Shows Flashcards
The Beggar’s Opera
YEAR: 1728 TYPE: ballad opera COMPOSER: Johann Christoph Pepusch WRITER: John Gay HS: adapted to become Threepenny
Die Fledermaus
YEAR: 1872
TYPE: operetta
COMPOSER: Johann Strauss II
LIBRETTO: Karl Haffner & Richard Genee
HS: one of the important antecedents to Musical Theatre
The Pirates of Penzance
YEAR: 1879
COMPOSER: Arthur Sullivan
LIBRETTO: W.S. Gilbert
HS: First Major Musical to Open in USA
The Mikado
YEAR: 1885
COMPOSERS: Arthur Sullivan
LIBRETTO: W.S Gilbert
PLOT: Guy needs to find someone to execute, chosen guy falls in love
H.M.S. Pinafore
YEAR: 1878
COMPOSERS: Arthur Sullivan
LIBRETTO: W.S. Gilbert
PLOT: Love across class status on a boat
Showboat
YEAR: 1927
COMPOSR: Jerome Kern
BOOK/LYRICS: Oscar Hammerstein II
PRODUCER: Flo Ziegfeld
HS: First show with racially integrated cast
Porgy and Bess
YEAR: 1934
COMPOSER: George Gershwin
LIBRETTO: DuBois Hayward
HS: Portrayed African-American people (sterotype low-class) with opera stuff (stereotype high-class)
Anything Goes
YEAR: 1934
MUSIC + LYRICS: Porter
STARRING: Ethel Merman
Pal Joey
YEAR: 1940 BOOK: John O'Hara COMPOSER: Richard Rogers LYRICS: Lorenz Hart DIRECTOR: George Abbott PLOT: Joey Evans is a total man-whore
Threepenny Opera
YEAR: 1928
COMPOSER: Kurt Weill
Oklahoma
YEAR: 1943 COMPOSER: Richard Rogers LYRICS: Oscar Hammerstein II CHOREO: Agnes de Mille STAR: Alfred Drake
On the Town
YEAR: 1944 COMPOSER: Bernstein LYRICS: Betty Comden and Adolph Green DIRECTOR: George Abbott CHOREO: Jerome Robbins
Carousel
YEAR: 1945
COMPOSER: Richard Rogers
LYRICS: Oscar Hammerstein II
CHOREO: Agnes de Mille saved it at the last second
Annie Get Your Gun
YEAR: 1946
COMPOSER: Irving Berlin
BOOK: Dorothy and Herbert Fields
STAR: Ethel Merman
PLOT: Country sharpshooting woman has trouble falling in love with man ("You can't get a man with a gun")Brigadoon
YEAR: 1947 COMPOSER: Frederick Loewe BOOK + LYRICS: Alan J. Lerner [DIRECTOR: Robert Lewis] CHOREO: Agnes De Mille PLOT: Americans in Scotland find weird enchanted place. One falls in love, decides to stay there forever
Kiss Me Kate
YEAR: 1948
MUSIC + LYRICS: Cole Porter
South Pacific
YEAR: 1949
MUSIC + LYRICS: Rodgers and Hammerstein
STAR: Mary Martin
Guys and Dolls
YEAR: 1950
MUSIC + LYRICS: Loesser
Book: Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
The King and I
YEAR: 1951
MUSIC + LYRICS: R + H
STAR: Gertrude Lawrence; Yul Brynner
Wonderful Town
YEAR: 1953
BOOK: Joseph A Fields & Jerome Chodorov
MUSIC: Bernstein
LYRICS: Betty Comden & Adolph Green
DIRECTOR: George Abbot
PLOT: Attractive sister wants to be star; smart sister wants to be writer, they try to make it in New York
STAR (at the end) Carrol Channing
Can-Can
YEAR: 1953
MUSIC + LYRICS: Cole Porter
BOOK: Abe Burrows
STAR: Gwen Verdon
PLOT: Footloose before its time with a can-can and a nightclub
The Pajama Game
YEAR: 1954
BOOK: George Abbot and Richard Bissell
MUSIC + LYRICS: Adler and Ross
DIRECTORS: Jerome Robbins and George Abbot (whole pride issue there)
PRODUCER: Hal Prince (among others)
CHOREO: Bob Fosse
STAR: John Raitt [Janis Paige, Carol Haney]
(Steam Heat)– trios are the best
Damn Yankees
