Types and History of Musicals Types of Musicals

Types and History of Musicals

Types of Musicals • Book Musical - is dependent on plot and character, integrates the script with the musical style and major musical themes, often contains as many scenes of spoken dialogue as it does musical numbers • Oklahoma!, Showboat • Concept Musical - is a musical where the show's metaphor or statement is more important than the actual narrative. • Cats, Starlight Express • “Sung-Through” Musical - refers to a musical or opera with little or no spoken dialogue. • Les Miserables, Evita • Dance Musicals - These shows tended to use recycled show tunes and pop songs, and in some cases even recycled dance sequences -- the main focus was on the dancing. • Movin’ Out, Fosse • The Rock Musical - A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music – Mamma Mia, Tommy, Yellow Submarine

What Show is this Standard from? What is this singers name?

• The three main components of a musical are the music, the lyrics, and the book. The book of a musical refers to the story of the show • Librettist- writes the “book” • Composer- writes the music • Lyricist- writes the words that are sung • Choreographer- creates the dance moves

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728) • Ballad operas were satiric musical plays that used some of the conventions of opera. The lyrics of the songs are set to popular songs of the time.

French and Viennese Operettas • Jacques Offenbach – French • Orpheus in the Underworld • Johann Strauss II - German • Die Fledermaus • Gilbert and Sullivan- English • H. M. S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado are among the best known.

Vaudeville • Types of acts included (among others) musicians (both classical and popular), dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and short movies.

The Black Crook – the first musical • Opened in 1866 • Produced by William Wheatley • Stranded Ballet Dancers Plot • Wolfenstein (bad) loves Amina (good) who loves Rodolphe (good) • Hertzog the “black crook” • Stalacta, the Fairy Queen • “Extravaganzas”

The major musicals • • • Showboat -- 1927 Hammerstein and Kern] Plot: Nolie comes of age carefully written serious themes: Racism, single women • plot covers large span of time • Characters develop! • Book and Lyrics somewhat integrated

Oklahoma! • 1943 • Rogers and Hammerstein • Book and lyrics more fully integrated • A serious work • choreographed by Agnes De. Mille

• By the 40 s and 50 s we were treated to some of the greatest musicals in what was called the modern era. These musicals included such classics as Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, The King and I, My Fair Lady, and the list goes on for miles.

• In the 1960 s we saw such great musicals like Hello Dolly, Fiddler On The Roof, and Hair, which was the first musical in the United States to feature nude actors.

• By the 1970 s musical theater had become pretty extravagant with the advances in technology and design. The 70 s brought us such great shows as A Little Night Music, A Chorus Line, No No Nanette, Sweeney Todd and Evita.

• But the hits kept coming and many from Britain. In the 80 s we saw such shows like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats and Phantom Of The Opera. Along with Les Miserables

The 90’s • • • The lion King Rent Jekyll and Hyde Beauty and the Beast The Scarlet Pimpernel Once on this Island

The 00’s • • • In the Heights Wicked The Drowsy Chaperone Billy Elliot – The Musical Hairspray Memphis