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REVIEW FOR MID-TERM EXAM, MUSICAL THEATRE - FALL 2015

The exam will be 60% essay and 40% objective (short answer and identify).

SHORT ANSWER (15 points):

THREE (3) of the following (15 points each) will be on the exam. You will briefly (1-2 exam book
pages max.) identify ONE (1): Describe the origins, basic features (cite a show title, where
possible), give the years when each type flourished, and state the importance/influence in the
history of musical theatre of:
Minstrel Shows- black face bc of romance of the pastoral south
first type of ensemble show
not based on european models
line of guys would open it up with jokes
elements reflected in rest of theatre
1840s-1870s
Three main parts: ensemble, specialty numbers, and skit (satirized spoof)
Glorified slavery until Harriet Beecher Stowe came out with “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” told the truth about slavery, but it was a little melodramatic

Operetta- turn of the century - 1920s

gilbert and Sullivan took romantic opera and made them comic operas and made fun of highbrow
culture
light, comedic, romantic
very european form
we americanized it
operettas don’t really have a range of style
comic musical theatre with European twist
melodrama is the straight play form of this, not a variety
combines songs, spoken dialogue, and dance with sophisticated musical techniques
The American musical embraces a variety of styles, yet it is a distinct type of musical theater,
separate from opera. In contrast to opera, it tends to use simpler harmonies, melodies, and
structures; it has more spoken dialogue, and it's songs have a narrower pitch range.
When the Great War happened, operettas disappeared because Americans didn’t want to see
foreign shows, they wanted patriotic shows.
Was a resurgence of operetta in the 20s with a new generation of songwriters (Friml, Romberg)

Revues- Ziegfeld did this with dancers and showgirls

hodge podge, variety
ensemble was a big deal,
glorified variety show, very big,
first in 1890s, rolling by the 20s but died off after depression
most were annual
had a certain style and very lavish

Burlesque- pure variety form

Sex and comedy
Scantily clad girls
Pushing of boundaries
Near the end, by the 30s, the comedy started to fade
Mixture of comic scenes and girls.

Vaudeville- family entertainment, (you could bring grandma and the kids)
you keep a continuous palette of shows going on throughout the day
They faded when bigger movies came out. It continues in the idea of variety shows
Late 19th century to 30s
Vaudeville had no connection between events like a show (no female ensemble like revues)

IDENTIFY (25 points):

TEN of the following will appear on the exam. You will briefly identify FIVE (5 points each):
Gilbert and Sullivan - Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–
1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The
two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S.
Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known. Gilbert wrote the
words, Sullivan wrote the music.

Irving Berlin - Russian-born Jewish-American composer and lyricist. Widely considered one of
the greatest songwriters in American history, his music forms a great part of the Great American
Songbook. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 37 cents for
the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in
[1]

1911. He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway.

Ethel Merman - was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her voice and roles in
musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage."
years active 1930-1982. Mama Rose in Gypsy. Directors and composers loved to use her because
her booming voice was easy to hear at the back of the house.

Cole Porter - American composer and songwriter. Anything Goes (1934). Unlike many successful
Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics, as well as the music, for his songs. Career really
spanned from the 1920s-40s

Fred Astaire - American dancer, choreographer, singer, musician and actor. Frequently partnered
with Ginger Rogers. Gene Kelly said that "the history of dance on film begins with Astaire."
Years active 1904–1981. Famous movies include Swing Time, Funny Face and Shall We Dance?.

George and Ira Gershwin - Two brothers (George=composer, Ira-lyricist) that composed
broadway music. George= An American in Paris, also made many film scores after moving to
hollywood. Both wrote Porgy and Bess. Ira= “Someone to Watch Over Me”, “I Got Rhythm”,
“The Man I Love”. They were an early part of Tin Pan Alley.

Tin Pan Alley - name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters
who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th
century. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885. Ended around the Great
Depression. Also the location where many composers wrote their stuff.

Rodgers and Hart - American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers and
the lyricist Lorenz Hart. They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs
from 1919 until Hart's death in 1943. Pal Joey (1940). The partnership was at times rocky due to
Hart’s alcoholism.
Marilyn Miller - one of the most popular Broadway musical stars of the 1920s and early 1930s.
She was an accomplished tap dancer, singer and actress, but it was the combination of these
talents that endeared her to audiences. On stage she usually played rags-to-riches Cinderella
characters who lived happily ever after. Performed in Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, at the famed New
Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street, with music by Irving Berlin.

Florenz Ziegfeld - redefined america’s beauty standard, guided theatre world to maturity, born w/
a musical father who graduated from a music school in chicago, combined beauty standards with
showbiz publicity, created the annual Follies revue: “songs, showgirls, scenery”, posted funniest
comics, most beautiful girls, best acts from vaudeville/burlesque/ anything there was going on,
indirectly created the “crossover artist”, “gave his customers 2.5 hours of the American dream”

Jerome Kern - american composer of musical theatre and popular music in early 20th century.
Wrote “Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man”, “Ol Man River”. musical innovations like 4/4 dance rhythm,
jazz progressions and syncopations.Wrote showboat music. The Princess Theatre Musicals=(Kern
composed sixteen Broadway scores between 1915 and 1920)

Kurt Weill - German composer, active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years
in the United States. best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. (The
Threepenny Opera, 1928). Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful
purpose.

