Hello, my name is Susan and I am a Musical Theatre Addict.
Whew. Now that’s off my chest, here are some terms to know. Some will be long if I’m not planning on talking about them on Tuesday, but still think they’re important. More terms may appear!
Burlesque – To make fun of something. Burlesque is actually the basis for the modern musical comedy, though the genre quickly devolved into bawdy strip shows.
Minstrelsy – White performers in blackface “burlesque-ing” plantation life. Usually showed slaves happy with “massah” or freed slaves bemoaning their choice of freedom. Needless to say, these weren’t popular with the abolitionists. Popular songs that came out of this tradition include “Turkey in the straw” and of course “Dixie” which was originally intended to mock plantation life. Its composer, Dan Emmett was a devote abolitionist and was appalled when his song became the Battle hymn of the Confederacy. The “Jim Crow” laws (a name coined by a white blackface performer) were instituted to among other things, ban blacks from appearing on stage. This didn’t stop many black performers from joining supposedly all-white Minstrelsy troupes. The tradition died out by 1910, though it was revived in movie musicals a decade or so later thanks to “The Jazz Singer.”
Vaudeville – French slang for “Songs of the town” this term describes family-friendly variety entertainment that became popular in the 1880s and lasted well into the 1930s.
Tin Pan Alley – New York City’s famous song writing corridor in what is now the Flatiron district. The popular origin of the name is as a derogatory term for all the pianos playing in different keys, making sounds comparable to banging on tin pans. Probably not true, but it’s a good story nonetheless.
Revival – A re-staging of a show that has previously been performed which remains at least somewhat faithful to the original. (Nothing to do with a tent)
Revue – A collection of usually unrelated or loosely related songs designed to showcase a particular singer, dancer or theatrical effect.
Chorine – fancy name for a chorus girl
Ziegfeld Follies (Florenz Ziegfeld) – Ziegfeld first came to Broadway in 1896 and produced shows featuring his supposedly French common-law wife Anna Held (She was actually a Jewish girl from Warsaw but had made a name for herself on the Paris Stage). Supposedly, it was Anna who suggested the idea of a revue based on the famous Folies Bergère (A popular Parisian revue) featuring songs, dancing and “appealingly underdressed” female dancers. Unlike the bawdy girls of Burlesque, the Ziegfeld chorines wore revealing, but tasteful costumes and behaved like proper ladies (at least on stage).Though Follies was not the first Broadway Revue it certainly became the most famous. The name Ziegfeld Follies wasn’t adopted until 1911, and different productions claimed different titles, such as the S.S. Vaudeville. Most of the chorus girls didn’t dance a step or sing a note, but they were pretty to look at and often modeled the latest haute couture which kept the audience (both male and female) coming back for more. The real stars of the Ziegfeld Follies were the comedians who often got the top billing (after the Ziegfeld girls of course). Most famously, Ziegfeld hired a black comedian, Bert Williams to headline. When several white cast members threatened to walk out, Ziegfeld pointed to the door, calmly explaining that he could do the show without them, but not without Williams.
The Ziegfeld name has become synonymous with Broadway glamour and elegance.
Broadway Baby – a term for a wide-eyed young thing who comes to New York to maker her/his fortune as a musical star.
Book Musical – Term for a musical that relies on plot and character development, to varying degrees. (Wicked, anything by Rodgers and Hammerstein II, and most of what debuted in the 1950s)
Concept Musical – A musical that revolves around a particular idea, often without spoken dialogue or clear plot (i.e. Swing! and Movin’ Out). An exception to this is Avenue Q a musical performed with puppets and live performers, in the vein of Sesame Street, as well as many others.
Mega-Musical - A musical that relies on massive stage effects and bombastic music, often at the expense of plot or artistic value (anything Andrew Lloyd Webber). The good guys are always tenors and the girls are always vapid while the bad guys are easily avoided. Due to impressive marketing campaigns, these musical are often more memorable than their more artistically satisfying counterparts.
Rock Opera/Musical - A sub-genre of the Mega-Musical, this kind of show has a plot but relies on the trappings of a rock concert (flashing lights, booming sound, visible microphones) for its set and sound. (Spring Awakening, Jesus Christ Superstar)
Disney-fication - My own term (possibly) for the invasion of Broadway by Disney Mega-musicals that with few exceptions are visual spectacles with nothing else to recommend them. Yes, I saw The Lion King and I was not impressed.
Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway and Off-Off-Off Broadway - Any show that premiers at one of New York’s many theatres not included in the Broadway district. (The Fantasticks! is the most famous)
Famous Broadway Performers (people you might want to know)
- Ethel Merman: Every Broadway Baby’s idol, Merman was a New York-born secretary who started in show business as a teenager (her precise age is unknown) and never left until her death in 1984. She starred in shows by Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin and her crowning theatrical achievement was Mama Rose in Jules Styne’s Gypsy. Though she didn’t get the lead in the 1962 film, she toured with the show during the premier of the film, thus upstaging Rosalind Russell who did get the part. She never did make the transition to Hollywood stardom, mostly due to her bombastic personality as well as her voice. She did however make an excellent career by doing cameo appearances as she got older. If you’ve seen Airplane! You’ve seen Ethel Merman.
- Al Jolson: Another Jewish-Russian Immigrant who became “The World’s Greatest Entertainer” or so he said. His parents wanted him and his brother to become Orthodox Jewish Cantors, but the call of popular music was too strong. Jolson’s delivery was unmatched and his talents as an all around performer are unrivaled. His most famous performance was in the first Hollywood musical, “The Jazz Singer” in which he appeared in blackface singing his hit songs like “Swannee” and “Darlin’ Little Mammy” and he remained THE Broadway star through most of the 1920s.
Sources:
Kenrick, John. Musical Theatre: A History. Continuum Publishing Group, New York 2008
ML 2054.K46 2008
Horowitz, Joseph. Artists in Exile: How Refugees from 20th Century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts. HarperCollins Publishers, New York 2008ML 2266.3.H67 2008
I am excited that you are going to discuss the American Musical in class. I think that it is a genre that gets overlooked a lot by "serious" musicians. I think that there is the connotation that because the music is popular to the masses that it must not be as significant as other genres. (I however love musicals) I think the most we ever really get into the topic is that Bernstein wrote West Side Story, and then we move on to another symphony or opera, or chamber piece by another composer. I have always liked musicals. I remember them fondly from my child hood and I have seen many since then. I guess that I am only familiar with the "Biggies" such as the Rogers and Hammerstein, and Webber, and the more modern ones. I wonder if you will touch on some of the newer ones in class. I think that Wicked and Spring Awakening are huge successes today and they will probably be around as long as people want to see them. I think that sometimes people think that since something is instantly popular and marketable that there must not be anything musically satisfying about them. I have played a number of books for productions and I have always found the music challenging and gratifying. They're fun. I like that they are visually stimulating with large choruses and choreography and that they have humor as well as heart for the most part. I am not familiar with the beginnings of the genre, but I love Oklahoma, Gypsy, South Pacific, West Side Story, Rent, Avenue Q, Wicked, Spring Awakening, and even the Disney remakes. I can't believe you weren't impressed with the Lion King, but to each our own. I think what I like about them is how I have a certain connection to them when I see one. I usually remember the first time I saw it, and who I was with the first time. I can't wait to hear your presentation. :)
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Kyle. I love musicals, but don't know much about them. But after today, I know lots more. Thanks so much for the timely assistance!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo, I doubt anyone heard it because they were talking as class ended, but Brunner asked what was so innovative about all that.
My response is:
well, other than the somewhat regular assimilation of new resources as happens in almost any genre, the big answer is that the music isn't innovative, the way the music is marketed to and thus received by the audience.
By adapting the way shows are marketed, advertised, etc using whatever financial means and machinery were in place at the time, producers were able to expose people to a whole range of musical, literary, and cultural ideas that they may not have had access to otherwise.
Not a grandiose thought, but an interesting musing nonetheless.
And very american, since it is forever in search of entertainment and the allmighty dollar!
ReplyDeleteNobody else thought to integrate music, words, dance and art (because the costumes and sets for many of these shows are amazing artworks in themselves) in a package that was commercially viable and artistically satisfying. It took American artists and american audiences to demand a different kind of entertainment. Heck, the british stole it from us! I will admit that almost none of the concepts presented today were complete stand-alone innovations, but this is still an art form that captures people's imagination and satisfies our artistic drive (or at least mine) in a way no other art form, even opera despite its claim to intergration, seems to be able to do.
Maybe I'll blog more on specific points of Musical Theatre's innovations, since I didn't get to talk about that in class
Sorry there wasn't time for more music today!