Musical Theater Exam 1

I Want Song

express a character's innermost desires and goals; often sets the scene for the actions a character takes through the rest of the show

Almost There

The Princess and the Frog; Composer and Lyricist Randy Newman, Sung by Anika Noni Rose

Opera

tragic, anything pre-1850, European, music is primary, sung throughout, huge orchestras, set

Operetta

some spoken dialogue, local vernacular, comic, less complex, mid-19 century onwards, European

Musical

story is primary, built around vernacular, until about 1980 distinctly US, more dialogue, happy endings

Musical Scene

segment of a show or film with nearly continuous singing, usually with multiple melodies and/or styles, that advances the plot and reveals much about the characters
ex: "One Day More" from Les Miserables, "96,000" from In the Heights, "Sunday in the Park with George" from Sunday in the Park with George, "Another Day" from Rent, "Dancing Through Life" from Wicked

Comedy Songs

short jokes or longer humorous pieces, but these songs are primarily designed to make the audience laugh; lyrics dominate the music (in contrast to ballads)
ex: "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, "I Cain't Say No" from Oklahoma!, "Springtime for Hitler" from The Producers, "Today 4 U" from Rent

Ballads

usually slower number with a memorable melody associated with love, or another emotion; Reflective numbers in which characters emotions, music dominates lyrics
ex: "Ol' Man River" from Showboat, any song from Six, "Will I" from Rent, "People Will Say We're In Love" from Oklahoma!

Charm Song

delicate, optimistic, rhythmic music with light (though not necessary comedic) lyrics to reveal much about characters and move the plot forward
ex: "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" from Frozen, "Light My Candle" from Rent, "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast, "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from Oklahoma!, "I Feel Pretty" from West Side Story

Rhythm Song

carried by a beat, associated with tap dancing
ex: "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" from South Pacific

Eleven-o-clock number

a number that heightens the energy level or dramatic interest of the second act
ex: "I Believe" from The Book of Mormon, "What You Own" from Rent

Revival Songs

bear some resemblance to gospel music, but usually appear for humorous or ironic effect
ex: "Brotherhood of Man" from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" from Guys and Dolls

Musical Ingredients

text, music, gesture

text

words spoken or read

music

melody, orchestration, etc.

gesture

bodily movement

context and art

"context largely determines what is written, painted, sculpted, sung or performed" (Byrne); relates to how context such as venue features, available technology, cultural standards, etc. shapes the creative process and generation of art so as to best express our artistic visions (similar environments and audiences beget similar art for those environments and audiences)

4 most important types of songs

musical scene, comedy songs, ballads, and charm songs

eras of Broadway history

~1828-1940s(?): Minstrelsy
1893-1926(?): Follies and Vaudeville
1927-1943: Puttin' on the Ritz
1943-1964: Book Musicals
1965-1979: Concept Musicals
1980-2000: Megamusicals
2001-2023: Jukebox and Adaptation

minstrelsy

conflated with blackface minstrelsy, a form of entertainment from the 19th century that included a variety of elements, including jokes, dances, topical skits, sentimental comic songs, and minicry of prominent persons, usually based on racial stereotypes. (mostly for raucious white men)

- 1st US musical theatre style
- most popular form of stage entertainement for more than 60 years
- roots of many modern song genres (Black, White, and everything in between)
- has touched all forms of popular entertainment created in the US since 1800s
- most influential and long-lived musical-theatrical development in the antebellum period
- provided opportunities for Black artists to have careers on stage
- preoccupations with misogyny and (theatrical) miscegenation

minstrelsy format

had a standard format:
- 2 act structure
- opened with chorus, then jokes interspersed with ballads and comic songs (1st act)
- 2nd act was the olio - series of individual acts
- 3rd act was farce or burlesque
- everything hosted by the interlocutor, Mr. Tambo, and Mr. Bones

T.D. Rice

AKA Thomas "Daddy" Dartmouth Rice (1808-1860), he was central to the rise and spread of blackface entertainment, originated the role of Jim Crow (1828) (Jump Jim Crow),
- some pro-Black sentiments originally that were erased and reversed in later minstrel shows
- rose to commercial prominence in 1830s
- used blackface, AAVE, and gestures and dances from Black enslaved people

