Theatre: Musical Theatre and Song Types

review musical

• Songs

• No plotline connecting the songs

Florenz Ziegfeld

Helped create the modern musical

• Ran one of the most successful vaudeville shows

• Sex sells

• produced what is argued to be one of the first musicals

• Supported integrating Black actors into shows

George and Ira Gershwin

• One of the greatest musical theatre composers that every student of musical theatre and patron knows

• An American composer covered classical and contemporary styles

• Composed Broadway songs with his brother and buddy desylva and was heavily influenced by jazz

Irving Berling

• • One of the most successful writers from Tin Pan Alley

    • He founded the Music Box Theatre on Broadway, which was incredible considering that he could not even read sheet music for most of his life

    • Died at 101

Rodgers and Hart/Hammerstein

• • vocalists used his songs for auditions and performances because of their beauty and lyrical jazz

  • Bron in New York, parents were both involved in the theater, introducing him to the stage early

  • He began playing the piano at six years old and wrote many songs while away at summer camp

  • In 1919, he partnered with Lorenz Hart

Frank Senetra

famous because of the mob

Steven Schwartz

• • Book writer, composer and lyricist

  • Famous American composer, born in NYC

  • has written some of the most influential shows of the 21st century

  • Overtly dark material

    • Overt enough to be able to be shown to children

    • Wants children exposed to these dark problems, without being too direct

Andrew Lloyd Weber

• • Famous British composer

  • Born in Kensington, London

  • wrote with Tim Rice

  • Wrote longest running musical

    • Ran for 37 years

  • He began composing music at age 9 and put on performances with his friends and family

  • Commercially successful writer

  • Very face value shows

    • No in depth plots

  • Won 30 Tony awards

  • Book writer, composer, and lyricist for most of his shows

  • Stopped being able to write in the 90s because his 3 versions of shows were all considered flops

Stephen Sondheim

• • The most successful writer in musical theatre

  • Mentored by Oscar Hammerstein

  • Claim to fame was working with Leonard Bernstein

  • Wrote shows that tackled psychological issues and stories of people we tend to not talk about

  • only wrote one comedy because people said he couldn’t

  • west side story is in his opinion his most perfect piece

johnathon larson

• Only wrote 5 musicals

• Died of AIDS himself before the play opened

Jeanine Tesori

• Headed the first all-female team to win the Tony award

40s and 50s

• Golden age

• Focuses on civilian or soldiers during the war

• Comedies focused on trivial matters

  • Lighthearted shows where everything works out

60s

• Pro-americana

• Problems within our large cities

  • West side story

• Psychedelic and drug based musicals

  • Not very successful

70s

• Anti-war rock musicals

  • Jesus Christ Superstar

  • Hair

  • Rocky horror picture show

80s-95ish

• Pop operas

• Pop musicals

• Mama Mia

• Jersey Boys

• Les Miserogus

• 3 1/2 hours

late 90s-present

• Critique of American society and government

• 2 1/2 hours

ballads

music more important than words, repetitive, legato, focus on love, normally slow, main character doesn’t move around a lot

acting in theatre

exaggeration of real life, emotions are very exaggerated

character songs

meant to make audience laugh, upbeat/fast, answers who am I? and who am I to the world?

dance songs

ballet (few), tap (golden 70s), jazz (80s on); slow or upbeat, elaborates on a character, music matters more than words, fight choreography is always this

11' o’clock numbers

build in intensity, strong vocals, can only come within 20 min of end of show

showstoppers

meant to amaze the audience, ends in an emotional way, strong vocals, emotional/mental change within a character

patter songs

spoken in rhythm not sung, speed and difficult language, can be combined with comedy or character songs, make fun of a serious topic in a lighthearted way

Florenz Ziegfeld

Ziegfeld follies, show boat

George and Ira Gershwin

shows: Progy and Bess, Of Thee I Sing, An American in Paris; songs: Summertime I Got Rhythm, They all Laughed

Irving Berling

songs: White Christmas, Anything you can do I can do Better, Blue Skies, Puttin of the ritz, I’ve got my love to keep me warm; shows: Annie get your gun, Annie get your gun

Rodgers and Hart/Hammerstein

songs: my funny valentine, The lady is a tramp, Wait til you see her; shows: Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The Sound of Music

Andrew Loyd Weber

shows: cats, phantom of the opera, sunset boulevard, bad Cinderella, cats the movie version

Steven Schwartz

shows: Godspell, wicked, children of Eden, prince of Egypt, hunchback of notre dame

Stephen Sundheim

shows; west side story, Sweeny Todd, assassins, company, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, into the woods, Sunday in the park with George

Johnathan Larson

shows: tick tick boom, rent

Jeanine Tesori

fun home, shrek the musical

black crook

argued to be first musical over show boat

composer, lyricist

George Gershwin was the __________ and Ira Gershwin was the _________

dance, oklahoma

Oklahoma generated the first _____ song in theatre, the dance song was ________

phantom of the opera, cats

longest running shows, they were written by Andrew Lloyd Weber

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum

this was the only comedy that Stephen Sondheim wrote

Bert Williams

featured Black actor in Ziegfeld Follies, Ziegfeld sought him out personally