Broadway Theatre
As said in Wicked, “I don’t know if I’ve been changed for the better, but because I knew you I have been changed for good.” This quote is true for me and many other people who have discovered comfort in Broadway Theatre. I polled a facebook group what their favorite Broadway show was out of Wicked, Phanton of the Opera, Hamilton, and Dear Evan Hansen to see what the two most popular shows are. A total of fifty people answered and Wicked came out on top with nineteen votes and Phantom of the Opera came in second with fourteen votes. Broadway is a popular genre that many people enjoy and Broadway has opened many musicals and plays. In my speech, I will be discussing a short history of Broadway and then the shows Wicked and Phantom of the Opera. Now as the show begins, please turn off cell-phones, thank you and enjoy the show! Scene 1, Act 1. What is Broadway? Broadway is the theatre district located in Manhatten in New York City; it consists of 40 professional theatres that contain 500 or more seats. According to theaterseatstore.com, if a performance wants to be considered Broadway it must be held in one of these theatres and for a performance to
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As sung by Glinda the Good in Wicked, “Popular, your gonna be popular, just not quite as popular as me.” This wickedly awesome musical fills in the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West and follows Elphaba and Glinda through there college life. The Musical consists of 22 songs written by Stephen Schwartz and is based on the 1995 book by Gregory Maguire. According to The Daily Beast, in 2013 there were 38 million theatre-goers and $3.1 billion in ticket sales. But when the show started in 2003, some of the reviewers did not think it would last long. The New York Times said that “Wicked does not, alas, speak hopefully for the future of the Broadway Musical. Wicked also brought a major stage presence to Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda/Galinda) and Indina Menzel (Elphaba). End Scene 1, Act
If there is truly tradition to be found among the great theatres both on and off Broadway, then certainly the Sullivan Street Playhouse and its long running production of The Fantasticks rates as one of the most celebrated of New York theatrical traditions. Maintaining its place as the longest running production Off Broadway, The Fantasticks remains an enchanting and insightful tale of both young love and bitter disillusionment. It also reminds one, in this age of spectacle and the mega-musical, how powerful and truly inspiring theatre itself can be. Clearly, one of the great strengths of this production and a large part of its appeal for audiences over the last four decades lies in the fact that both the story and the style of presentation compliment each other so completely. Here we find the non-essentials are stripped away, and we are left to rely simply on the imagination of both the audience and the performers to create a magical evening.
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 theatres in Chicago have a very vast and interesting history. Starting in the 1920’s, it has been around for a long time. Stephen Schwartz once said “I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return”(goodreads.com). Broadway can help teach people morales. Broadway is one of the most exciting parts of downtown Chicago. Broadway in Chicago is undoubtedly less recognized then what it should be due to its talent and national status.
When studying musical theater, or any type of theater, you cannot just expect to start at Wicked, without understanding how shows of that magnitude came to be. We look at musical theater today, and sit in the theater seats, in awe at the spectacle that we were so fortunate to get orchestra tickets to. Yet, when studying, we need to begin somewhere. This episode is that somewhere. It highlights an individual crucial to the creation of the modern day production. Through his work, other directors and producers have been able to bring their ideas to the stage. Florenz Ziegfeld is an inspiration to any student, artist, or anyone with a passion for musical theater. Miles Krueger said, “The history of Musical Theater is divided into two eras- everything before Showboat and everything
This fearlessness was something that Broadway idealized, ultimately opening the doors for playwrights and composers to speak their mind by means of the shows they produced. A few leading shows in this field were the musicals Chicago, Pacific Overtures, and A Chorus Line. Each of the three plays tackled their own social injustices all while also embedding individualized views of the glorified American Dream inside their works. Chicago and A Chorus Line take you behind the scenes in the world of Broadway, one tackling the injustices of the media and glorification of crime, and the other puts a light on the “small people” often forgotten in
In the years before Oklahoma! was created, Broadway was dying. New and refreshing musicals were a rare occasion and when an artist tried to create something that he hoped his audience would like, he was sadly disappointed. Broadway was suffering from a lack of what it was revered for: astounding plays and musicals. Its time of glamour and glitz was almost forgotten, and was in need of being saved. That is why Oklahoma! is considered a rebirth of the American musical theatre at the time. It brought Broadway back to life, filling theatre seats with enthusiastic audiences who embraced the changes of this new theatre musical with open arms and made it a legend. Oklahoma! set new standards for classic American theatre by introducing new techniques of presenting the musical to the audience, introducing a new genre of music into the theatre, and strayed away from the usual classic form and structure of a musical that audiences had grown used to. It was a time of change, a time of excitement,...
