Musical Theatre Final Flashcards
Diversionary entertainments
§ Grease, Annie, etc.
§ Integrated musicals
The rise of the Concept Musical
1970s
○ No linear narrative plots ○ Fragmented structure of scenes ○ Unified by theme (or "concept") ○ Strong, complicated characters § Often introspective ○ NOT a revue! § Difference=character ○ Often ironic tone ○ Jones: 1968-1978 Fueled by 70s self absorption
The Concept Musical
○ Culture Wars, civil rights backlash ○ 2nd wave feminism ○ Nixon Scandals ○ Bad recessions ○ Society turned inward Rise of Therapy
1970s in context
Most closely associated w/concept Musical
Hal Prince & Stephen Sondheim
○ Most celebrated composer alive ○ Well to do parents in NYC ○ Age 10: Parents divorced § Father left for another woman ○ Moved to rural PA ○ Became friends with Jimmy Hammerstein! ○ Oscar Hammerstein II= surrogate father Saw Oklahoma! At 13
Stephen Sondheim (1930-?)
○ 1957-West Side Story (lyrics)
○ 1959- Gypsy (lyrics)
1962-A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (music & Lyrics)
Sondheim Early Credits
○ Company (1970)
○ A Little Night Music (1973)
Sweeney Todd (1979)
Sondheim Major Works: 1970s
○ Sunday in the Park with George (1984)
○ Into the Woods (1987)
Assasins (1990)
Sondheim: Major Works: 1980s & 90s
○ Complicates, challenging music
○ Complicated characters
○ Ambitious themes
Mature, ambiguous stories
Sondheim Hallmarks
○ Music & lyrics: Sondheim ○ Book: George Furth ○ Director: Hal Prince ○ 705 Performances ○ Deliberately fragmented ○ Takes place in Robert's head Paradox!
Company (1970)
Elements of both concept & integrated musicals
Hybrid Musical
○ Music: John Kander ○ Lyrics: Fredd Ebb ○ Book Joe Masteroff § Adapted from the berlin stories Christopher Isherwood ○ 1165 performances Director Hal Prince
Cabaret (1966)
○ 1966: Director: Hal Prince ○ 1972: Movie Dir: Bob Fosse ○ 1987: Revivial (eh) ○ 1993: Director: Sam Mendes § London § Actual Nightclub Setting ○ 1998: Restaged for B'way Co Directed by Rob Marshall & Sam Mendes
Cabaret Stage Versions
○ Homosexuality & bisexuality § Cliff § Emcee ○ Altered score & libretto Performance venue
Differences btwn 1966 & 1998 Cabaret
○ Meeskite
○ The Money Song
Why should I wake up?
Songs cut in Cabaret ‘98 version
○ Mein Herr ○ Maybe this time ○ Money Money Money ○ I don't care much Cut it, sung by prostitute in og version. Now sung by emcee
Songs added in Cabaret ‘72 kept for ‘98 version
○ “If you could see her through my eyes”
§ ‘66: Jews threatened to boycott
‘72: Line stayed in (barely)
Accusations of Cabaret Anti-Semitism
• Integrated -> Concept ○ Oklahoma ○ Cabaret (1966) (closer to oklahoma) ○ Chicago (1975) (Middle) ○ Company
• Hybrid Scale
○ Music: John Kander ○ Lyrics: Fred Ebb ○ Book: Ebb & Fosse ○ 936 perfs Dir/Choreo: Bob Fosse
Chicago (1975)
○ Conceived/director/choreo: Michael Bennett
○ Book: James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante*
○ Music: Marvin Hamlish (2nd pegot winner)
○ Lyrics: edward kleban
6137 Performances
A Chorus Line (1975)
○ Performers- actors dancer etc.
○ “Assistants”
§ Contributions often Minimized, erased
Agnes DeMille
Women in 20th Century Broadway
○ Writing partner: Adolph Green
○ Lyricists, Librettists, & Screenwriter
○ On the Town (1944)
§ 3 sailors on 24 hour shore leave in NYC
Movie: Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Betty Comden (1917-2006)
○ Music: L. Bernstein ○ Book & Lyrics: Comden & Green ○ Perfs: 462 ○ Dir: George Abbott Choreo: Jerome Robbins
On the Town (1944)
○ Lyricist & Librettist
○ Annie Get Your Gun (1946)
Wrote book with brother Herbert
Dorothy Fields (1904-1974)
○ Music: Cy Coleman ○ Lyrics: Dorothy Fields ○ Book: Neil Simon ○ Charity, a taxi dancer, searches for love ○ Proto-Feminist "Something Better than This"
Sweet Charity (1966)
○ Director & Choreographer ○ Film Director ○ Won Multiple Tony's & Oscars ○ Notoriuos Womanizer Beloved by his collaborators
Bob Fosse (1927-1987)
○ Bob Fosse: Dir/Choreo
Gwen Verson: Dancer/Collaborator
Bob Fosse & Gwen Verdon
○ Women!
