Show Boat Flashcards
Show Boat
Style
European operetta, Vaudville and several different styles of African American music
Show Boat
Opened
1927-1928
Show Boat
Music
Jerome Kern
Show Boat
Lyrics
Oscar Hammerstein II
Show Boat
Original Novel
by Edna Ferber
- popular novelist in the teens and 20 year olds
- Book is about a phenomenon occurring in the 19th century in the US
- Steam boat that goes from port to port in the south and puts on shows
- they perform musicals, variety acts and melo dramas
- Ferber heard about how showboats were shutting down so she lived on one for a couple months
- Black/white segregation
Show Boat
1st Production
Florenz Ziegfeld
- Vaudville producer who had a more glamorous style (mega musical producer of vaudeville era) - biggest stages, most famous actors etc.
- this show was a turning point because he wanted to do something more serious and less fluffy
- built a musical for this purpose
Show Boat
Musical Play vs. Operetta
Musical Play
- Superior Libretto makes it more like a musical play
- The story line is about a serious issue
- comes from a novel
- lacks formality
Operetta
- Based on a story for the past
- Put on by opera shows now because it requires really skilled voices
- Musical play as a term was not invented then
Book Musicals vs. Revues
- Book musicals tell a narrative (comic operas, operettas, musical comedy etc.)
- Revues are a collection of acts that sometimes have a theme (vaudeville, music halls and minstrel shows)
Comic Operetta in France
- Started as entertainment in the half time of dramatic operas
- 15-20 minute light fun entertainment during intermission (1st act=first intermission)
- Different cast of people
- Females would join the opera to find young rich men who would fund their life
- Jacques Offenback (1819-1880) is usually credited with having written the first operettas
- Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus - Shepard with a beautiful voice
Eurydice - wife who gets bitten by a snake on wedding day and dies
Orpheus goes to underworld to plea for wife to be brought back but Jupiter (the head God) wants Eurydice for himself so he tells Orpheus that he can have his gf back but he can’t look at her so he obviously does because Jupiter dents a huge lightening bolt
Orpheus in the Underworld
Listening
Act Two Finale
- talks about going down to save his girlfriend
Orpheus in the Underworld
Listening
Act Two Finale
- goes to Hades party - champagne and can can dancing
- Change between start where it is a touch point to the party where there is percussion and can can dancing
Viennese Style Operetta
Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899) - first major composer of Viennese operetta
3rd operetta - Die Fledermaus (1874) is the most popular of hip time
- Operas were more conservative but still had the music, flirtation and romantic comedy feel
English Comic Opera
Gilbert and Sullivan dominated
William Schwench Gilber (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
- Produced by Richard D’Oyly Carte at the Savoy Theatre (built specially)
- 14 comic operas - change from Operetta title to comic operas
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert - liberetto (lyrics and spoken dialogue)
- Fanciful “topsy turvy” world for these operas
- Implausible characters and plots
Sullivan - composed the music
- memorable memories that convey both humour and pathos
