Twentieth Century Theatre: 1945 to 1990
The American Musical

Text...
         Wilson and Goldfarb. Theater: The Lively Art, 6th edition: Chapter 18, pages 382 - 386.

Plays...
         William S. Gilbert and Sir Author Sullivan. The H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado
         Rodgers and Hammerstein. Oklahoma!, South Pacific
         Sigmond Romberg. The Desert Song
         Andrew Lloyd Webber. Phantom of the Opera

1. What do many consider America's only contribution to world theatre?

The book musical.

2. What is the normal running time?

Between 2 1/2 and 3 hours.

3. What is the standard conflict?

Boy meets Girl.
Boy looses Girl.
Boy gets Girl back.

4. Which structural pattern, climactic or episodic, is used to reveal the plot?

Episodic.

5. Why are many musicals adapted from other works?

A book musical is an expensive and difficult undertaking. Most producers like to begin with an established work, one where another writer (playwright or novelist) has created the plot and major characters. Many, perhaps most, musicals began as plays: Oklahoma (1943), Carousel (1945), The King and I (1951). My Fair Lady (1956), Hello, Dolly! (1964), Mame (1966). Some, like South Pacific (1949) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964) are based on books. A few, like The Sound of Music (1949) and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960), are biographical. Little Abner (1956), You're A Good Man Charlie Brown (1967), and Annie (1976) were drawn from the funny pages.

6. What is the book of a musical?

The dialogue between the songs.

7. Who creates the score and lyrics?

The score is written by the composer, the lyrics by the lyricist.

8. What three major forces led to the development of the modern American musical?

The European operetta,
The English comic opera, and
The American musical extravaganza.

9. What is an operetta?

A little opera. Instead of recitative, spoken dialogue is used to advance the plot and develop the characters.

10. When was the operetta popular on the New York stage?

Roughly between the outbreak of World War I (1914) and the Stockmarket crash of 1929.

11. Who are the major American composers of operetta? List the title of one of their major works.

Victor Herbert (1859-1924): Babes in Toyland (1903),
Rudolf Friml (1879-1972): Rose Marie (1924), and
Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951): The Desert Song (1926).

All three composers received their training in Europe.

Victor Herbert worked extensively as a cellist in Germany and Austria. Shortly after his marriage to one of the stars of the Vienna Opera in 1886, he followed his wife to the United States where he became the principal cellist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. According to the Internet Broadway DataBase, his first Broadway show was an 1899 two act musical adaption of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac.

Rudolf Frilm attended the Prague Conservatory where he studied piano with composers Dvorak and Jiranek. In his twenties, he toured Europe and the United States with violinist Jan Kubelik. After his last American tour in 1906, he moved to New York City where he began composing for the stage. In 1912, he replaced the Victor Herbert as the composer for Arthur Hammerstein's The Firefly.

Sigmnud Romberg grew up under the influence of the two most popular operetta composers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Johann Strauss and Franz Lehár. He arrived in New York in 1909 and soon became the pianist and conductor at Andre Bustanoby’s Hungarian café at Broadway and 39th Street. The popularity of the waltzes and turkey trots he composed for this orchestra was the springboard which launches his composing career, first on Tin Pan Alley and later Broadway. In 1914, J. J. Shubert commissioned Romberg to compose the score for his 1914 Winter Garden show: The Whirl of the World

12. What is the strength of an operetta's plot?

The plots are romantic and often very weak. Their primary purpose is to tie the songs together and give the characters a reason to sing.

      Its score?

The scores are lush. Today people remember the music from shows like Rose Marie and The Desert Song, not the story line. When these operettas are professionally revised today, the book is often rewritten (with the approval of the copyright owner) but the music (including orchestrations) is usually left intact.

13. Who were William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan?

The leading 19th century writer and composer of English comic opera.

14. Which wrote the music?

Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900).

      The lyrics?

William S. Gilbert (1836-1911). Note in the team of Gilbert and Sullivan, the wordsmith (playwright) got "top billing."

15. Name three works which are still frequently revived.

Of the fourteen comic operas written between 1871 and 1896, The Mikado (1885), H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), and The Pirates of Penzance (1880) are probably the most often revived. Unlike the operettas of Romberg and Friml, the English comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan place the emphasis on the text, not the music.

