Test #1 Flashcards
Greek Theatre Flourishing Dates
525 BC - 386 BC
Tragic Dramatist(s)
Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles
Comedic Dramatist(s)
Aristophanes
Ways to Perform Greek Plays
Singing, Chanting, and Dancing
T/F - Greek Theatre Music has survived.
False
What was Greek Theatre Music accompanied by?
Lute, Lyre, or Flute
Greek Amphitheater Seating Range
17,000 - 30,000
How did Greek performers show expression?
Gestures needed to be clear and Choruses moved in unison.
What did Greek performers wear?
Large masks w/ Megaphone Inserts and Platform Shoes
Who had to attend Greek Theatre out of social, civic, and religious obligation?
Free Male Citizens
What Greek God (the God of Grapes) did the competition-presented plays honor?
Dionysus
Topics of Greek Tragedies
Religion and Man’s Place in this world.
Topics of Greek Comedies
Genitalia and Flatulence
Six Elements of Tragedy (Identified by Aristotle)
Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle, and Song
Roman Theatre Flourishing Dates
375 BC - 197 AD
What did Roman Theatre lack?
Great Dramatists
What did Roman Theatre do with Greek plays?
Adapt and Develop them to their needs, becoming rowdy and formulaic comedies.
Known Roman Playwrights
Plautus and Terence
What did Roman Theatre use more than Greeks?
Music
Added Elements in Roman Theatre
Design and Architecture
The Audlescens (Stock Character)
The hero who is young, rich, love-struck, and not terribly brave.
The Senex (Stock Character)
The Adulescens’ father who is either too strict or too lenient, loves his son, is madly in love with the same woman as his son but never gets the girl, often cheap.
The Leno (Stock Character)
Runs the brothel, only interested in money.
The Miles Gloriosus (Stock Character)
The braggart soldier very much in love with himself.
The Servus Callidus (Stock Character)
The Adulescens’ clever, loyal slave, he usually drives the plot and resolves all in the end.
The Ancilla (Stock Character)
Maid or nurse, a good source of exposition.
The Matrona (Mother) (Stock Character)
A shrew who loves her children but browbeats her husband.
The Meretrix (Prostitute) (Stock Character)
An older woman who has been around the block.
The Virgo (Young Maiden) (Stock Character)
The love interest of the Adulescens, beautiful and virtuous with little personality.
Liturgical Drama Origins
Christianity demanded that their followers not attend theatre and excommunicated actors and soon realized that theatre was an important way to teach the Bible so began producing its own theatre.
Three Categories of Liturgical Drama
Mystery, Morality, and Miracle
Mystery Plays
Retold stories from the Bible.
Morality Plays
Allegorical, included Sung Passages, and Instrumental Accompaniment
Miracle Plays
Celebrated the life of a religious person and included Choreography, Tableaux Usage, and Call-and-Response Songs
Tableaux
The theatrical technique in which actors freeze in poses that create a picture of one important moment in the play.
In Tableaux, actors…
Remain Still or Frozen, Remain Silent, Pose with Energy, Pose with Expression, Keep their Concentration, Pose at Different Levels, and Choose Poses that Communicate the Tone and Mood of the Text.
Renaissance and Elizabethean Theatre Flourishing Dates
15th and 16th Century
What was the Renaissance the rebirth of?
Intellectual and Artistic Pursuits
What became really popular during the Renaissance?
Greek and Roman Plays
What did English Playwrights hope to develop during the Renaissance?
Secular Works
T/F- the Elizabethan Era was the greatest age of playwriting since the Greeks.
True
How did Elizabethan Theatre hold audience’s attention?
Music, Dance, Swordplay, Brawling, Verbal Jokes, and Slapstick
Examples of Shakespeare’s Works that influenced Contemporary Musicals…
“Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “A Comedy of Errors,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Twelfth Night,” “The Tempest,” “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
When did Court Masques originate?
1593
When did King Charles II reopen theaters?
1660
When were Court Masques popular?
Early 16th and 17th Century
Examples of Court Masque Spectacle
Declamatory speech. A story using mythological characters alluding to the central figure, Tableaux, Ballet and Music, Opulent costumes, Scenery and strikingly advanced scenic effects and mechanics.
How did guests participate in Court Masques?
Wearing Masks and joining in the Final Dance
What places great importance in Court Masques?
Architecture, Scenic painting, Decoration, and Ballet
Who wrote many Court Masques?
Ben Johnson
Where did Opera originate?
Italy
How is Opera perform?
Completely sung or played by musicians.
What did Opera reflect?
The wealth and free time of upper-middle classes.
Who wrote “The Beggar’s Opera?”
John Gay
What languages was Opera performed in?
Italian, French, and German
Who followed in the English-speaking world?
The rich
When did “The Beggar’s Opera” premiere?
