Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
The partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein was made possible by Richard Rodgers’ partner, Hart, becoming increasingly difficult to get back to work. Rodgers wished to adapt the play Green Grow the Lilacs into a musical, but Hart wasn’t interested in the show. So, Rodgers took Oscar Hammerstein up on his offer to collaborate on a project. That project turned out to be the successful musical Oklahoma!
Oklahoma is about settlers in Oklahoma with characters like Curly, the amorous cowhand; Laurey, who
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Louis Women’ had a strong score written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen but it wasn’t successful. The show wasn’t successful because of the confluence of events, trends, ad bad luck that was harsh even by the standards of the Broadway musical. The show was mostly undone by its attempts to force a complex and unwieldy story into the form of a conventual musical.
Annie Get Your Gun was going to be composed by Jerome Kern, however he past away. So, Irving Berlin picked up where Kern left. Berlin just finished his final tour of duty with This Is the Army. Kern collaborated with Dorthy Fields to write lyrics for his music. Berlin wrote both words and music, so Fields relinquished her role as lyricist. This show stared Ethel Merman ad Annie Oakley. Berlin’s music was brilliantly crafted comedy song or ballad, each perfecty keyed, not only to merman, but also to the psyche, conflicts, and culture of Annie Oakley.
In 1946, Cole Porter had huge success with the show Kiss Me, Kate. The play was about a play with in a play. It about the Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew with the backstage antics of a hyperbolically self-centered thespian couple, which is Fred Graham and his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. It was different to Rodgers and Hammerstein because instead of mastering the sweeping narrative; Porter confined himself to the sweeping emotions of the leading
Theatres and How We Had Fun." Little, Brown, and Company. (Boston, Toronto, London); 1991. P. 139, 144.
In Dialogue: Theatre of America, Harold Clurman said, “we make theatre out of life” (27), and it was precisely this view that motivated him to help create a uniquely American theatre. Clurman, considered one of the most influential directors of the modern American theatre, had a unique vision of what the American theatre could become. One of the founders of the quintessentially American troupe, the Group Theatre, Clurman was a contemporary of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg, and even married to Stella Adler for twenty years. At a ceremony honoring Clurman, Elia Kazan stated that Clurman’s “greatest achievement [was] himself” (Harold Clurman: A Life of Theatre). An important figure in our theatrical past, Clurman’s theories on theatre and directing require close attention. In this paper, I will first provide a brief biography of Clurman, second, examine his theories of theatre and directing, and lastly, I will explore his criticisms of the then-contemporary theatre, and draw conclusions to the current state of the Broadway theatre.
These strong people have help not only with the growth of the Broadway musical, but also with the beginning of the modernization of musical theater during this period. Particularly the growth and change in the types of characters being used in Broadway musicals. Such as the Cinderella type characters are in the rag to riches stories, where they are struggling in the beginning of the act, yet at the final curtain they have a happy ending. Women and men during this period are beginning to show more personality in their acting and their struggles on stage. This was also the period where talking pictures, started to become a growing industry, it was no longer about just the Jazz period of the 1920’s. However, all good things must come to an end; it was the crash of the stock market during this period that brought an end to the feverish pitch of Broadway.
Motown the Musical, presented in a group effort by Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris, Berry Gordy, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, derived from the autobiographical book written by Berry Gordy himself, To Be Loved: The Music, The Magic, The Memories of Motown. The musical depicts outstanding career of Berry Gordy and the rise of Motown Records. Motown the Musical left a lasting impression on me and all it encounters through the environments it is presented in, the outstanding acting, and the marvelous design elements.
Zoglin, Richard. "Theater: That Old Razzle-Dazzle Chicago Was Once A Problem. Now It's A Triumph." Rev. of Chicago. Time 25 Nov. 1996: n. pag. Time. Time. Web. 8 Mar. 2014.
were merely inspired by the earlier music and used the idea to write their own compositions. One
Through collaborations with these composers Hammerstein won fame and popularity for shows like Rose-Marie, Desert Song, and New Moon. Hammerstein and Kern paired up and wrote several successful musicals over the next decade; the most famous was Show Boat. The dramatic content was strong, and the music gave it a deeper meaning. According to PBS, “Show Boat firmly established Oscar’s success and reputation a...
“My Life had Stood a Loaded Gun” by Emily Dickinson is a poem about a gun sitting in the corner. The owner notices him and takes him hunting in the woods. They are walking through the woods enjoying the day and the kill and return home to sleep the night away. The true meaning of the poem is one of a young man that is called up to serve his country and does so without any hesitation.
Austin up against the wall concludes that the Panthers adopted armed self-defense because they witnessed police brutality against black citizens as a principal problem in a post-World War II.
Kenrick, John. Musical Theatre A History. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
Oklahoma! The first collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein was entitled Oklahoma! The idea of the musical came from a play called Green Grow the Lilacs, written by Lynn Riggs in 1931. This story is about the state of Oklahoma at the turn of the century, when the Indian Territory joined the United States. It is the story of a girl named Laurey Williams and her (sort of) love triangle with two boys by the names of Curley McClain and Jud Fry. Laurey is in love with Curley, but she attends a dance with Jud instead. At the dance, Curley surprised Laurey by bidding an enormous amount on the basket of food she has prepared. They soon marry, and after the wedding, Jud starts a fight with Curley, but he loses. Jud is accidentally stabbed, but Curley was acquitted. Curley and his new wife live happily ever after in the great place of Oklahoma.
Going back to the idea of surrealism, Stephen Sondheim would be the perfect candidate to compose and lyricize such musical. His own surrealistic views are portrayed in his works including Into the Woods (1987), Follies (1971), and A Little Night Music (1973). Emotion also plays a large role in the success of a Broadway production, specifically regarding the content of a show like TWINS. This proves Sondheim as a viable composer because, in the words of Ben Brantley, journalist and theatre critic for the New York Times, “...Mr. Sondheim may be the most emotional composer in the history of musicals” (Brantley 1). This, too, would not be Sondheim’s first musical based on a painting. He wrote Sunday in the Park With George in 1984, based on Georges Seurat’s 1884 painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande
Arthur Laurents wrote the book, which, again, was roughly based off of the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee. The well established and highly respected, Jule Styne wrote the music for Gypsy. Stephen Sondheim, who was not as popular at the time, wrote the lyrics. Sondheim expressed his desire to write the music for the show, but Gypsy star, Ethel Merman insisted that an experienced composer write the music. Sondheim was turned off by this request, but still wrote the lyrics due to the advice given to him by his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein. Hammerstein believed Sondheim would learn a lot by writing for a star. Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed the original Broadway production. With a stacked directing and production team, it is no surprise that Gypsy’s debut was a smash hit. The original production of Gypsy ran for two years - totaling up to 702 performances and was nominated for eight Tony Awards.
Chicago When I first watched Chicago at the movie theater, I was not fully satisfied. I wanted more, so I went back to get some and watched it six more times with different friends and family members! Last summer during a visit to my native Mexico City, I had the opportunity to watch drag queens perform several numbers from the movie musical. They did an amazing job, without surpassing the outstanding performances of the actors in the film. Last year, I visited NYC for the first time and indulged in the rows of the Ambassador Theatre.
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding