…

t h at j a zz
n d all
A

History
 Greek Theatre - 534 BC
0 Greek Theatre was where
Musical Theatre began.
0 They had a chorus which
would sing songs to help tell a
story.
0 Their plays would consist of
religious themes and would
usually use the Gods like Zeus
and Hades as characters.
Click Picture for Video
 Ballad Opera - 1728 -1750
0 Featured farcical or extravaganza plots
that poked fun at popular Italian Opera-
much easier for the common folk to
identify with.

0 Used folk tunes from England, Scotland

and Ireland but rewrote the lyrics.

0 A famous Ballad Opera is “The Beggars

Opera” which is still performed on
occasions today.
 Music Halls – 1850
● Involved a mixture of popular
songs, comedy, specialty acts
and variety entertainment

● Venues would have chairs and

tables that people would sit
around and would chat and
drink while being entertained.

● After WWI, big band acts and

restrictions on drinking in the
venue killed off Music Halls.
Click Picture for Video
 Burlesque – 1860
0 Burlesque Musicals were comedy
entertainment parodying well
known opera or classical theatre in
risque style.
0 Featured musical scores ranging
from popular contemporary songs
to operatic arias
0 Burlesque grew longer and longer
until it became a musical that would
last all evening.
 Vaudeville - 1870
0 Vaudeville was variety
entertainment without psychological
or moral intention.
0 Types of acts included musicians,
comedians, trained animals,
.magicians, strongmen jugglers,
minstrels and impersonators.
0 Vaudeville also included freak
shows and American burlesque.
 Daisy and Violet Hilton - Conjoined twins who toured in
vaudeville and American burlesque circuits in the 1920’s and
1930’s.
Click Picture for Video
Harry Houdini -
Houdini earned his name as a
magician by performing death
defying magic tricks by escaping
such perils as being locked in a box
underwater and being buried alive.
The picture depicts his death defying
trick where he was locked into a milk
jug filled with water and escaped!
 Golden Age Musical - 1943-
1960
0This period gave way to
musicals that incorporated
strong storylines into their
performance.
0The songs were specifically
written to fit in with a story.
0They brought in famous
actors to take the lead roles.
*We will watch and discuss this once Sherwood is
back

The King and I

Written by: Rodgers and Hammerstein

Year: 1951

Synopsis: Widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens

becomes and governess and english tutor to the wives
and children of the stubborn King Mongkut of Siam.
Although her and the kings personalities clash, she
works hard to prepare a party for a group of European
diplomats who must change their opinion about the
king.

Fun Fact: In Thailand (previously Siam) the “King and

I” film is banned due to the perceived disrespect to the
monarchy. The “King of Siam” as portrayed in the
movie is very rigid and stuck in his ways. However, the
real king of Siam was a very progressive king who led
the way for modernization, improved relations with the
West and instituted many cultural and social reforms in
Thailand.
My Fair Lady
Written by: George Bernard Shaw and Frederick
Loewe

Year: 1956

Short Synopsis: Noted phonetician Professor

Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can pass off
Eliza, a cockney flower girl, as a proper lady
with speech tutoring. What he didn’t bet on is
that he would fall in love with her.

Fun Fact: The role of Eliza was originally played

by Julie Andrews, but when they decided to take
the show to the Silver Screen, they asked the
better known Audrey Hepburn to play the role.
Click Picture for Video
 Oliver!
Written by: Lionel Bart

Year: 1968

Synopsis: Oliver, an orphaned boy falls in with group of

pickpockets lead by the artful Dodger and masterminded
by the criminal Fagin. When Oliver is offered a home,
Fagins henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy to
keep him from talking about the thievery.

Fun Fact:
Ten-year-old Mark Lester – who played the title role as
the orphan Oliver – didn’t sing any of his songs in the
film. Branded ‘tone-deaf and arrhythmic’ by the musical
arranger Johnny Green, Lester’s songs were instead
dubbed by the arranger’s daughter, Kathe Green.
Fun Fact:
Click Picture for Video
 Sound of
Music
Written by: Rodgers and Hammerstein

Debut 1959

Synopsis: Based on the real life story of the

Von Trapp Family singers. Maria, the
tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey who
becomes a governess in the home of a
widowed naval captain with seven children,
and brings a new love of life and music into
the home.

Fun Fact:
A major plot hole in the story… If the Von
Trapps had hiked over the mountains, as the
story depicts,they would have ended up in
Germany, near Adolf Hitler’s mountain retreat.
Clearly, that was not the destination they
intended.
Click Picture for Video
*We will watch and discuss this once Sherwood is back

West Side Story

Written by: Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.

Year: 1957

Synopsis: A modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, true

love is found despite hatred between the Jets and the
Sharks, two rival gangs in New York City.

Fun Fact: Originally, the story was going to be about a

Catholic boy and a Jewish girl. It was decided that the
whole Jewish-Catholic premise was not very fresh.
Instead they decided to focus on two teenage gangs.
Fiddler on the
Roof
Written by: Joseph Stein

Broadway Debut:: 1964

Synopsis: A poor Jewish milkman, determined to

find good husbands for his five daughters,
consults the traditional matchmaker - and also
has a word with God.

Fun Fact: Out of 50 original songs written and

scored, only 15 made the final cut!
Click Picture for Video
Contemporary Musicals 1970’s
to Present
 Musicals in the1970’s
Rock musicals like Jesus
Christ Superstar, Godspell
and The Rocky Horror
Picture Show flourished.

Stories were based on

concept albums where songs
fit together better as a whole
rather than by themselves.
*We will watch and discuss this once Sherwood is back

1970’s
-Diversity!
Shows like Raisins,
Dreamgirls, Purlie and The
Wiz brought a significant
African-American
influence to Broadway.
 Musicals in the 1980’s
The 1980’s saw the influence of
the MEGAMUSICAL which
typically featured a pop-
influenced score, large casts,
spectacular sets and special
effects like a falling chandelier
in Phantom of the Opera.

Big budgets were important!

 Click Picture for Video

Chandelier Drop
 Musicals in the 1990’s
While tickets on Broadway
skyrocketed, Off- Broadway
productions began to bring in more
frugal theatre goers. Shows like
Rent and Little Shop of Horrors
were marketed to increase the
popularity of musicals among a
younger audience with cheaper
tickets.
Click Picture for Video
 1990’s - Rise of Disney
Musicals
The 1990’s also saw the influence of
large corporations on the production
of musicals. The most important has
been Disney Theatrical Productions
which began adapting musicals for
the stage starting with Beauty and
the Beast, Lion King and Aida. The
Lion King is the Highest grossing
musical in Broadway History.
 Musicals 2000 - 2010
In the new century,
familiarity has been
embraced by producers and
investors anxious to recoup
their considerable
investments. Some took
chances on new creative
material such as Urinetown,
Avenue Q, American Idiot,
and In the Heights.
 2000-2010
Other producers took the
“safe” route with revivals of
familiar fare like Fiddler on
the Roof, A Chorus Line,
West Side Story. Some have
taken adaptations of
Literature like Fun Home,
Wicked, and The Scarlet
Pimpernel and backed the
musical version.
Click Picture for Video
 Jukebox Musicals
Another trend has been to
create a minimal plot to fit a
collection of songs that have
already been a success. This
genre includes musicals like
Mamma Mia (Abba), We
Will Rock You (Queen) and
Jagged Little Pill (Alanis
Morissette).
 Film and TV Musicals
Live action film musicals were
nearly dead in the 1890s, but
in 2001, there began to be a
revival of the film musical
with Moulin Rouge, followed
by Chicago, Phantom of the
Opera, Rent, and so many
more, causing a landslide of
successful film-adapted
musicals.
Click Picture for Video
MUSICALS
ADAPTED TO FILM
Click Picture for Video
 LIVE Musicals on TV
In 2013, NBC began a
series of live television
broadcasts of musicals
starting with The Sound of
Music. They then followed
with Peter Pan Life!,
Rocky Horror Picture
Show: Live, and Grease:
Live
Video
Click Picture for Video
 Bonus Musical Influence
Musical influence has found
its way into several other
genres of entertainment like
TV shows and Cartoons.
Legally Blonde Newsies
In the Heights Hairspray
Wicked Avenue Q
Next To Normal Spring Awakening
NEW POPULAR MUSICALS