Broadway Musicals What is a musical and how is one created

About This Presentation

Title:

Broadway Musicals What is a musical and how is one created

Description:

Broadway Musicals What is a musical and how is one created, produced and performed? What is a Musical? Musical (noun): a stage, television or film production ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:332

Avg rating:3.0/5.0

Slides: 38

Provided by: teachersG3

Category:

more less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Broadway Musicals What is a musical and how is one created

1
Broadway Musicals

What is a musical and how is one created,
produced and performed?

2
What is a Musical?

Musical (noun) a stage, television or film
production utilizing popular-style songs -
dialogue optional - to either tell a story (book
musicals) or showcase the talents of the writers
and/or performers (revues).
Book musicals have gone by many names comic
operas, operettas, opera bouffe, burlesque,
burletta, extravaganza, musical comedy, etc.

3
What is a Musical?

Revues have their roots in variety, vaudeville,
music halls and minstrel shows.
The best musicals have three essential qualities
Brains intelligence and style
Heart genuine and believable emotion
Courage the guts to do something creative and
exciting.

4
How Long Has This Been Going On?

We know that the ancient Greeks included music
and dance in their stage comedies and tragedies
as early as the 5th Century B.C.
The Romans copied and expanded the forms and
traditions of Greek theatre.
Although performed in enclosed wooden structures
far smaller than Greek theatres, Roman stagecraft
stressed spectacle and special effects, a trend
that echoes into our own time.

5
How Long Has This Been Going On?

If the Roman theatre contributed little to the
Greek literature that today's dramatic theatre
rests on, musical comedy inherited spectacle and
numerous technical achievements from this
austere, mechanical, and jaded society.- Denny
Martin Flynn, Musical A Grand Tour (New York
Schirmer Books, 1997), p. 22.

6
How Long Has This Been Going On?

In the Middle Ages, there was also a tradition of
religious dramas. Intended as liturgical teaching
tools set to church chants, these plays developed
into an autonomous form of musical theatre.
The process was occasionally carried to such
extremes that almost the entire text was cast in
poetic forms, with little or no dependence on
liturgical texts and melodies. The result of this
process is nowhere more evident than in The Play
of Daniel, perhaps the best known because the
most widely performed of medieval dramas. Except
for two concluding items one stanza of a hymn
and the Te Deum the texts and melodies of this
play are entirely nonliturgical.- Rochard H.
Hoppin, Medieval Music (New York W.W. Norton
Co, 1978), pp. 180-181.

7
How Long Has This Been Going On?

This reached its apex during the Renaissance in
the commedia dell'arte, an Italian tradition
where raucous clown characters improvised their
way through familiar stories.
By the Baroque, two forms of musical theater were
common in Britain, France and Germany ballad
operas like John Gay's The Beggars Opera (1728)
that borrowed popular songs of the day and
rewrote the lyrics, and comic operas, with
original scores and mostly romantic plot lines,
like Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl (1845).

8
Are Musicals Descended From Opera?

Opera has been with us since the late 1500s, but
contemporary musical theatre and film are not
direct descendants of grand opera.
However, opera can be called a descendant of
classical theatre. When Renaissance writers and
composers tried to resurrect the forms of Greek
drama, they added music. This eventually led to
the birth of grand opera.
From its birth in the 1800s, the musical has
often spoofed opera, but it traces its main
lineage to other sources. Vaudeville, burlesque,
and many other forms are the true ancestors of
the modern musical -- not opera.

9
The American Stage Musical

The first musical production in the Colonies was
Flora, a performance that took place in a court
room in Charleston, South Carolina, on February
8, 1735.
The English ballad opera remained popular in the
Colonies for several decades. After the Colonies
had become a nation, a new kind of stage
production began to attract interest the
burlesque. (any broadly comic or satirical
imitation, as of a writing, play, etc)

10
The American Stage Musical

At that time, burlesque consisted of travesties
(a crude, distorted, or ridiculous
representation) on or parodies (literary or
musical composition imitating the characteristic
style of some other work treating a serious
subject in a nonsensical manner, as a ridicule)
of famous plays, performers or dancers--in song,
dance, pantomime (action or gestures without
words as a means of expression) and dialogue.

11
The American Stage Musical

Burlesques were also for the most part foreign
importations and so were the extravaganzas and
spectacles that crowded the New York stage just
before and immediately after the Civil War.
The accent on female physical beauty (usually in
flimsy attire), so important an element in later
American musical productions, dates from one of
these foreign importations Ixion, in 1869, in
which Lydia Thompson and her English blondes
shocked New York by having girls appear in
skin-colored tights.

