oklahoma! Flashcards
American musical theatre in the
1930s
In the 1930s, a drought hit
Broadway. No one picked up where
Show Boat had left off. Not even
Jerome Kern or Oscar Hammerstein
II followed up their success with
another notable show
* OH2’s next show was an operetta
with Sigmund Romberg, called The
New Moon (1928)
Why were there few successes
after Show Boat?
Rise of radio (1920s)
* Rise of film (1920s), television (1950s), and the Hollywood
migration
* Great Depression (29 October 1929)
* World War II (begins 1 September 1939)
* The end of an era:
* Florenz Ziegfeld’s last show, a brief revival of Show Boat, opened in
May 1932; he died in July of that year
* George Gershwin’s last show opened in 1935; he died in 1937
* Jerome Kern’s last show opened in 1939; he died in 1945
* Lorenz Hart’s last show opened in 1942; he died in 1943
How did these new technologies
and events affect musical
theatre
- 5,000+ theatres across the US went dark
- 1,000+ performers were forced to quit
- Virtually every Broadway producer went bankrupt, at
least temporarily - Fewer new shows
- 1926-28: 48 new shows/season
- 1931-33: 28 new shows/season
- 1936-38: 15 new shows/season
- Overall: In the 1920s, there were 423 new shows
In the 1930s, there were 170 new shows
Bright Lights of the 1930s:
cole porter
Ethel Merman
Mary Martin
George Abbott
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz
Hart
George and Ira Gershwin
Cole Porter
Composer-lyricist who wrote musical
comedies, including Anything Goes;
also Kiss Me, Kate
* His shows were about smart,
glamourous, rich, sexually
uninhibited people and his lyrics
often referenced French phrases, sex
jokes, high society names, brand
names, exclusive night clubs…
* “Let’s Do It” sung by Ella Fitzgerald
wealthy
Ethel Merman
- Performer and Broadway
belter - Debuted in Girl Crazy by
George and Ira Gershwin;
starred in musicals for 25
years, including musical
comedies by Porter
brassy, tamber
fills the threatre
holding notes
Mary Martin
Performer, neither
pure “legit” nor belter
* She was in Porter’s
Leave It to Me!
* In the 1940s and 50s,
she was Nellie in South
Pacific and Maria in
The Sound of Music
(right)
George Abbott
- “Father of modern musical comedy”
- Producer, director, bookwriter,
choreographer, actor - After working on plays, he wrote his
first musical, Jumbo (1935), with
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart
for 30yrs has shows running every single week w the execption of 1 week
Abbott’s contributions:
- Mentored a generation of Broadway
practitioners, including Harold Prince and
Jerome Robbins - Makes the director the most important
member of the creative team - Emphasis on comedy, characters, and
situation - Emphasis on book, not star
- Integration of choreography
- Famous for Damn Yankees, Pajama
Game, and Pal Joey
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz
Hart
- Rodgers and Hart’s 25-year
partnership created more than 15
musical comedies, including Pal
Joey (recall “Bewitched, Bothered,
and Bewildered”) - What comes first? Music or lyrics?
Rodgers wrote the music first,
then Hart added lyrics
George and Ira Gershwin
- These brothers collaborated on a
trilogy of political operettas,
Strike Up the Band, Of Thee I
Sing, and Let ’Em Eat Cake, and
the Broadway opera, Porgy and
Bess (“Summertime”) - George (L) started his career as
a songplugger in Tin Pan Alley - In addition to working with his
older brother, Ira collaborated
with Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, and
Harold Arlen
Who is responsible for elevating the role of the book in
musical comedies
George Abbott
The longest-running Broadway musical of the 1930s
enjoyed more performances than Show Boat when it
opened in 1927
t or f
false
Cole Porter was a composer and lyricist whose musical
comedies dazzled audiences in the 1930s with
glamorous, sophisticated characters.
t or f
true
Why were the 1930s a dark decade for Broadway?
a) The Great Depression left producers bankrupt
b) The rise of radio and movies offered affordable
alternatives to live theatre
c) Several prominent theatre practitioners like Florenz
Ziegfeld passed away
d) The number of new shows went down
e) All of the above
all
Rodgers and Hammerstein
After years of
experience writing
with other
collaborators,
Rodgers and
Hammerstein (R&H)
joined forces to
create the most
consistently fruitful
and successful
partnership in the
American musical
theatre
11 shows in 17 years:
* Stage musicals: Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945),
Allegro (1947), South Pacific (1949), The King and I
(1951), Me and Juliet (1953), Pipe Dream (1955),
Flower Drum Song (1958), The Sound of Music (1959)
* Movie musical: State Fair (1945)
* Television musical: Cinderella (1957)
* Collectively, the R & H musicals earned: 35 Tony Awards,
15 Academy Awards, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 2 Grammy Awards,
2 Emmy Awards
Composer oklahoma!