Bert Williams

(1874-1922) the most highly paid Black performer in the early 20th century, he was a star of the Ziegfeld Follies, silent cinema, and In Dahomey (first all-Black Broadway musical), and was the first Black man to star in a film (1914's Darktown Jubilee)
- most well-known for "Nobody"
- performed in burnt cork blackface for majority of his career
- popularized the cakewalk dance
- partnered with George Walker (another Black man)

Tin Pan Alley

from 1890s onward, the area of New York City popular for musicians and piano testers --\> sold sheet music through musicals, revues, and vaudeville on Broadway
- music often included ethnic and racial stereotypes; minstrelsy shaped the ways that other minorities appeared in the popular music at the time (created audience expectations)
- ethnic songs focused on recent immigrant ethnic groups and referred back to minstrelsy as a form of masquerade
- verse-chorus structured songs (verse narrates a story or establishes a dramatic situation, while chorus is a punctuating refrain or represents the song promised by the dramatic setup)
- the point of these songs was the commercial popular appeal
- 32-bar form was standard (formulaic, but could convey natural feeling nonetheless) --\> array of conventions, which when broken can be innovative and impactful
- vast majority of songs in 20s and 30s were love songs (exploring sexuality and identity)

Vaudeville

an evening's entertainment consisting of varied acts without a narrative plot, scenario, book, or connecting theme with a heavy emphasis on music and/or spectacle. something for everyone
examples: Carmencita (captured on Kinetograph in 1894)

Florenz Ziegfeld

a 1st generation American, he was a producer impresario who produced Show Boat (1927) and Ziegfeld Follies

Ziegfeld Follies

from 1907-1931, revues that had song, dance, and comedy; standards of spectacle and show business still present on Broadway today (crazy amazing sets and "beautiful" girls)

George M. Cohan

(1878-1942) a 1st generation Irish-American born to vaudeville performers, he was the prototypical "song-and-dance" man (starred in/wrote 40 shows over 30 years)
composed "Give My Regards to Broadway", "The Yankee Doodle Boy", and "Over There"
known for patriotism, and considered the father of American musical comedy

Irving Berlin

(1888-1989) a Russian immigrant, he was a composer and lyricist who wrote ~1500 songs (including scores of 20 Bway shows and 15 films)
biggest hits:
- "God Bless America"
- "White Christmas"
- "There's No Business Like Show Business"
- "Alexander's Ragtime Band"

Alexander's Ragtime Band

- from 1911, a famous Tin Pan Alley song influenced by ragtime; composed and lyricized by Irving Berlin

Show Boat

premiered in 1927, this musical had, to some extent, an integrated score and book; serious, complex, and political content; some racial integration (though relies on racial stereotypes and caricature); merger of operatic and vaudevillian traditions; although one of first notable integrated score and book musicals, didn't spark a fire until much later (Oklahoma!); first classic "book" musical - marks the beginning of the American musical's maturity as a genre; blending of European operetta and American popular song styles
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II

book musical

a performance in which a unified story is told through the integration of song, movement, and spoken word. In book musicals, the story is paramount, and everything else is designed to serve that story

Can't Help Loving

- from Show Boat (1927)
- composed by Jerome Kern
- lyricized by Oscar Hammerstein II

The Jazz Singer

(1927) the first talkie (AKA first film with synchronized sound)
-about a Jewish man who wants to perform on Bway
- use of blackface

Steamboat Willie

(1928) first animated film to use synchronized sound
- limited dialogue, but opened up a lot of possibilities for effects
- introduced world to Mickey Mouse

Cole Porter

(1891-1964) composer and lyricist who was a hugely important Tin Pan Alley writer; wrote candidly about love and sex; in 1948, wrote Kiss Me Kate (Tony winner)
wrote:
- "Night and Day"
- "I Get a Kick Out of You"
- "It's De-Lovely"
- "I've Got You Under My Skin"
- "Anything Goes"
- "Let's Do It"

The Gershwin Bros

George (composer) (1898-1937) and Ira (lyricist) (1896-1983); collaborated (with DuBose Hayward) on Porgy and Bess (1935), Of Thee I Sing (1931) (won Pulitzer), and An American in Paris (1928)
wrote:
- "I Got Rhythm"
- "Someone to Watch Over Me"
- "'S Wonderful"
- "Swanee"
- "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off"
- "Summertime"

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

(1937) first full-length animated movie of any kind
- launched Disney Studios as a serious, feature-driven endeavor
- fun, catchy scores that continued to define Disney musicals ("Whistle While You Work" and "Heigh-Ho"
- movies portraying fantasy/fairy tales was a new concept and without box office confidence

The Shubert Bros.