1728
What did “The Beggar’s Opera” bring to Opera?
Satirical response to Italian opera, dialog between short songs centered around the lower classes satirizing the high moral tone of the upper class and government, and references to contemporary figures and events.
What kind of music was brought with “The Beggar’s Opera?”
Drinking songs, Folk songs, and Children’s songs with suggestive lyrics set to sweet music.
How many consecutive performances did “The Beggar’s Opera” run for?
62
The Opera of Flora, or Hob in the Well
First documented musical theatre performance in America, premiering Feb. 18th, 1735 at the courthouse in Charleston, SC.
The Playhouse on Dock Street
First professional theatre opened in 1736 in Charleston, SC, destroyed by fire in 1740, and rebuilt twice.
Who founds the first professional Ballad Opera company in NYC in 1753?
Lewis Hallam
When did Lewis Hallam move his company to Philadelphia?
1759
What was the issue with performing Ballad Operas in Pennsylvania?
They weren’t allowed to be performed on stage, Quakers thought it was immoral
What was the issue with performing ballad operas in Pennsylvania?
They weren’t allowed to be performed on stage, Quakers thought it was immoral
What did Hallam fight to repeal?
Blue Laws
How many seats did the Chatham and Bowery Theaters sit?
2,500 and 4,000
What occurred in playhouses?
Booing European works, Picnics, Fights breaking out, Refreshments, and Prostitution
What did the playhouse performances encompass?
Fast-paced Tempo and vocal energy, Gas lighting, Large gestures, Songs, dances, freaks, animals, comedians, and circus acts
Tom and Jerry
1823 smash hit in London breaking Beggar’s Opera record, running for four months at Park Theatre in NYC.
What did Tom and Jerry represent and incorporate?
Important structural model for a successful nineteenth century musical, interchanging structure, songs, dances, and scenes, rambling, and plots with no narrative.
Niblo’s Garden
The greatest entertainment complex of the 1800s, opening 1823, and housing P.T. Barnum’s first exhibition.
Progression of Theaters in NYC
1820-2 theaters in 1820, 4 theaters in 1830, 8 theaters in 1840, 14 theaters in 1850, 20 theaters in 1870, 26 theaters in 1899
Important Theaters in NYC
American, Bowery, and Lyceum
American Theater
Nicknamed the African, presented first African-American stage entertainment in NYC.
Bowery Theater
First NYC theater lit by gaslight; burned down four times.
Lyceum Theater
First theater lit by electricity.
Minstrel Shows
Beginning in the 1830s, showcasing white actors performing black music and dance styles as a grotesque parody. Blackface was also introduced.
The Virginia Minstrels
Four white men performing in blackface, performing around the world and inspired other minstrel companies, and 1856, there were 10 minstrel companies in NYC.
Three Acts of Minstrel Shows
1st: Series of songs, dances, jokes, 2nd: Same as first part but less structured, and 3rd: Skit with songs and dances.
When were Minstrel Shows popular ‘til?
1950
The Scottsboro Boys
Directed by Susan Strohman, opening at the Lyceum Theater in 2010, telling a story of nine black teenagers falsely accused of rape and imprisoned in 1931. Told using the performance traditions of the Minstrel Show, making it a polarizing and controversial show.
When was Burlesque popular?
The 1840s
Burlesque
“A variety show of the type that often included a striptease,” based on selling sex in the form of the display of female bodies and satirizing cultural highlights of their times.
Laura Keene
A writer, actress, producer, and business woman who leased the Metropolitan Theater and created a Burlesque show from 1856-1863.
What were Laura Keene’s accomplishments overshadowed by?
Starring in Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC on the night Lincoln was assassinated (cradling his head in her lap).
Who got their start in Burlesque before it declined?
Fanny Brice, Mae West, Abbott and Costello, Al Jolson, WC Fields, Sid Caesar, and Danny Kaye.
Purpose of Burlesque
Training ground for writers, actors, designers who would go on to star in vaudeville and “legitimate” theatre, defined by its nudity when it had to compete with Vaudeville.
Vaudeville
Defined by its organizational structure, driven by the manager, who wrote, directed, produced and starred in their own works.
Tony Pastor: Father of Vaudeville
Born in NYC in 1837, became enthralled with minstrelsy, a part of a minstrel troupe and toured the country. Saloons hired variety acts to entertain and he was one of them and he produced his own show at age 28.
Changes to Vaudeville made by Pastor
Opened doors to women and shows became family-friendly.
Pastor’s Reputation
Perfectionism, treating his acts well, and performing in the shows himself.
What did Pastor include in his shows?
Dancing, Singing, Freaks, Jugglers, Acrobats
T/F - All major Musical Theatre Artists in late 19th and early 20th century worked with Pastor
True
Who did Pastor learn the Art of Management from?
P.T. Barnum
