Vaudeville: The Evolving American Dream

The American Dream, something nearly 11.4 million people immigrate to America in search of. Except the American Dream today is something that has been evolving since its genesis in order to adapt to the changing ways of society. In the early 1880’s many immigrants took part in Vaudeville, something nowadays akin to a talent show of sorts. People started to seek more diversified amusement, finding it in the touring traveling companies that Vaudeville was known for. Vaudeville stood for more than solely entertainment, it embodied and reflected the rapidly changing tides of the American culture, providing an up close and personal look at the progressing melting pot composed of a myriad of divergent ethnic and racial backgrounds. With the advancement of Vaudeville also came the emergence of continuous acts formed together by music and acting, better known as a musical.

Whilst the up and coming future of Broadway was known for its entertainment, it was no stranger to challenging discrimination, bigotry, advancing social behavior, and racism.

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

musicals.

From the first moment you begin Chicago, you’re immediately thrust into the world of lies, deceit and showbiz as the play takes the guise of that in which it criticizes. A virulent burlesque that conquers the topic of how show business and the media create celebrities out of criminals, so that crime becomes seemingly attractive to the public. The principal postulate of Chicago is that a society made up of unscrupulous lawyers coinciding with a communal bloodlust for violence is as unnerving as the criminal acts committed themselves. As a matter of fact, the more the audience watches the show, the more Roxie, Velma, and the other “Merry Murderesses” of the Cook County Jail seem amiable, as well as personable. All but proving the whole point that Jerry Fosse was trying to achieve. The debauchery, provocativeness, and beguile of the two leads entertains the whole crowd. Fooling the public into laughing at the jokes, cheering the dances numbers on, and even going so far as to make a mockery of the single scrupulous character in the whole entire play, Amos Hart, bypassing the final moment at the end of the show where stops to ask us “Do you understand what you’ve been cheering all night? Murderers!” Ending with the finger of blame pointing towards the audience, having too much fun to notice their hand in setting free two murderesses. This sordid activity even trickles into the courts of present day, the act of immortalizing criminals by making celebrities out of them, with the help of the public's rebellion against attempts to legislate morality. In history defiance has been a constant struggle, in 1920’s it was alcohol, nowadays it’s prayer in schools, marriage, sexuality, and drugs. With the dawn of media and the technological advancements of the day surrounding trials such as O.J. Simpson, and others, society has witnessed the media make sport out of mocking our judicial system. Giving the impression that justice is for sale to the highest bidder. Innocence can be bought with