YEAR: 1955 BOOK: Geroge Abbot and Douglass Wallop MUSIC + LYRICS: Adler and Ross DIRECTOR: George Abbott CHOREO: Bob Fosse STAR: Gwen Verdon, [Ray Walston]
PLOT: Guy makes deal with the devil to help the Washington Senators win the World Series. As he hits a home run over the fence, he shouts that he wants out of the deal (because he loves his wife so much and misses her), and he catches the ball as his ‘real’ self
My Fair Lady
YEAR: 1956 LYRICS + MUSIC: Lerner and Loewe DIRECTOR: Moss Hart STAR: Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews PLOT: based on George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion'
The Most Happy Fella
YEAR 1956
BOOK, MUSIC, LYRICS: Frank Loesser
PLOT: Mail-order marriage proposal, but she looks at a really young photo of him. (Tinder musical)
The Music Man
YEAR: 1957
BOOK, MUSIC, LYRICS: Meredith Willson
STAR: Robert Preston, Barbara Cook
The Sound of Music
YEAR: 1959
MUSIC + LYRICS: R + H
STAR: Mary Martin
Street Scene
YEAR: 1946
MUSIC: Kurt Wiell
[LYRICS: Langson Hughes
BOOK: Elmer Rice]
a bit more opera-y
PLOT: 2 days on an East Side tenement in Manhattan
Hello, Dolly!
YEAR: 1964 MUSIC + LYRICS: Jerry Herman [BOOK: Michael Stuart] DIRECTOR: Gower Champion STAR: Carrol Channing
Camelot
YEAR: 1960
LYRICS + MUSIC: Lerner and Loewe
DIRECTOR: Moss Hart
STAR: Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet
PLOT: Love Triangle with King Arthur, his queen, and sir Lancelot. Based on “The Once And Future King” by T.H. White.
HS: Got associated with JFK cause his wife said that it was his favorite musical
Candide
YEAR: 1956
COMPOSER: Bernstein
LIBRETTO: Lillian Hellman
PLOT: based on Voltaire book. Pretty sure a bunch of bad stuff happens to people.
STAR: Barbara Cook
We don’t have a video of it, but “Let Your Garden Grow” is epic
How to Succeed in Business without really trying
YEAR: 1961
MUSIC + LYRICS: Frank Loesser
BOOK: Abe Burrows
STAR: Bobby Morse
Call Me Madam
YEAR: 1950 COMPOSER: Irving Berlin DIRECTOR: George Abbott CHOREO: Jerome Robbins STAR: Ethel Merman
PLOT: Satire of American foreign policy and our need to lend billions to needy countries
West Side Story
YEAR: 1957
MUSIC + LYRICS: Bernstein and Sondheim
CONCEPTOR, DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHOR: Jerome Robbins
PLOT: Romeo and Juliet with gangs.
Gypsy
YEAR: 1959 MUSIC: Jule Styne LYRICS: Stephen Sondheim BOOK: Arthur Laurents PRODUCER: David Merrick DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER: Jerome Robbins STAR: Ethel Mermen
PLOT: Based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee
(“Rose’s Turn”) has been done by like every star
Cabaret
YEAR: 1966
MUSIC: John Kander
LYRICS: Fred Ebb
DIRECTOR: Hal Prince
STARS:
Joel Grey as MC,
Lotte Lenya as Frau Schneider
Chicago
YEAR: 1975
MUSIC: John Kander
LYRICS: Fred Ebb
DIRECTOR: Bob Fosse (also had a hand in book-writing)
STARS: Chita Rivera (Velma) Gwen Verdon (Roxie) Jerry Orbach (Billy)
(second-longest running show in Broadway History)
A Chorus Line
YEAR: 1975 MUSIC: Marvin Hamlisch LYRICS: Edward Kleban DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER: Michael Bennet STAR: Donna McKechnie
won 12 Tonys (that’s nuts!)