12
The American Stage Musical

After the middle 1860s, and for the rest of that
century, the American stage was literally flooded
with foreign operettas
the opera-bouffes of Offenbach and Lecocq among
others
the operettas of Suppé and Johan Strauss II
the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.

13
The American Stage Musical

The American musical comedy, however, did not
emerge with its familiar aspects until after the
turn of the twentieth century.
Its parent was George M. Cohan --librettist,
lyricist, composer.
Any plot, however far-fetched and improbable, was
serviceable just so long as it could be the frame
for songs, dances, routines and humorous
episodes.
The play was not the thing, but the elements
within the play.
And for many years American musical comedy was
governed by this principle.

14
The American Stage Musical

Rodgers and Hart lifted musical comedy out of the
nursery and carried it to adult maturity b y
using themes of dream psychology, American
history, American literature. (topics considered
taboo up to that time)

15
Richard Rodgers Oscar Hammerstein II

The greatest revolution in the American musical
theatre up to that time came in 1927 with Show
Boat, by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern.
Here we come to a completely new genre--the
musical play as distinguished from musical
comedy.
Now, at long last, the play was the thing, and
everything else was subservient to that play.
Now, at last, came complete integration of song,
humor and production numbers into a single and
inextricable artistic entity. Here, finally, was
a musical with a consistent and credible story
line, authentic atmosphere and three-dimensional
characters.

16
Richard Rodgers Oscar Hammerstein II

The first of the Rodgers and Hammerstein
masterworks, Oklahoma!, with which the musical
play finally became a significant American art
form.
After Oklahoma!, Rodgers and Hammerstein were the
most important contributors to the musical-play
form--with such masterworks as Carousel, The King
and I and South Pacific. The examples they set in
creating vital plays, often rich with social
thought, provided the necessary encouragement for
other gifted writers to create musical plays of
their own, men like Lerner and Loewe, Frank
Loesser and Leonard Bernstein among others.

17
The Shows

1927-present

18
Show Boat

Description A musical in two acts It is a
musical treasure that beautifully paints a
portrait of the ugliness of racism, marital
discord and abandonment. And it is a story of
love proclaimed in songs that have become
standards in American musical literature SHOW
BOAT covers one of the most dramatic eras in
American history and spans four decades to tell
its panoramic, romantic story of the Cotton
Blossom floating theater, the Hawks family and
their show boat troupe of actors.
Setting Natchez, on the Mississippi River, on
the Cotton Blossom, and Chicago. 1887-1927.
Book Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Jerome Kern.
Original Production Dec. 27, 1927-May 4, 1929
Show has had 6 revivals 1932, 1946-47, 1948,
1954, 1983, 1994-97.

19
Oklahoma!

Setting Indian territory (now Oklahoma) just
after the turn of the century, tells of fun, love
and romance in the lives of the families living
in the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the
century.
Book Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers.
Based on Green Grow the Lilacs.
Original Production May 31, 1943 May 28, 1948
Show has had 4 revivals 1951, 1953, 1979
80, 2002 - 03

20
Carousel

Setting New England. 1873 - 1888. Billy Bigelow,
a smooth-talking carny barker falls in love with
a millworker, Julie Jordan. Right before the
birth of his daughter, Billy is killed while
committing a robbery. Now in heaven, years later,
he returns to earth for one day to attend his
daughters graduation and teach her one very
important lesson.
Book Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers.
Based on Liliom.
Original Production Apr 19, 1945 - May 24, 1947
Show has had 4 revivals 1949, 1954, 1957, 1994 -
95

21
The King and I

Setting On the docks and in and around the Royal
Palace in Bangkok. It is 1862 in Siam when an
English widow, Anna Leonowens, and her young son
arrive at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, having
been summoned by the king to serve as tutor to
his many children and wives. The king is largely
considered to be a barbarian by those in the West
and he seeks Anna's assistance in changing his
image, if not his ways. With both keeping a firm
grip on their respective traditions and values,
Anna and the king grow to understand and,
eventually, respect one another, in a truly
unique love story.
Book Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers.
Original Production Mar 29, 1951 - Mar 20, 1954
Show has had 3 revivals 1977 - 78, 1985, 1996
98.