○ Hats, gloves, canes, chairs
○ Slouchy shoulders, knock knees
Odd angles
Fosse Hallmarks
○ Fosse’s girlfriend for 4 years before his death
○ Reinking: Performer/ choreograpger
○ Together w/ Verdon, protect his legacy
1996: Choreographed/ starred in Chicago
Fosse & Ann Reinking
○ Nostalgia
§ Revivals & Revues
○ The Mega Musical
Irony
End-Century Trends
○ Yearning to return to a real or idealized past
Starts in 1970s
Nostalgia
○ Discontent w/present
○ Past often Romanticized
Example: Grease, Annie
Ingredients for Nostalgia
○ Pastiche § Parody but without the mockery § Homage ○ Hair/clothes ○ Feel-Good ending Fantasy of the 50s/ 60s
Grease vs Hairspray
○ Ronald Reagan § Nostalgia! ○ Iran-Contra ○ AIDS Shaky economy
1980s
○ Bill Clinton § Money & sex scandals! ○ Recession (early 90s) ○ Dot Com boon (late 90s) ○ WTC & OK City Bombing ○ Columbine Y2K • Bring on the nostalgia AIDS killed a generation of artists
1990s
○ 44 revivals btwn 1979 & 2000
§ Chicago
Guys & Dolls, etc.
Revivals
○ Nostalgia
○ Economics!
§ Broadway= Expensive
Revival= safe bet
Why Revivals so Popular
○ Show featuring popular music, usually from one artist or era
○ Can be integrated or revue form
Examples: Mama Mia! Motown
Jukebox Musicals
○ 1970: Compnay § Investment: $530,000 § (Extra money) Profit: $245,000 ○ 1982: Nine § Investment: $2,750,000 Profit: $546,000
Sharp increase in costs
○ Budgets increase
○ Ticket Prices Increase
Sell to tourists
Economic factors 80’s-90’s
○ 1970s § Sex shops § Drug users § No Tourists ○ 1980s: § Rezoning Laws □ What businesses can be where § Eminent Domain Laws □ If the city decides they need your property for a civic reason, they can buy it from you ○ 1990s: § Disney! Buy New Amsterdam Theatre
Effort to Clean up Times Square
○ Former home to Ziegfeld Follies
○ Disrepair
○ Sold to Disney in ‘93
Reopened in ‘97
New Amsterdam Theatre
○ Appetite for Spectacle § Chicken/egg § Beauty & the Beast 1994 Tonys ○ "Theme Park" experience § Tourists § Event Experience ○ Global Marketplace Sell shows to the world
“Disney-fication of B’way
○ OLD § Independent Producer § Medium Sized § Audience: New Yorkers ○ New § Corporations § BIG!!! Audience: Tourists
New B’way Economics
○ Nostalgia + (Spectacle x Tourism)= shift in expectation
○ Audience seeks the familiar
§ Want a show that they know they’ll like
§ Disney land
Seek Event Evenings
End of the 20th Century
○ Big ○ Flashy Musical ○ Catchy music ○ Has to be in there heads Political
Discuss What kind of musical to produce in 1995
○ Lavish spectacle
○ Global Appeal
○ Huge Budgets
Insanely Profitable
The Megamusical
○ Composer
○ British, from musical family
○ Married 3 times
2nd richest man in Britain
Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-X)
○ Jesus Christ Superstar ○ Evita ○ Cats ○ Phantom Sunset Boulevard
Major Lloyd Webber Shows
○ Sung-Through Score
○ Impressive Spectacle
Operetta-style conventions
Lloyd Webber Hallmarks
○ Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
○ Based on: T.S. Eliots Old Possums’ book of practical cats
Lyrics/Book: Elliot/Trevor Nunn
Cats (1981)
○ All the cats introduce each other ○ King of the cats ○ Lady cat, old ○ London: Ran for 21 years § 8949 perfs ○ B'way: Ran for 18 years § 6138 perfs § Longest running show until Phantom Cost: $5 Million
Cats
○ Music: Lloyd Webber
○ Lyrics: Charles Hart
§ Add’l lyrics: Richard Stilgoe
○ Dir: Hal Prince
○ Based on : Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Gaston Leroux (French novel)
○ 9,067 Performances (and counting!)
○ Longest running B’way musical in history
○ As of 2007, most profitable entertainment venture ever
○ Made more money than Star Wars or Harry Potter
That’s just ticket sales
The Phantom of The Opera (1986)
○ 40 Tony noms, 7 wins
Plagiarism?
Critics’ Response to Lloyd Webber
○ Producer § Cats § Les Miserables § The Phantom of the Opera § Miss Saigon ○ Most Successful ind. Producer alive ○ Works closely w/artistic team ○ Tightly controls productions Merchandise!!!
Cameron Mackintosh (1946-?)
○ Uniform experience ○ Broadest possible appeal, wide audiences ○ Souvenirs: the "theme park" show ○ Want to see where the \$\$$ went • The megamusical's appeal Gee Whiz!