Dreamgirls
YEAR: 1981 MUSIC: Henry Kreiger BOOL + LYRICS: Tom Eyen DIRECTOR / CHOREOGRAPHER: Michael Bennett STAR: Jennifer Holliday
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
YEAR: 1962 MUSIC + LYRICS: Stephen Sondheim DIRECTOR: Geroge Abbot (though Jerome Robbins doctored it) CHOREOGRAPHY: Jack Cole CSTAR: Zero Mostel
Company
YEAR: 1970
MUSIC + LYRICS: Sondheim
DIRECTOR: Hal Prince
CHOREO: Michael Bennett
Sweeney Todd
YEAR: 1979
MUSIC + LYRICS: Stephen Sondheim
DIRECTOR: James Lapine
STAR: Angela Lansbury (written for her)
A Little Night Music
YEAR: 1973
MUSIC + LYRICS: Stephen Sondheim
DIRECTOR: Hal Prince
PLOT: ???
(“Send In the Clowns”)
Sunday in the Park with George
YEAR: 1984 MUSIC + LYRICS: Stephen Sondheim BOOK: James Lapine DIRECTOR: James Lapine STARS: Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin
PLOT: Based on a painting by George Seurat and his real life
Into the Woods
YEAR: 1986 MUSIC + LYRICS: Stephen Sondheim BOOK: James Lapine DIRECTOR: James Lapine STAR: Bernadette Peters (as the Witch) PLOT: Fucked up fairly tales
Pippin
YEAR: 1972
MUSIC + LYRICS: Stephen Schwartz
DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER: Bob Fosse
STAR: Ben Vereen
(famous Manson Trio)
Wicked
YEAR: 2008
MUSIC + LYRICS: Stephen Schwartz
STARS:
Kristen Chenowith
Idina Menzel
Evita
YEAR: 1979
MUSIC: Andrew Lloyd Webber
LYRICS: Tim Rice
DIRECTOR: Hal Prince
STARS:
Patti Lupone
Mandi Patinkin
raised the belt
Jesus Christ Superstar
YEAR: 1970
MUSIC: Andrew Lloyd Webber
LYRICS: Tim Rice
STAR: Ben Vereen
Hair
YEAR: 1968
MUSIC: Galt McDermont
LYRICS: James Rado and Gerome Ragni
PLOT: Weird-af tribe of hippies
Cats
YEAR: 1981 MUSIC: Andrew Lloyd Webber LYRICS: T.S. Eliot (all based on his works), Richard Stilgoe, Trevor Nunn DIRECTOR: Trevor Nunn STAR: Betty Buckly
The Phantom of the Opera
YEAR: 1986 MUSIC: Andrew Lloyd Webber LYRICS: Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe DIRECTOR: Hal Prince PRODUCER: Cameron Macintosh
STAR:
Sarah Brightman
Michael Crawford
longest running Broadway show of all time
Miss Saigon
Year: 1991
MUSIC: Claude-Michel Schonberg
LYRICS: Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.
PLOT: Based on the opera “Madame Butterfly”, but like set in Vietnam
Les Miserables
YEAR: 1987
MUSIC: Claude-Michel Schonberg
STAR: Colm Wilkinson
PLOT: Based on Victor Hugo book with same name
The Lion King
YEAR: 1997
MUSIC: Elton John
LYRICS: Tim Rice
DIRECTOR: Julie Traymor
PLOT: Based on the Disney movie of the same name
Rent
YEAR: 1996
MUSIC + LYRICS: Johnathan Larson
STAR: Idina Menzel
Spring Awakening
YEAR: 2006
MUSIC + LYRICS: Duncan Sheik
STAR:
Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele
Hamilton
YEAR: 2015
MUSIC + LYRICS: Lin-Manuel Miranda
DIRECTOR: Thomas Kail
CHOREO: Andy Blankenbuehler
STAR: Lin-Manuel Miranda
PLOT: Based on the book by Ron Chernow
Fiddler On The Roof
YEAR: 1964
MUSIC + LYRICS: Harnick and Bock
DIRECTOR/ CHOREOGRAPHER: Jerome Robbins
PLOT: Based on the book “Tevye and his Daughters” by Shalom Aleichem
STAR: Zero Mostel