Sam, JJ, and Lee founded the Shubert Organization; in the 1920s, they owned, operated, booked, or managed close to 1000 theatres
now runs 21 of 41 theatres on Bway (during Great Depression went bankrupt, rebid for their theatres, and leased for free to keep Bway alive)

Oklahoma!

(1943) beginning of Rodgers and Hammerstein's partnership first well-integrated book musical (adapted from play Green Grow the Lilacs); signaled the beginning of story being the essential element of a musical; dance as a storytelling tool (Agnes DeMille and the dream ballet)

Rodgers and Hammerstein II

Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) as composer and Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) as lyricist and book writer
pioneered the book musical and dominated the Bway box office in 40s and 50s
shows:
- Oklahoma!
- Carousel
- Allegro
- South Pacific
- The King and I
- Cinderella
- Flower Drum Song
- Sound of Music

produced of their own film adaptations and of others (Annie Get Your Gun)

production number

informal term for an expanded, spectacular, special song, usually performed by the whole cast with a tangential relationship to the overall narrative. can be a finale
examples:
- "Oklahoma!" from Oklahoma!, composed by Rodgers and lyricized by Hammerstein II
- "Seasons of Love" from Rent

"Oklahoma!"

- finale production number song from Oklahoma!
- composed by Richard Rodgers and lyricized by Oscar Hammerstein II

orchestrations

in musicals, these are the arrangements and expansions a score undergoes in order to be played by a particular orchestra or band

The Sound of Music (film, 1965)

adapted from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, this movie was the highest grossing film of all time, surpassing Gone with the Wind
won 5 Oscars (best picture and director) and success kept 20th Century Fox in business (despite mixed reviews)

West Side Story

(1957) incredibly profound combo of dance, score, lyrics, and book; subject matter shifted considerably more darkly (gang violence); symphonic (nearly operatic score --\> Leonard Bernstein slay); united Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim for the first time; cultural barometer around depictions of ethnicity

Concept Musicals

a presentational rather than a strictly narrative work that employs out-of-story elements to comment on the action. unified by theme or idea, rather than story, place, or time
examples: Company (1970)

Hair

(1967) first musical with a score of all-rock music on Bway and began a pattern of Bway producing shows originating at non-profit theaters (writer had never seen a Bway show before)
- about hippie counterculture more than Vietnam
- cast intermingled with audience
- ran for 4 years, but an aberration from the trends
- developed at a non-profit (The Public Theater)

Stephen Sondheim

(1930-2021) most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century; won Pulitzer for Sunday in the Park with George; wrote lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy; wrote music and lyrics for Passion, Assassins, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, etc.; mentor to Jonathan Larson, Jason Robert Brown, and LMM

Company

(1970) first Prince-Sondheim collaboration --\> helped establish Sondheim as a composer
- first concept musical (dating, marriage, and divorce in NYC)
- nom for 14 Tonys (record)
- songs don't emerge from scenes, but provide commentary on characters or situations

megamusicals

epic in scope and staging, often featuring sung-through scores that draw on operatic and pop influences, and enormously popular with audiences. Usually associated with the British Invasion, though other shows fall into this category as well

Baumol's Cost Disease

The rise of salaries in jobs that have experienced no or low increase of labor productivity, in response to rising salaries in other jobs that have experienced higher labor productivity growth.

Cats

(1981) signals the start of the British Invasion on Bway (should not have been successful but ran for 18 years); succeeded because it snaps and appeals to a multigenerational audience --\> heralded emphasis on spectacle and music as key drivers of commercial success

Cameron Mackintosh

producer of most British Invasion shows (Les Mis, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Miss Saigon); changed approach to musical marketing, focusing simplicity, intrigue, and word-of-mouth; owns company that owns the most secondary rights to musicals

musical franchising

in which producers demand that any other production hew as closely as possible to the original; strongly associated with megamusicals and leads to international exposure

Andrew Lloyd Webber

(1948-) (rock) composer of 21 musicals:
- Cats
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Evita
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat
- School of Rock
one of 17 EGOT winners

