A collection of songs, generally with some common element (And the World Goes
Round)
 Concept Musical: Musical where the concept of message is just as, if not, more important
than the story (American Idiot)
 Jukebox Musical: Using only songs from a specific group, writer or artist. (Mamma Mia,
Smokey Joe’s Cafe)
 Rock or Pop Musicals: Using rock or pop music, typically with little to no dialogue. It could
be called a rock/pop opera/operetta (Hair)
MUSICAL BREAKDOWN
 3 Main Components of a Musical
• Music, Lyrics and Book
• Book: Refers to the story, character development, and dramatic
structure. (Includes the spoken dialogue)
• Book can also refer to the dialogue and lyrics together: libretto or
“little book”
• Music and Lyrics together form the score
MUSICAL BREAKDOWN
CONT…
 Typically 2 acts
 About 6 main pieces of music, but can be more than 10 songs
 Spoken dialogue between songs (although many musicals are sung
all the way through)
 Typically the moments of greatest tension or reveal are told
through song.
WHO MAKES A MUSICAL?
 Producers
 Directors: Choreographers, Musical Director, Technical Director,
Production Stage Manager
 Important aspects: Staging, Lighting, Props, Set, Costumes, Sound,
Special Effects
HISTORY
 Greeks used music to enhance performances
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Chorus was choreographed
Music was composed
Continued throughout history
Began with Operetta (derived from opera into musical comedy –
Gilbert and Sullivan)
MUSICAL HISTORY CONT…
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First official musical is considered to be The Black Crook (Sept 12, 1866,
by Charles M Barras)
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Ran 474 performances in NYC
Prototype of the modern book musical
 Golden Age of Musicals – 1940’s-1960’s
• Began with Oklahoma (Rodger’s and Hammerstein)
• First blockbuster (2212 performances) and was made into a film. Still
one of the most popular musicals to produce today
• Popular shows include: South Pacific, King and I and The Sound of Music.
MUSICAL HISTORY CONT…
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Musicals had serious subject matter.
• Murder
• Abuse
• Theft
• Suicide
• Racism and Prejudice
• Death
1970’S
 Rise of the Rock Musicals
• Jesus Christ Superstar
• Godspell
• Rocky Horror Picture Show
80’S/90’S
 Rise of the Mega Musical/Pop Operas
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Phantom of the Opera
Miss Saigon
Aida
Les Miserables
FAMOUS
COMPOSERS/TEAMS
 Stephen Sondheim
 Andrew Lloyd Webber
 Rodgers and Hammerstein
 Stephen Schwartz
 Jason Robert Brown
 Ahrens and Flaherty
 Leonard Bernstein
 Adler and Ross
 Kander and Ebb
 MANY MORE….. Can you name any?
FUTURE OF MUSICAL
THEATRE
 Shows are being based more and more on Movies…
 Where do you see musical theatre heading?
• Discussion