22
South Pacific

Setting Set in an island paradise during World
War II, two parallel love stories are threatened
by the dangers of prejudice and war. Nellie, a
spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a
mature French planter, Emile. Nellie learns that
the mother of his children was an island native
and, unable to turn her back on the prejudices
with which she was raised, refuses Emile's
proposal of marriage. Meanwhile, the strapping
Lt. Joe Cable denies himself the fulfillment of a
future with an innocent Tonkinese girl with whom
he's fallen in love out of the same fears that
haunt Nellie. When Emile is recruited to
accompany Joe on a dangerous mission that claims
Joe's life, Nellie realizes that life is too
short not to seize her own chance for happiness,
thus confronting and conquering her prejudices.
Book by Joshua Logan, Oscar Hammerstein II
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers.
Original Production Apr 7, 1949 - Jan 16, 1954
Show has had two revivals 1955, 2008-2010

23
The Sound of Music

Setting Austria. Early in 1938. When a postulant
proves too high-spirited for the religious life,
she is dispatched to serve as governess for the
seven children of a widowed naval captain. Her
growing rapport with the youngsters, coupled with
her generosity of spirit, gradually captures the
heart of the stern captain, and they marry. Upon
returning from their honeymoon they discover that
Austria has been invaded by the Nazis, who demand
the captain's immediate service in the German
navy. The family makes a narrow escape over the
mountains to Switzerland on the eve of World War
II.
Book by Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers.
Original Production Nov 16, 1959 - Jun 15, 1963
Show has had one revival Mar 12, 1998 -
Jun 20, 1999

24
My Fair Lady

Setting In and around London, 1912. Professor
Higgins, a world renown phoneticist, makes a bet
that he can pass a London street urchin with a
horrendous cockney accent, Eliza Dolittle, off as
a lady to the Queen of England.
Book by Alan Jay Lerner
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe.
Based on Pygmalion.
Original Production Mar 15, 1956 - Sep 29, 1962
Show has had three revivals 1976 -
77, 1981, 1993 94.

25
West Side Story

Setting The West Side of New York City during
the last days of Summer. 1957. West Side Story
transposes Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the
gang-ridden streets of Manhattan in the 1950s.
Instead of the Capulets and Montagues, we have
the Puerto Rican Sharks versus the Anglo Jets. In
place of Romeo and Juliet are Tony and Maria, two
teens torn between ethnic loyalty and their
intense, abrupt love for one another.
Book by Arthur Laurents
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Music by Leonard Bernstein.
Based on Romeo and Juliet.
Original Production Sep 26, 1957 - Jun 27, 1959
Show has had four revivals 1960, 1964, 1980, 2009
- present

26
Fiddler on the Roof

Setting The eve of the Russian Revolution.
Fiddler on the Roof is set in the small Jewish
village of Anatevka, Russia, in 1905 and is
concerned primarily with the efforts of Tevye, a
dairyman, his wife, Golde, and their five
daughters to keep to Jewish traditions and cope
with their harsh existence under Tsarist rule.
Book by Joseph Stein
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Music by Jerry Bock.
Original Production Sep 22, 1964 - Jul 2, 1972
Show has had four revivals 1976 - 77, 1981, 1990
- 91, 2004 06.

27
Chicago

Setting Chicago, Illinois. The late 1920s. What
becomes a legend most? For a couple of Jazz Age
entertainers, it's all about fame, fortune - and
murder.
Book by Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Music by John Kander.
Based on Chicago.
Original production Jun 3, 1975 - Aug 27, 1977
Show is currently on Broadway as a revival
Nov 14, 1996 - Present

28
Annie

Setting December 11-25, 1933. New York City.
During the Great Depression era, Annie, an orphan
that sneaks out of a Manhattan orphanage, is
caught and returned to Miss Hannigan, the wicked
lady that runs the place. An opportunity arises
in which Annie is allowed to spend the Christmas
holidays with the richest man in America, Oliver
Warbucks. Annie warms the heart of Warbucks and a
massive search for Annies parents ensues. This
raises the opportunity for Hannigan, her brother
Rooster and his girlfriend to try and con
Warbucks out of a reward.
Book by Thomas Meehan
Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Music by Charles Strouse.
Original Production Apr 21, 1977 - Jan 2, 1983
Show had one revival Mar 26, 1997 - Oct 19, 1997

29
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Setting Jacob lived in Biblical times and had
twelve sons of whom Joseph was his favorite.
Joseph's brothers resented the favoritism and the
fact that Joseph had high aspirations. Jacob gave
Joseph a beautiful coat and that was the last
straw for his brothers. They threw him in a pit
and were going to leave him when they were
approached by Egyptians. They changed their minds
and sold Joseph off to slavery in Egypt, telling
their father he had been killed. Through hard
work and his ability to interpret dreams, Joseph
works his way up the Egyptian social ladder until
he is the assistant to the Pharaoh. When a famine
strikes, Joseph's brothers end up in Egypt
begging Joseph for food. After testing them,
Joseph gives them food and reveals his identity
and the whole family moves to Egypt.
Book and Lyrics by Tim Rice
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Original Production Jan 27, 1982 - Sep 4, 1983
Show had one revival Nov 10, 1993 - May 29, 1994