Richard Rodgers
lyricist okloahoma
Oscar Hammerstein II
Bookwriter okloahmma
OH2
Source oklahoma
green grow the lilacs
Main characters of Oklahoma!
- Curly McLain, a cowboy in love with Laurey
- Laurey Williams, an independent young woman, Aunt
Eller’s niece - Jud Fry, a hired hand on Aunt Eller’s farm
- Will Parker, a simple young man in love with Ado Annie
- Ado Annie, a flirtatious young woman
- Ali Hakim, a Persian peddlar
- Aunt Eller, Laurey’s aunt, a respected community
leade
original name of okalohma
away we go
oklahoma date
1943
oklahoma dance
dance became important as it can be used for storh telling
why was away we go cool
muscial PLAY
not a musical comedy amnymore
what r tryouts
performing infront of live audience and make changes
What is a musical play?
When the title changed to Oklahoma!, its billing
changed from musical comedy to musical play
* Opening night critics assigned Oklahoma! to a
variety of subgenres, including musical comedy,
musical play, operetta, and folk opera. They lacked
a cultural frame of reference in which to place
Oklahoma!
What are the characteristics of a musical play?
the book
oppertta
not novelty acts
no numbers for no purpose
everything tells a stiry
avoids trivial subjects
Richard Rodgers
Composer
* Rodgers first wrote musical
comedies with Hart then musical
plays Hammerstein
* After Hammerstein’s death,
Rodgers continued to write for
Broadway with various
collaborators
* Rodgers composed more than 900
published songs and 40 musicals
Oscar Hammerstein II
Recall Hammerstein as lyricist and bookwriter of Show
Boat
* OH2 collaborated with composers Romberg, Kern, and
others before he worked with Rodgers
What comes first: music or
lyrics?
- OH2 wrote the lyrics first, then Rodgers added music
(the reverse of how Rodgers had worked with Hart) - OH2 believed a play should always come first rather
than a song:
“There are few things in life of which I am certain, but I
am sure of this one thing, that the song is the servant of
the play, that it is wrong to write first what you think is
an attractive song and then try to wedge it into a story.”
Lynn Riggs
- Poet, playwright, screenwriter,
who grew up in Oklahoma - He wrote Green Grow the Lilacs in
France on a Guggenheim
Fellowship in 1928-29 - Compare pp. 7-9 of Riggs’s play
(eReserves) with OH2’s lyrics and
dialogue for “The Surrey with the
Fringe on Top” (Content, module
5)
“The Surrey with the Fringe on
Top
Sung by Curly (with Laurey
and Aunt Eller)
Example of an “I am/want” song, musical scene
(includes dialogue and underscoring), and charm song:
a number that pleases and delights with an optimistic
tone and celebrates the positive values and experiences
of life
non diegetic
fondness for laury
Theatre Guild
The original purpose of the group, which was active
from the 1920s-1970s, was to produce non-commercial
works by American and foreign playwrights. They were
unique because their board oversaw the choosing of
plays, management, and production
* The Theatre Guild contributed greatly to the success of
Broadway
* Productions include: Porgy, Porgy and Bess, Green Grow
the Lilacs, Oklahoma!, Carousel, and more than 200
others
Agnes de Mille
Dancer and choreographer
* De Mille is known for elevating the
role of dance so that it too
contributed to the narrative
* Choreographed 15 musicals,
including Carousel, Allegro (also
directed), Brigadoon, 110 in the
Shade
Rouben Mamoulian
- Theatre and film director
- He had already directed Porgy and
Bess as well as its source, the play
Porgy - He would later direct Carousel
When Oklahoma! had tryouts in Boston, what was the
show titled?
away we go
Who elevated the role of dance and continued to work
with Rodgers and Hammerstein in some of their later
musicals
agnes de mille
All of the following are characteristics of musical plays
EXCEPT:
a) Book shows that focus on a story
b) Music and dance are used to propel the narrative
c) Frivolous, light-hearted topics are avoided
d) Establishing numbers always feature long lines of
dancers
e) Unnecessary theatrical spectacle is avoided
D-Establishing numbers always feature long lines of
dancers
False “firsts”
First title of a musical to end
with an exclamation point?
First musical to have an
original Broadway cast
recording?
First musical to start without a chorus number?
First dream ballet?