The Lion King

(1997) most profitable Bway musical ever (worldwide gross of over $10B); over 25 years on Bway to this day; solidified Disney's commitment to stage musicals (musical franchise and synergy)

Rent

(1996) rock opera about the AIDS epidemic; won a Pulitzer; emphasized a broad spectrum of race, gender, and sexuality categories; sounds like a celebration, but is about loss and resilience; galvanized a generation of young people around musicals (including LMM)

Jukebox Musicals

musicals that string together preexisting songs by a popular artist (or artists) with the aid of a unifying (and often frivolous plot

Mamma Mia

(2001) most successful early jukebox musical based on the pop music of ABBA; celebrated for feminist overtones; spawned a series of international productions, tours, and 2 movies

bio-musicals

musicals that use the life of a particular person as the central narrative. These may be jukebox musicals (MJ the Musical) or may contain original material (Funny Girl)

Chicago

(2002) widely regarded as responsible for the resurgence of Hollywood screen musicals in the 21st century; celebrated for its meta-theatricality in calling away from the "real world" into the "theatrical world"; music scenes utilized some of the aesthetic of MTV music videos from 80s and 90s

When You're Good to Mama

- from Chicago (2002)
- composed by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb

Elephant Love Medley

from Moulin Rouge! The Musical (2019)
- mashup of more than 20 pop songs about love

Lin-Manuel Miranda

(1980-) wrote In the Heights, Hamilton, Encanto, and parts of Moana; directed Tick, Tick, Boom; starred in Mary Poppins Returns, Hamilton, In the Heights, and His Dark Materials; has done more than anyone to bring hip-hop, R&B, and salsa to contemporary musicals

Hamilton

(2015) 16 Tony noms (record; casting diversity (historical significance); immigrant narrative; highest debuting album since 1963; hip-hop and R&B score still highly unusual for Bway; won Pulitzer prize

We Don't Talk About Bruno

- from Encanto (2021)
- composed and lyricized by LMM

African American musical theater

musical theatre productions that are written, directed, or performed by African Americans
- Dreamgirls, In Dahomey, The Wiz, The Color Purple, Once on This Island, Shuffle Along, Raisin in the Sun

origins of African American performance

on slave plantations, African American slaves took inspiration from African cultural traditions, religious and secular, and used song and dance to persevere through the cruelties of their everyday lives --\> this music is the roots of basically every modern popular music genre

African Grove Theatre

led by William Alexander Brown (1790-1884), the first all-Black theatre company in America; opened in 1821 as a tea garden and performance venue in Brown's backyward with a production of Richard III; company performed unde the name African Theatre and produced plays, ballet, and opera; closed in 1824 and burnt down in 1826

Will Marion Cook and Robert Allen "Bob" Cole

amongst the first Black musical comedy writers to move away from minstrel stereotypes; Cook was a composer (classically trained); Cole was a lyricist and composer (worked with JR and James Weldon Johnson)

A Trip to Coontown

(1898) composed and written by Bob Cole and lyricized and written by John Rosamond Johnson; first Black musical performed, directed, and produced by African Americans

In Dahomey

(1903) composed by Will Marion Cook, lyricized by Paul Laurence Dunbar, written by Jesse A. Shipp; first full-length all-Black musical written and performed on Bway; starred duo George Walker and Bert Williams

Shuffle Along

(1921) composed by Eubie Blake, lyricized by Noble Sissle, and written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles; first major musical written and performed by an all-Black team on Bway in a decade (504 performances); starred Florence Mills, Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, and Adelaide Hall; legitimized the African American musical, proving commercially viable to all audiences; served as model for critics to judge Black musicals for a while

I'm Just Wild About Harry

- from Shuffle Along (1921), composed by Eubie Blake, lyrics by Noble Sissle

1920s post Shuffle Along

age of all-Black revues that imitated the style of Shuffle Along; Dixie to Broadway (1924) was the first in this succession; era marked a shift of Black musicals being controlled by white producers and writers

Porgy and Bess

(1935) composed by George Gershwin, lyrics by Dubose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, book by Dubose Heyward; features cast of classically trained African American singers (though story is still harmful)