30
Cats

Setting An all-singing, all-dancing musical
spectacular based on the poems from T.S. Eliot's
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Directed by
Trevor Nunn and with musical staging by Gillian
Lynne, Cats has conquered the world with a score
which includes the hit song "Memory".
Lyrics by T.S. Eliot
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Original Production was the only production and
stands as the second longest running musical in
Broadway history.
Oct 7, 1982 - Sep 10, 2000
Total Performances 7485

31
Les Miserables

Setting In France Jean Valjean is released from
prison after 19 years in a quarry for stealing
bread. He is hardened till he met a Bishop who
let him stay for a night. Valjean changes and
becomes the mayor after 9 years. Inspector Javert
recognizes him and tries to reveal who he is.
Fantine, a factory worker is fired because she
has a child out of wedlock. As a result, Fantine
becomes a prostitute and becomes sick. Valjean
realizes what has happened to her and takes care
of her. Inspect Javert finally manages to reveal
Valjean for who he was. Fantine dies and give
Valjean the authority to take care of her child,
Cosette. Valjean escapes and finds the child and
they live in a church for 10 years. Cosette, now
a woman, goes to Paris with Valjean during a
revolution. Cosette meets a man, Marius, and they
fall in love. Inspector Javert finally realizes
that Valjean is in Paris and tries to find him
again.
Book by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg.
Original production Mar 12, 1987 - May 18, 2003
Show had one revival Nov 9, 2006 - Jan 6, 2008

32
Phantom of the Opera

Setting Paris Opéra House. 1881-1911. The
musical tells the story of the hideously deformed
Phantom who lurks beneath the stage of the Paris
Opera, exercising a reign of terror over all its
occupants. He falls fatally in love with the
young soprano Christine, devoting himself to
creating a new star for the Opera by nurturing
her extraordinary talents and employing all the
skills at his disposal.
Book by Richard Stilgoe, Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Charles Hart
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Only production Jan 26, 1988 - Present
Phantom is currently the longest running musical
in Broadway history with a total number of
performances at 9539 as of January 2, 2011.

33
Miss Saigon

Setting Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) USA Bangkok.
1975 - October 1978. Miss Saigon relates the
story of Puccini's Madama Butterfly set during
the Vietnam War. As the war turns against the
Americans, villagers are rushing to Saigon for
refuge. One of them is Kim, a 17-year-old girl
whose family was killed. She becomes a stripper
at the Dreamland club where she meets a young
American GI, Chris. The two quickly fall in love
and move in together. When Saigon falls however,
Chris is evacuated. Thinking he would never see
Kim again, he marries an American woman, Ellen.
Two years later, Chris's friend, John, informs
Chris that he has fathered Kim's child. After
Chris and his wife meet Kim in Bangkok, Thailand,
Kim gives Chris the child, and then commits
suicide.
Book by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics by Alain Boublil, Richard Maltby, Jr.
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg.
Original and only production Apr 11, 1991 -
Jan 28, 2001.
Show is famous for a life-size helicopter that
descends from the top of the stage.

34
Sweeny Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Setting The 19th Century. London. Fleet Street
and environs. Sweeney Todd, aka Benjamin Barker,
returns to London after being sent away by Judge
Turpin. He opens a barber shop above
Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop where she sells 'the
worst pies in London'. Todd kills all the people
who have ever done him wrong and, with the help
of Mrs. Lovett who puts the bodies in her pies,
hopes to be reunited with his daughter, Joanna,
who is now Judge Turpin's ward.
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Music Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Original production Mar 1, 1979 - Jun 29, 1980
Show has had two revivals 1989 - 90, 2005 - 06

35
Seussical The Musical

A musical adaptation of the children's books by
Dr. Seuss. His characters come to life to restore
harmony in the Jungle of Nool after chaos erupts.
Book by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Music by Stephen Flaherty.
Original Production Nov 30, 2000 - May 20, 2001
No revivals as of yet.

36
Wicked

Setting Oz Shiz the Emerald City If you think
you know the two iconic witches from Oz the
Wicked Witch (Elphaba) and the Good Witch
(Glinda) think again.
Book by Winnie Holzman
Music Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Only production Oct 30, 2003 - Present

37
Musicals Currently on Broadway