African American Theatre interests me, since African American actors, actresses, and playwrights have overcome so many obstacles, and yet some of the best people in film are African American. It interests me that they have endured so much rough history in this country, and yet many people forget about their rough history and admire many talented African American associated with the theatre. I like how the African American theatre deviates from an integrated society, to a simple black society. Many African American based plays and films show a simple African American family and how they live their lives, in the midst of so many obstacles they face. While watching several of the African American films assigned for this
The Lion King musical is a well-known musical that has taken the stages of Broadway, West End and the rest of the world by storm (The Lion King, 1997). Regarding the process of the musical, Artistic Director Julie Taymor’s first thoughts for choosing the Lion King as the next big thing on stage, was classed as ‘impossible’ due to the film’s lack of theatrical material (The Lion King, 1997). Therefore, staging this particular work contained a great deal of uncertainty and the need for taking huge risks. Taymor (1997) suggests how ‘the Lion King was the worst idea possible to create a stage show.’ It has become evident that a number of significant barriers had to be overcome to secure the practicality of the production. In view of this controversy, this dissertation will critically analyse the success of the Lion King by exploring two significant aspects that have helped to make the musical a success. Firstly, the essential components that make up this theatrical production will be explored and secondly, the roles of each producer within the Lion King and their combined and individual influences they have had from the production will be evaluated. By analysing these two central themes, this paper will show how and why this musical has developed and achieved its phenomenal success.
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
I had been waiting a year to finally see this musical on Broadway, and when I did the way the theater hushed and was taken into awe with the way the show opens amazed me and I cannot ever forget that feeling. The room went dark and the air went cooler, all you heard was laughing and out of nowhere there was flying monkeys going around the whole auditorium laughing and picking on people in the chairs. Then when I heard No One Mourns the Wicked, and then her voice. Idina Menzel on stage singing, and then Kristen Chenoweth is on in a few moments. I realized how much this musical was my favorite. The way Idina sang it gave chills throughout my whole body, and I can still remember the feeling of it all, because I get it every time I see it. The girls sang amazing apart but when you put their voices together it’s a sound that you can’t ever forget, and even when I listen to music on my phone I get the same chills because the memory comes back of how it was. About five years ago I saw this musical again, but this time it was in Chicago and almost the exact same thing happened. The only difference was that it was different singers. The show was still absolutely amazing, and there was still flying monkeys flying around the auditorium. Just the atmosphere was amazing and the way everyone just stopped talking at once and the way the air just felt colder as the stage
“Wicked” is my favorite Broadway musical. I have been fortunate to see “Wicked” three times, in three different cities, most recently New York City. Each time I see it, I compare it to the previous time. I have discovered that although the story stays the same, the interpretation by the actors, and the differences in set décor, change my perception of the characters in the story.
In this paper, I will be focusing briefly on my knowledge and understanding of the concept of Applied theatre and one of its theatre form, which is Theatre in Education. The term Applied Theatre is a broad range of dramatic activity carried out by a crowd of diverse bodies and groups.
My experience watching a live theatre performance on stage was a fascinating one, most especially since it was my first time. I attended a staged performance of “The History Boys” in a small theatre called “The Little Theatre of Alexandria” at 8:00 pm on Wednesday June 8, 2016 in Alexandria, Virginia. The overall production of the play was a resounding experience for me particularly the performance of the actors and the design of the scene made the play seem real.
Technology has a critical role in the modern world of theatre. It is what makes productions a possibility. Someone who deals with a lot of this new technology is someone who has a theatre technology major. Practically everything involved with the stage is handled by Theatre Technicians. Whether it be something as simple as a curtain or drop that flies in during a production to something as vast as a mechanically rotating set, someone has to set it up or build it, maintain it, and operate it. It could even be lighting or sound work. Whatever it may be, there is a ton of technology that is used in modern productions that wasnt even close to being invented when old, historical shows were first being introduced. And unfortunately, sets don’t build themselves. And broken or damaged set pieces or components don’t fix themselves. There has to be someone responsible for all of this, all while taking the actors’ safety into the greatest concern. Without Theatre Technicians, theatre would not be as safe, realistic, or technologically advanced as it is today. Theatre Technology plays an extraordinarily large role in theatre which allows older, “ancient” shows the ability to be presented in new ways with modern technologies. Through the use of modern set construction, automation, lighting, and other modern theatre job positions the historic opera, The Barber of Seville is taken to a whole new level.
Although musicals usually draw in tickets out the door, they are much more expensive and not as financially logical for a theater company to produce at a large rate. If there were five shows in a season, I would allocate two of the shows as musicals and three as stage plays. The musicals would attract a wide audience, therefore increasing the notability and reputability of the theatre company. I would rather ensure that a few excellent musicals were produced, rather than pump out a multitude of musicals, simply because they attract more people. As a result, I would focus on the logical economic and sensible strategy to maximize profits and create a reputable theatre with a unique and alluring