The Chitlin' Circuit

AKA the urban theatre circuit, a collection of performance venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the US that provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African American musicians, comedians, and other entertainers during the era of racial segregation in the US through the 60s
- Tyler Perry participated in this

Purlie

(1970) set in an era when Jim Crow laws were still in effect in the American South --\> empowering story for Black community; composed by Gary Geld, lyrics by Peter Udell, and book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell

The Wiz

(1975) almost closed after Bway opening night due to mixed reviews, but later grew to win 7 Tonys; adapted into musical film starring Diana Ross and MJ in 1978; TV commercials integral to commercial success of show; with Raisin and Purlie, laid the foundation for all-Black cast musicals to return to Bway

Dreamgirls

(1981) composed by Henry Krieger, lyrics and book by Tom Eyen, and directed by Michael Bennett; ran for 1521 performances; starred Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Loretta Devine; won 2 Grammys and 6 Tonys

And I Am Telling You

- from Dreamgirls (1981)
- composed by Henry Krieger
- lyrics by Tom Eyen

Once on this Island

(1990) composed by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics and book by Lynn Ahrens; starred LaChanze, Jerry Dixon, and Andrea Frierson; nom for 8 Tonys; features themes of colorism, mysticism/Caribbean spiritual practice

essence of musical theater on stage

immediate, transient, embodied, unpredictable

MERM (Musically Enhanced Reality Mode)

enhancements to the visual and/or aural experience of musical numbers in a film and shifts in psychology that typically accompany them. Departures from cinematic realism.

Diegetic sound

any sound in a film that the characters hear and respond to (like dialogue between characters). Non-diegetic sound is the opposite (like voiceover narration that characters cannot hear)

Non-diegetic sound

the opposite of diegetic (like voiceover narration that characters cannot hear)

Tradition

- from The Fiddler on the Roof (1964)
- composed by Jerry Beck
- lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

immediate

musical theatre on stage is in-person, without any levels of mediation when performed and experienced live

transient

musical theatre on stage is composed of fleeting moments, which once passed, cannot be reexperienced (if performance recorded, levels of mediation added)

embodied

musical theatre on stage uses the body as featured, highly expressive form as opposed to in filmed productions and soundtracks

unpredictable

musical theatre on stage is ever-changing, as moments of improv and the risk of mistake make every performance a little bit different from each other

Sondheim's view on lyrics

lyrics in musicals should always help clarify the show
3 principles for writing lyrics:
- content dictates form
- less is more
- God is in the details
... all in the service of clarity
good musical theatre lyrics are meant to be sung in particular musicals by individual characters in specific situations (not just to be read or sing by themselves)
plainer and flatter (understated) lyrics soar more poetically than poetic and artsy lyrics when infused with music
poetry is an art of concision, lyrics of expansion (lyrics liberated by and rely on music to give them their full meaning)
lyrics are incomplete without music

verse-course form

according to Paul Laird, the most popular song form used in musicals
a verse followed by a chorus or refrain; a verse is often rendered in speech rhythms, often over a simple, chordal accompaniment (like an operative recitative)

metamusical

self-referential show that makes fun of its betters by imitating their cliches while drawing attention to what it's doing
examples: Avenue Q, Urinetown, Starkid productions

Sondheim's view on rhyme

the primary difference between lyrics and dialogue is the conscious use of rhyme
the craft of lyrics are supposed to serve feelings --\> lyrics should have something to say and a way of saying it as clearly and as forcefully as possible
perfect rhyme can make a mediocre line brilliant, while a near rhyme dampens its impact
without form, the idea, intention, and effect of a lyric is weak --\> the form of a song reinforces the power of the song to convey meaning
rhyming draws attention to the most important parts of songs (identities--a word + the same word with a prefix--and false rhymes are death on wit)

musical soliloquy

when a character lays bare inner feelings (important to both opera and the musical)

ragtime

first popular musical style to emanate from African Americans and become a national craze; deliberate duple meter with syncopated melodies
- "Alexander's Ragtime Band" by Irving Berlin

blues

often appears as the 12-bar progression
example:
- "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from Show Boat

counterpoint/combination song

explored by Irving Berlin) a song in which two different melodies can be combined, meaning they are based upon the same harmonic scheme and don't clash when sounding together (usually sung separately and combined in third verse)
examples: "What Is This Feeling?" from Wicked