George M. Cohan - part of the Four Cohans in Vaudeville performances, “Yankee Doodle
Dandy”, wrote, composed, performed in, and produced more than three dozen musicals, publishes
more than 300 pieces such as “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, “The Yankee Doodle Boy”, “Give My
Regards to Broadway.” As a performer he was all over the place and couldn’t be contained.

Al Jolson - Jewish actor/singer/comedian, Vaudeville jazz style, known for “The Jazz Singer”.
Most popular in the 1930’s. Used blackface even past the decline of Minstrel shows (in the
1870’s).

E.Y. Harburg - popular American lyricist who grew up in an orthodox jewish family. Best known
for writing The Wizard of Oz, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Wrote the lyrics to other standards such as “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”, “April in Paris”,
“Old Devil Moon” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon”.

Victor Herbert - Irish born, german raised composer. He was part of the Tin Pan Alley, composed
many successful operettas, and wrote music for the Ziegfeld Follies. He was most popular in the
1890’s through WWI. Works include Cyrano de Bergerac, The Fortune Teller and Babette.
Wrote most of his operettas between the 1890’s and WWI.

Oscar Hammerstein II - American librettist, producer and director for almost forty years. He was
the lyricist and the playwright in his partnerships (co-wrote 850 songs). Most notably worked
with Richard Rodgers, making the stage classics Oklahoma, The Sound of Music, South Pacific,
The King and I and Carousel. He also worked with Jerome Kern (on Show Boat) and Otto
Harbach (with whom he had a 20-year collaboration). He won 8 Tony Awards - 6 for Best Lyrics,
and 2 as producer (South Pacific and Sound of Music). He also won 2 Academy Awards for Best
Original Song: “The Last Time I Saw Paris” from Lady Be Good and “It Might as Well be
Spring” from State Fair.

Ethel Waters - African American jazz, blues and gospel vocalist and actress. Ethel started out
working the black vaudeville circuit. She had many broadway appearances. Second African
American to be nominated for the Academy Award. Popular from the 1920’s through the 1960’s.
Famous recordings include “Taking a Chance on Love”, “Heat Wave” and “Am I Blue?”.

The Federal Theatre Project - A new deal program to fund theatre and other live artistic
experiences during the Great Depression. It was created not as a cultural activity, but as a relief
measure to employ many artists, directors and theater workers.

“The Crash” - 1929- stock market crashes

 actors flee to Hollywood
 people don’t want/can’t afford make-believe of Bway

Stephen Foster - “The father of American music”. Songwriter knows for pastoral and minstrel
music. Wrote over 200 songs including “Oh! Susanna”, “Camptown Races”, and “Old Black
Joe”.

Sigmund Romberg - originally employed by Shubert bros to write music for musicals and revues,
adapted Euro operas for Amer. audiences
 wrote musicals and operettas later in career - 20s

Bert Williams - Comedian, best selling black recording artist, key figure for African American
entertainment, performed with W.C. fields on Bway,

Agnes de Mille - choreographed Oklahoma!, made dance vocabulary for cowboys. Approached
the dream ballet from a modern dance perspective; allowed dance to become part of the
convention of musical theatre

Shuffle Along - written by Sissel and Blake - black songwriting team of the 1920s
 written in 1921 - a jazzy musical revue with black actors
 wildly successful - inspired over a dozen new black revues on Bway
 black theatre flourishes in 20s, but segregation is still hugely a thing

Fanny Brice - headliner for a lot of Revue shows, a comedian. Worked with Flo Ziegfeld as part
of his Follies - one of the stars that attracted audiences.

The Cradle Will Rock - 1937 musical by Marc Blitzstein. Brechtian allegory of corruption and
corporate greed, "Steeltown, USA", unionize the town's workers and combat wicked, greedy
businessman, almost entirely sung-through. WPA temporarily shut down the project a few days
before it was to open on Broadway, and so to avoid government and union restrictions, the show
was performed with Blitzstein playing piano onstage and the cast members singing their parts
from the audience.

ESSAYS (60 points; 30 points each):

THREE (3) essays will appear on the exam. You will answer TWO (2). These are the types of
subjects and not the essays as they will appear on the exam. Essays should be about 3-4 blue
book pages each.
How did the main social/political currents from the 1840s-1930s (Slavery, immigration, war, the
Depression, the moods/issues/styles/personalities of different eras) impact musical theatre?

There may an essay on different elements in the musical (the star, the ensemble, book, score,
staging, design, etc.) and how these have evolved from the 1840s through the 1930s.
Specific shows:
Oklahoma!: What is the dance doing?

Showboat:

H.M.S. Pinafore:

Pal Joey: By Rogers and Hart. Book by John O’Hara. The title character, Joey Evans, is a
manipulative small-time nightclub performer whose ambitions lead him into an affair with the
wealthy, middle-aged and married Vera Simpson.

