Shows Flashcards

1
Q

Cabaret

A

1966 - Kander & Ebb
Emcee inspired by nightclub host
Boris Aronson set design

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2
Q

Hair

A
1968 - MacDermot
First significant pop/rock musical
Elements of band were amplified
First to have full frontal nudity
Youth protest against the establishment and war
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3
Q

Promises, Promises

A

1968 - Simon, Bacharach & David
First show to fully employ an entire sound system as the writers wanted to create the full rock experience in the theatre and use electronic instruments
All vocalists wore a microphone

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4
Q

1970s show split into three different categories:

A

Contemporary pop/rock musical
Concept musical
Traditional musical

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5
Q

Concept musical

A

A concept musical is a musical where he show’s metaphor or statement is more important than the actual narrative
Songs punctuate rather than flow out from the story, serving as a means of self-reflection for the character and acting as commentary upon the theme
For example Company

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6
Q

Company

A

1970 - Sondheim & Furth

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7
Q

Godspell

A

1971 - Schwartz & Tebelak

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8
Q

Jesus Christ Superstar

A

1971 - Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice
Rock/opera
Controversy helped with promotion
Start Lloyd Webber formula to release the music to make it popular

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9
Q

Follies

A

1971 - Sondheim
The libretto centred on two former showgirls and their spouses assessing embittered marriages while attending a reunion of performers from a Ziegfeld era Broadway revue
Frank depiction of painful realities of growing older and abandoning one’s dreams

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10
Q

Grease

A

1972 - Jacobs & Casey
Named after 1950s US youth subculture known as greasers
Eclipsed Fiddler On the Roof as the longest running show in Broadway history
Simple story - catchy tunes
Early 50s Rock N roll

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11
Q

Pippin

A

1972 - Schwartz

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12
Q

A Little Night Music

A

1973 - Sondheim & Wheeler

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13
Q

Rocky Horror Picture Show

A

1973 - O’Brien

Tribute to science fiction and horror B films

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14
Q

A Chorus Line

A
1975 - Marvin Hamlisch
Michael Bennett - created this project that was work-shopped and lead by the actual stories of auditionees
Eclipsed Grease
Concept musical - the audition
Schubert Theatre
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15
Q

Chicago

A

1975 - Kander & Ebb
Bob Fosse style musical - gotten darker after heart attack that nearly killed him
Satire of fame, celebrity, show business and how society makes celebrities of villains/criminals
Overflowing with raw sexuality, creating a world that is shocking, frightening, dangerous

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16
Q

The Wiz

A

1976 - Brown

All-black wizard of oz

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17
Q

Annie

A

1977 - Strouse & Charnin

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18
Q

Sweeney Todd

A

1979 - Sondheim

  • Often referred to as a modern opera, Sweeney Todd, features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
  • With an ensemble functioning as a Greek chorus and one of the densest, wordiest librettos ever written
  • The historical Sweeney Todd, hanged for murder in 1801, may have been the most successful serial killer of all time, some accounts attributing 160 unfortunate customer to his victim list
19
Q

Evita

A
1979 - Lloyd Webber
- Don't cry for me Argentina 
- Hal Prince directed 
- Eva as a whore with flair and ruthless ambition, but gave no clue as to what made her complex character tick - ran three times longer than Sweeney Todd
- Patti Lupone as Eva
ICONIC IMAGE - powerful marketing
20
Q

Michael Bennet

A

Reinvigorated dance on Broadway
Co-directed follies
Director, producer, writer, choreographer and a dancer
HIV positive - died of AIDS related illness in late 30s
Inspired by street dance - self-taught dancer who was surrounded by the arts and fed off the energy of the city but seemed to be a natural at all genres of dance and had an unavoidable gift

21
Q

Bob Fosse musicals

A
  • Damn Yankees
  • The Pajama Game
  • Sweet Charity
  • Pippin
  • Liza
  • Chicago
  • Dancin’
  • 1972 movie production of Cabaret won the Academy Award for Best Director
  • 1973 he also won a Tony for his work on Pippin
  • Emmy for his direction of the Liza Minnelli special Liza with a Z
    Making him the only director to win all three of these entertainment industry prizes in the same year.
22
Q