16. What is the importance of The Black Crook?

Many consider this "extravaganza" America's (or perhaps the world's) first musical. This production spawned a host of similar spectacles with fantasy themes. Little attention was paid to either plot or characterization, and the songs generally had nothing to do with the story which usually involved a trip to "fairyland." These early musicals were clean and entertaining and became a popular segment of "show biz."

In 1903 former Aberdeen resident L. Frank Baum brought the Chicago production of The Wizard of Oz (Book and lyrics by L. Frank Baum, Music by Paul Tietjens and A. Baldwin Sloane) to Broadway's Majestic Theatre for a 293 performance run.

17. Where was it first presented?

The Black Crook was first staged in New York City.

      When?

1866

18. How did it come about?

William Wheatley, the manager of Niblo's Garden (a 3,200 seat theatre) was staging The Black Crook. a melodrama roughly based on the Faustian legend. A French ballet company was to perform at the elegant Academy of Music (also a theatre). But the theatre burned to the ground leaving the ballet company stranded. Wheatley added the French dancers to his Faustian melodrama producing New York's first musical extravaganza. From Musicals101.com

One dazzling scenic effect followed another, but the show's key draw was its underdressed fairyland chorus, choreographed in semi-classical style by David Costa. Imagine (if you dare) a hundred fleshy ballerinas in skin-colored tights singing "The March of the Amazons" while dancing about in a moonlit grotto. It sounds laughable now, but this display was the most provocative thing on any respectable stage.

The original run of this "mega-hit" was over a year-- 474 performances. A good run for a Broadway show in 1866 was two or three weeks. According to one source, The Black Crook was revived at least once a year for the next thirty years.

This story was the inspiration for Sigmond Romberg's last operetta: The Girl in Pink Tights (1954).

19. What American song-and-dance man was born on the Fourth of July?

George M. Cohan (1878-1942). According to legend, George M. was born into the vaudeville family of Jerry and Nellie Cohan on July 4, 1878. Eleven years later he and his sister Josephine joined the act, which would now be known as The Four Cohan. They made their Broadway debut at B. F. Keith's Union Square Theatre in 1893. George M. soon began writing vaudeville sketches, short one act plays and popular songs for the act. His first published melody. "Why Did Nellie Leave Her Home?" appeared in the winter of '93. He was soon supplying material for other performers. In 1895, at the age of seventeen, he became the manager of The Four Cohans They soon become the highest paid four-act in vaudeville, When audiences demanded extra bows, George responded with a curtain speech that would become his lifelong trademark

"Ladies and gentlemen, my mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you!"

Cohan's first Broadway musical, The Governor's Son (1901) was an expanded version of one the vaudeville sketches he wrote for the family act. It was the comic misadventures of several guests at a country resort-- a woman (played by sister Josie) in search of her runaway husband, two older battling newlyweds (played by his parents Jerry and Nellie), and a vivacious girl (played by his new wife Ethel) competing with a widow for the attentions of the Governor's son (played by George M).

20. When were his five major musicals first staged on Broadway?

Between 1904 and 1914.

21. Who played the lead roles in each of these shows?

George M. Cohan. In addition to playing the lead, he also wrote the book and lyrics, composed the music, and staged his major musicals. As with The Governor's Son many of these early shows were written for The Four Cohans

      What other works did he perform in?

He acted in several non-Cohen productions. He played the father in the original production of O'Neill's only comedy, Ah, Wilderness (1933); as well as creating the role of FDR in the New York production of Rodgers and Hart's I'd Rather Be Right (1937).

22. Why are his musicals no longer presented?

When a show closed during the first decades of this century, the scripts and scores for the production were not saved. The books and orchestrations for Cohen's five major musicals have long since disappeared. The only music we have, are for those songs which were published for the "home singer."

23. What award did he receive from President Roosevelt in 1940?

The Congressional Patriotic Service Medal for composing "You're a Grand Old Flag," and "Over There."

24. What 1942 film is based on his life?

Yankee Doodle Dandy starring James Cagney as Cohan. In 1968, George M!, a musical biography of Cohan starring Joel Grey and Betty Ann Grove opened on Broadway and ran for a little less than a year.

25. What was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama?

George (music) and Ira (lyrics) Gershwin's Of Thee I Sing (1931). The book for this musical satire on the American political system was written by Morrie Ryskind and George S. Kaufman.