Why did operetta suffer a decline during and after WWI? Did it ever make a comeback? Why?

Why were the 1920s called the “Roaring 20s?” How did these qualities both find expression in
musicals and fundamentally change them? How did these shows “mirror” their audience?

Why were the 1930s important? How did these qualities both find expression in musicals and
fundamentally change them? How did these shows “mirror” their audience?

Musical theatre is always borrowing from earlier periods? How? Why? Give examples of this
from the 1870s through the 1930s.

Chart the development of American popular music in musicals from the 1850s through the 1930s
– use at least three songwriters

MT history by decade:

1910s:
Vaudeville
Operetta
Kern, Boulton & Wodehouse took this a step further with the Princess Theatre shows,
putting believable people and situations on the musical stage
Florenz Ziegfeld introduced his Follies, the ultimate stage revue.
*Great War broke out (1914) --
operetta doomed to obscurity – no one interested in romantic escapades,
Patriotic fervor inspired by the war caused change
Ethnic popular songs were replaced by all-American rousers (George Cohan and Irving
Berlin especially)
After war, people welcomed home the victorious sailors with enthusiasm – Ziegfeld
planned for his 1919 Follies to be a victory party extraordinaire
Labor issues dominated American political consciousness; profits rose but wages didn’t.
Actors Equity Association affiliated with Fed of Labor → went on strike in August
1919 and was over 1 month later
(1919 was a year in which country itself had lots of huge change – USA had become the most
powerful nation in world, would enacted prohibition of alcohol, women the right to vote, etc,
Minstrelsy was on its last legs, operetta temporarily gone, vaudeville still poured endless stream
of talent onto Broadway, and revue form that Ziegfeld pioneered was poised to exploit that talent,
exploding stage w/ energy and invention)
1920s:
The Jazz Age – prohibition – had little effect on Broadway, allowed Manhattan nightlife
to flourish – shows began later, and was main event for a night on town
This decade was Broadway’s glory cash cow – more shows produced, w/ more people
coming to see them than ever
Operettes and the musical comedy was the form
Stars such as Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, Marilyn Miller, & the Marx Brothers
Songwriters such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Sissle &
Blake, Oscar Hammerstein
-1921: Shuffle Along – Sissle & Blake, African American musical revue, big hit b/c of
jazzy music styles, which were a modern, edgy contrast to the mainstream song-and-dance styles
that audiences had seen on Broadway for two decades, was a little bit pre-jazz, so it gave a flavor
of the period, show also contributed to the desegregation of theaters in the 1920s, giving many
black actors their first chance to appear on Broadway
-1927: Showboat – Kern & Hammerstein, first big book musical about racial prejudice
and enduring tragic love. Compared to the trivial and unrealistic operettas, light musical
comedies, and "Follies"-type musical revues, Showboat was a radical departure in musical
storytelling, marrying spectacle with seriousness. The stage shared by black and white actors, was
a musical discovering itself. Opened at the Ziegfeld Theater, great popular success, revived
frequently. 1936 film. Learned that cohesive story can combine all kinds of other traditional
styles
-1927: The Jazz Singer – American musical film, first feature length film w/
synchronized dialogue → brought about the “talkies,” and the decline of silent films, movie star
was Al Jolson in blackface,
-1929: Stock Market Crash → actors to Hollywood

1930s:
The Great Depression: shows were an escape
Because of the Great Depression, Hollywood became the thing, and a lot of actors went
there
No more revues, its all book musicals now, couldn’t be just light and fluffy
Gershwin’s started to write genuinely satirical musicals
Doing things they hadn’t really done before
Very fertile time
-1934: Porgy and Bess – opera composed in 1934 by George Gershwin, with a libretto
written by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin from Heyward's novel Porgy and later play of the
same title, featured an entire cast of classically trained African-American singers—a daring
artistic choice at the time, initially unpopular, but eventually becoming one of the best-known and
most frequently performed operas. Was dubbed a “folk opera” – reviewed by theatre critics, but
also by music/opera critics, Broadway audiences avoided b/c thought it was opera, opera
audiences avoided b/c thought it was Broadway
1940s:
Role of dance begins to change, Balanchine brings ballet
Shows get more interesting
Stripping away gauze – it’s ok you can do a song and take a risk
Gaining narrative, not just number to number – scenes are designed to do something
Rogers & Hammerstein: average run of the mill guys, in suits
-1940: Pal Joey – Rodgers & Hart, Gene Kelly debut, ballet, was a backstage musical
(1957: film of Pal Joey – Frank Sinatra at his finest)
-1941: Lady in the Dark – woman’s internal thoughts
 -1943: Oklahoma – Rodg and Hamm needed to revamp their careers, based on “Green
Grow the Lilacs,” how do we get dance and music to tell the story – can’t do the corny stuff
anymore, starts w/ churning butter, regarding opening number: Hammerstein looked at the
opening stage directions and made that into a number, vocabulary now wasn’t JUST ballet, or
JUST Broadway: “Instead of functioning as an interlude or divertissement, the ballet provided
key insights into the heroine's emotional troubles”