Audience & the megamusical
The actual result is the opposite of the intended or expected result
Irony
○ Gen X loves Irony
Skeptical of promises of society
Irony in the 1990s
○ Avenue Q
Urinetown
Ironic Musicals:
○ Conceived by Jeff Marx & Robert Lopez
○ Music/Lyrics by Marx & Lopez
Book by Jeff Whitty
Avenue Q
○ Music: Mark Hollman
○ Book: Greg Kotis
○ Lyrics: Both
965 perfs
Urinetown (2001)
○ Started in NYC Fringe Festival
○ Supposed to open on B’way 9/13
Opened 9/20
Urinetown
○ Advacating for change theatre
○ Paradoying this
○ Waiting for Lefty
The Cradle will rock
Agit-Prop
○ Overthrow or undermine the status quo
§ Govvernment
§ social mores
The “Establishment”
To Subvert (V.)
○ Often popular, or a cult hit
○ Often Comedic
○ Hints at P.O.V.
Audience comes the “conclusion”
Clues: Subversion in art
○ Sex
Homosexuality- coded!
Popular subversive topics
○ La Cage Aux Folles (1983)
○ Falsettos (1992)
Rent (1996)
“Out” homosexuality in musicals
○ Music & Lyrics: Johnathan Larson
○ Book: Larson/ Billy Aronson
Based on: La Boheme
Rent (1996)
○ Music: Marc Shaiman ○ Lyrics: Shaiman & Scott Wittman ○ Book: Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan ○ Based on: John Waters' movie (1988) Queer Liberation
Hairspray (2002)
○ Drag Queens
○ Raunchy humor
○ Pastiche/ Parody
Subversive!
Hallmarks of John Waters
○ 2642 peformances!
○ Musical stays true to original film (mostly)
2007: Film musical
Hairspray the Musical
○ Fat Girls
○ Drag Queens
○ Black People
Filthfy show
Outsider Metaphors- Hairspray
○ Harvey Fierstein
○ Playwright, librettise, actor, gay activist
○ Torch song trilogy
La Cage Aux Folles
2002 Edna Turnblad
19th C. -Operettas -European -Melodrama -Vaudeville -Revues -Minstrel Shows 1910s -George M. Cohan -Book Musical ○ 1920s -Shuffle Along -Show Boat □ Integrated Musicals ○ 1930s -Anything Goes -Porgy & Bess ○ 1940s -Oklahoma! ○ 1950s -West Side Story -Guys & dolls ○ 1960s -Hair -Fiddler on the roof -Cabaret ○ 1970s -Chicago -Company -Jesus Christ Superstar -Follies -Godspell -Grease -Annie -The Wiz ○ 1980s -Cats -Phantom -Mega Musicals ○ 1990s -Irony -Rent -Revivals & Revues -Disney
Review of Musicals
○ 2000: Musicals are dead!
§ Creatively
○ 2001: The Producers
Musicals are alive!
The Aughts
○ Book: Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan ○ Music & Lyrics: Brooks ○ Based on movie ○ 2502 Performances "Reinvented" the American musical
The Producers (2001)
○ Megamusicals
§ Lion King, Wicked, movie-musicals
○ Musical Comedy (expensive budgets, expensive tickets)
§ The Producers, Hairspray, movie-musicals
○ Ironic Musicals
§ Ave. Q, Urinetown, [Title of Show]
Small Musical
2000s
○ Small Cast ○ Character driven ○ Often serious tone or theme ○ Often artistically courageous ○ Often based on original or obscure material Can still be super-expensive
The “small” musical
○ Book & Lyrics: Tom Yorkey
○ Music: Tom Kitt
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Next to Normal (2008)
○ Development process has changed § A Lot of readings § Readings where they give them money § Elevates the story & goes away from grand spectacle ○ Productions are too expensive Reaction to megamusicals
Why Small Musicals?
Wrote On the Town
Comden & Green
Big spender, escort host wants to get out & fall in love. Wants to escape situation
Sweet Charity
○ Hairspray ○ Urinetown ○ Rocky Horror Picture show ○ Undermine the status quo ○ Popular, cult hint ○ Hint at the povt ○ Fuck establishment ○ Audience comes to a conclusion ○ Real message isn't shown through Cole porter
Subversion
○ Musicals made with Music that was from a band
Motown, American Idiot, Mama Mia, Jersey Boys
Jukebox musicals
○ Makes new york a tourist park
○ Disney musicals
○ For kids
Made it expensive
Disney-fication
○ Huge Spectacle
A lot of money to make money back
Megamusicals
○ Made it touristy ○ Red zoning ○ Stop & Frisk ○ Eminent domain laws Took out non pg13 businesses
Times Square transformation
○ Megamusicals ○ Phantom ○ Cats ○ Andrew Lloyd Webber Disney-ficatoin begins
Trends & examples: 1980s
○ Revivals
British Theatre
Trends & examples: 1990s
○ Small Cast ○ Big budget small cast ○ Character driven ○ Next to normal ○ In a reaction to the mega musical ○ Artistically Courageous ○ Fun Home Based on original or obscure material
Small musical
○ Both concept & Integrated
○ Cabaret
○ Chicago
Chorus Line
Hybrid Musical