26. What other American musicals have won the Pulitzer prize?

South Pacific (1949), Fiorello (1959), How To Succeed In Business With out Really Trying (1961), Chorus Line (1975), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), and Rent (1996).

27. What was Rodgers and Hammerstein's first musical?

Oklahoma (1943) -- the romantic story, based on Lynn Riggs' Green Grow the Lilacs (1931), of Laurey (a farmer's daughter) and Curley (a cowboy) in Oklahoma Territory.

28. Why is it considered a mile stone?

Up until Oklahoma, most musicals opened with a large chorus number. When the curtain went up on R&H's first show, the stage was bare except for a little old lady (Aunt Eller) sitting in a rocking chair on the porch churning butter. The opening notes of the first number, Curley's "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" are sung off stage. It was also the first "musical comedy" to have a death scene on stage and it introduced the concept of a "dream ballet" to an American audience.

29. How long did it run in New York?

5 years, 4 months (2,212 performances). Oklahoma had the longest Broadway run of the nine R&H musicals. The future success of this show was not obvious. During the original production's try out tour, columnist Walter Winchell's secretary, after seeing a performance (then titled Away We Go) in New Haven wired back to her boss "No legs, no girls, no way!" In Boston, Rodgers and Hammerstein added a choral section to the second act ode to the state of Oklahoma. When first performed, the audience gave the cast a standing ovation and demanded three encores. Legend has it that the next day Away We Go became Oklahoma!. The show opened in New York on March 31, 1943. Because of the draft and injuries sustained by several of the dancers, that company only performed on Broadway once, on opening night. According to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Library, approximately 700 production of Oklahoma! are licensed each year. There isn't a night somewhere, when someone isn't singing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning."

30. What was their last show?

The Sound of Music (1959) starring Mary Martin as Maria von Trapp.

31. How many musicals did they write?

Nine.

      How many ran longer than one year?

Five. Oklahoma (1943), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951) and The Sound of Music (1959).

32. What was the first musical to include a ballet sequence?

Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes (1936). It tells the story of a ballet dancer (originally played by Ray Bolger) and his conflict with the mob. There is a ballet set-piece ("Slaughter on 10th Avenue") in the second act which stars the shows main characters.

33. What musical was the first to use the ballet sequence to advance the plot?

Oklahoma. The dream ballet at the end of the first act fore shadows the dramatic conflict between the two lovers: Curly and Laury, and the villain: Jud Fry.

34. What was the first musical to fully integrate dance, music, and dialogue?

West Side Story (1956) by Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics)

      On which Shakespearean play is it based?

Romeo and Juliet. In West Side Story, Jerome Robbins, the director, moved the setting of Shakespeare's play from Verona to the west side slums of New York, up dated it to 1956, and turned the two noble families into two street gangs: the Sharks and the Jets.

35. Who is the "reigning genius" of today's American musical theatre?

Stephen Sondheim (1930- )

36. What was his first major Broadway work?

In 1956 he wrote the lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's music in West Side Story. Sondheim, who received his early training from Oscar Hammerstein II, began his career as a lyricist, not a composer

37. What was the first Broadway musical for which he wrote both the music and lyrics?

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) starring Zero Mostel. The book, by Larry Gelbart (1928- ), adapted the characters and common plot characteristics from Plautus's Roman comedies. Since 1962, twelve musicals from the pen of Stephen Sondheim have played on Broadway.

38. For what show did Sondheim win the Pulitzer Prize?

Sunday in the Park with George (1985). A musical framed in Georges Seurat's (1859-1891) famous neoimpressionistic painting: Sunday On The Island Of La Grande Jatte (1884-86, Chicago Art Institute).

39. Which English composer's musicals have dominated both London's West End as well the Broadway stage?

Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948- ) Ten Webber musicals, including mega-hit Cats have had Broadway productions since 1971.

40. What was his first show to reach New York?

Jesus Christ Superstar (1971). JC Superstar began life in 1970 as a "concept recording" released by London Records. It would reach the New York stage the following year. His first Broadway hit (1567 performances) was Evita which opened at the Broadway Theatre in September 1979.

41. Which of his shows is currently playing on Broadway?

Phantom of the Opera, which won the 1988 Tony for the years Best Musical.