Bob Fosse dance style

A
  • turned-in knees as he had bad turn out
  • sideways shuffling
  • jazz hands
  • HATS as he started to lose hair
  • curved shoulders as he had natural slump
    Stylish, sexy and easily recognised
    Gwen Verdon his wife and muse
23
Q

1970s - two sides

A

Lloyd Webber (UK) vs Sondheim (USA)

  • Most Americans were not paying attention to the musical theatre anymore
  • Rock and disco were the predominant sounds in popular music and neither genre had more than a token presence in most Broadway scares
  • Inflation was out of control in the 70s
24
Q

1980s - Broadway in decline

A
  • Marketplace was narrowing rapidly and squeezing out all but the safest productions
  • AIDS epidemic, which created panic and paranoia, and saw the deaths of many musical theatre artists
  • Decline of Times Square - theatres sold off to become Nightclubs, sex clubs
  • The defection of musical theatre artists to television
  • Loss of audience to the growing number of television/cable channels
  • Availability of video-cassettes
25
Q

42nd Street

A

1980 - Bramble & Stewart
Nased off Busby Berkeley film
Updated/reworked version
Champion passed away opening night

26
Q

Cats

A

1981 - Lloyd Webber
Cameron Mackintosh produced
Applied to all ages
Ran for 18 years

27
Q

Dreamgirls

A

1981- Krieger & Even
Jennifer Holladay as Effie
One night only

28
Q

Little Shop of Horrors

A

1982 - Menken & Ashman

Should have been success but remained off-broadway

29
Q

Nine

A

1982 - Yeston

30
Q

La Cage Aux Follies

A

1983 - Herman
Glitzy drag show
Loving married couple - homosexuals
Threw shade at Sondheim

31
Q

Sunday In the Park with George

A

1984 - Sondheim
Won Pulitzer prize
Lapine and Sondheim
Inspired by french painter Georges Seurat’s painting

32
Q

Big River

A

1985 - Hauptman
Huckleberry Finn
Ron Richardson as Jim - Tony winning

33
Q

Les Miserables

A

1985 (West End) 1987 (Broadway) - Boubil & Schonberg

Based on novel by Victor Hugo

34
Q

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

A

1985 - Holmes
Unfinished Charles Dickens novel
Audience votes on the ending

35
Q

Phantom of the Opera

A

1986 - Lloyd Webber

Iconic mask image

36
Q

Into The Woods

A

1987 - Sondheim

Based on fairy tales all woven together

37
Q

Carrie

A

1988 - Cohen & Pitchford
$8 million budget
closed after 5 performances

38
Q

Chess

A

1988 - Rice, Andersson & Ulvaeus

Not all mega-musicals successful

39
Q

Miss Saigon

A

1989 (West End) 1991 (Broadway) - Schonberg & Boubil
Vietnam setting
controversial with Jonothan Price (white) playing the Engineer

40
Q

Mega-musical

A
  • West End thrived
  • First mega-musical was CATS
  • These musicals were designed to be exportable
  • Productions in different locations were simply clones of the original
  • No matter where you saw the show it was the same
  • Simple stories with emotional pull
  • Are thematically sentimental and romantic + simple
  • Plots that merge aspects of social consciousness and thus evoke strong emotional reactions
  • Large sets, elaborate costumes, special effects, significant lighting
  • Marketing was extremely important and substantial - cat’s eyes + phantom mask
  • Logos became icons
  • Songs were released in advance
  • Investment was high, so were the returns
41
Q

1990s - Corportations

A
  • 1990s the mega-musical had really run its course
  • The Disney corporation wanted to clean Broadway
  • Wanted to buy the New Amsterdam theatre on 42nd Street
  • Renovate the surrounding areas if the Mayor cleans up all the sex shops
  • Repurchased all theatres
42
Q

Corporate musicals

A
  • Multi-functional entertainment
  • Project development is corporate sponsored and controlled
  • While the staging of these shows may reflect the stamp of creative individuals, corporate musical exude efficiency
    ○ They look impressive
    ○ Flow with ease and are easy to understand
    ○ Provide many pop ballads and memorable tunes
    They can also be reproduced for foreign or touring productions
43
Q

Beauty and the Beast

A

1994 - Menken, Ashman, Rice & Woolverton

First Disney success

44
Q

The Lion King

A

1997 - Elton John, Tim Rice, Allers & Mecchi