Jerod Packard

12/15/15
Period 3A
Humanities
Wyndham

Musical Theatre: A History

PART I
OVERVIEW
This book is about, you guessed it, the history of musical theatre. This book defines
exactly what a musical is and what the essential parts to a musical are, and then talks about what
musical theatre was like during different time periods, what the most significant works to come
from that era are, and how the expression and composition of the works evolved from era to era.
It also examines how theatre changed in different major cities such as London, Chicago, and
New York. This will help to create an understanding of where certain theatre trends and how the
traveled across the globe. The author states that the book will stick to invariable facts about
musical theatre, since the documentation on some things is lost or left to rumor. If something is
included that cannot be proven without a doubt, it will be classified as rumor or legend to not
tarnish the factual presentation the author is working towards achieving. The author also states
that the book is to give an in depth presentation of how exactly musical theatre evolved. He also
states that it will use popular works to illustrate these evolutions.
INTERVIEW
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What was the first form Musical Theatre took?

Were there any notable actors from the greek era?
Did women have any role in theatre during ancient times?
What types of plays were performed and crafted in ancient times?
What were the differences between greek and roman theatre?
When and where was the opera created?
When and where was the operetta created?
When was Broadway established?
What is the first American musical?

It can be assumed that the first form musical theatre really took came in religious
ceremonies or rituals, where the retelling of religious stories was part of the ceremony. However,
the first documented musical were those that were created in the Greek era of theatre. Because
the chorus sang and danced to enhance the stories that were created by such playwrights as
Sophocles and Aristophanes, these are technically the first documented musicals. While they
may not be what we consider to be a musical, the still fit all of the criteria of what a musical is.
The most notable actor of this time was a man known as Thespis, which is where the word

Thespian was derived. Women also had absolutely no role in theatre during this time. I found
this to be very surprising. I knew that plays were performed by only men during this time, but I
figured that women would have had a backstage role. However, this is not the case. There were
three main types of plays that were created during this time period: Comedies, Tragedies, and
Satyr plays. The Romans borrowed a lot of ideas from the Greeks when it came to the structure
of the theatres themselves and also about the performances and performers. However, they did
modify certain things about the plays. The Romans completely removed the chorus from their
performances to create smaller casts, and they also sometimes had wooden stages that could be
quickly assembled and taken down for traveling performances. The Romans also had a lot of
interaction between the actors and the audiences which were usually very rowdy. The Romans
also wanted their dance steps to be audible, so the actors would wear metal chips called sabilla to
their footwear, and thus the modern day tap shoe prototype was created. Over time, women also
became a part of these shows, with female slaves taking on the roles of the women in the
productions. The opera was created in Italy, with the first recorded Operas premiering in the
1700s. The Operetta was created in France, with the first recorded Operetta premiering in the
1800. New York saw its first musical performance on December 3rd, 1750, when a resident
company performed John Gays The Beggars Opera. This musical was performed in a simple
wooden theatre that was just east of Broadway on Nassau Street. However, Broadway didnt
become the arts center until the early 1800s. Many scholars name The Archers as the first
American born musical, but it unfortunately produced a handful of performances and set of no
trends in the musical theatre world.
EVALUATION
This book is going to be extremely helpful in learning about what I want to know about
the evolution of Musical Theatre. While the book is presented in a very factual manner, it isnt as
dry as I expected it to be. I think this may just be because I am actually interested in what I am
reading for a change. I am not really able to connect this book to any other texts that I have read
at the moment just because this is the first text that I have really read on the history of Musical
Theatre. However, I am able to draw connections from the things that the book has referenced to
plays that I have read in the period that the book is talking about. For example, when I was
reading about the Greek area, and it was explaining the structure and purpose of the Chorus, I
was able to easily understand just what the author was describing because I already had
experience with that era of theatre. It also helped to further my understanding of texts such as
Antigone and Oedipus through the explanations of the purpose of the Chorus. It is very helpful
for researching all of the topics I am trying to research on Musical Theatre except for the
composition of the music itself. It talks a lot about all of the social aspects, as well as the
composers and authors of the plays, the theatres where the plays were performed, but doesnt talk
about the evolution of the music composition. I believe this will be something that I will have to
study the sheet music to actually learn more about. This book was also published in 2010 so it
goes all of the way up to very recent times in Musical Theatre. However, it unfortunately misses
out on some of the big steps that theatre has made in those five years, especially with such
productions as In The Heights and Hamilton which incorporate very rich and intricate harmonies
as well as rap in the scores. This is something that is not prevalent in Musical Theatre
productions. Hamilton especially is the most notable example of this incorporation of rap into the

scores. Besides that little exclusion, it does an amazing job of explaining in detail the history of
Musical Theatre.