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92 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Book Show
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- A show with a libretto (contains music and lyrics) and a script.
- A story show with a single idea - The music should help tell the story or build character |
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Revues
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- A show of a bunch of collected material
- Could incorporate animal acts, scenes, dramatic monologue, or songs - It could appeal to a large audience because of its variety |
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Impresario
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-Someone who gathers the material for Revues
- Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. was one of the most famous Impresarios. |
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Vaudeville
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- vaudeville is a series of separate, unrelated acts on a common bill typically dancers, musicians, actors, trained animals, magicians, etc
- Reviews are a major part of Vaudeville - Much is about touring the country - Movies killed Vaudeville |
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Circuits
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- A collection of theaters owned by impresarios and producers across the country.
- chitlin circuit = famous African American circuit |
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Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.
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One of the most famous Impresarios
He ran large scale vaudeville shows called Ziegfeld's Follies Presented stars and sexy chorus girls |
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Eugene Sandal
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Body builder hired by Ziegfeld. He wore as little clothes as possible to attract women. Ziegfeld realized that sex attracts audiences.
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Burt Williams
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Minstrel actor who was hired by Ziegfeld. He has the ability to make you laugh and feel for him.
When Ziegfeld hired him many actors threatened to quit, and Ziegfeld called him on his bluff. |
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Cakewalk
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A strutting dance done in groups of people, often set to ragtime rhythms. Done by Burt Williams.
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Irving Berlin
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- Composer and lyricist
- Born Irving Balin, a Russian immigrant Jew - 1893 he immigrated to America - Got a job as a song pusher in Tin Pan Alley - Alexander's Ragtime Band was his first hit - Composed almost 2 dozen broadway shows - Began to sell producers who would put his songs in their shows - He got sick of writing for the Music Box Reviews and became a producer himself. - Wrote Annie Get Your Gun |
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Tin Pan Alley
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Where people went to buy pianos and sheet music
- Song Pushers-- a person who was hired to play the sheet music and sing, so the costumers could hear the sheet music they wanted to buy. Also called a Plugger. - Sold pianos there - Sold songs to the Ziegfeld Follies |
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Song Pushers
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- a person who was hired to play the sheet music and sing, so the costumers could hear the sheet music they wanted to buy. Also called a Plugger.
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Music Box Reviews
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Revues that are written entirely by one composer.
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As Thousands Cheer
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- Name of a Review that Irving Berlin wrote in 1934. -- Wanted a review with a coherent theme, like a book show.
Wanted it to be like you were reading a newspaper, with a series of songs. |
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Ethel Waters
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African American star, singer of Heatwave, from As Thousands Cheer. Great singer/dancer of blues music, and a celebrated dramatic actress.
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Easter Parade
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Grand finale song from As Thousands Cheer.
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Supper Time
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A song about a woman who's husband was lynched. It is about her talking about she told her kids and how she dealt with the loss. From As Thousands Cheer.
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Louisiana Purchase
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One of his first book shows that Irving Berlin wrote.
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Ethel Merman
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-A stage star. Worked together with Irving Berlin and created Annie Get Your Gun. Her voice was untrained and powerful.
-Debuted in the Gershwin’s hit “Girl Crazy” – made her a legend |
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Annie Get Your Gun
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Composer-- Irving Berlin
Emphasized American Themes Starred Annie Oakley, the female sharpshooter, and her rivalry and romance with Frank Butler |
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In-One
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When the curtain would close, and the character would come out and sing in front of the curtain during a scene change.
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Great American Songbook
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Before 1960, a huge percentage of the songs that became famous came from the stage.
Irving Berlin is considered one of the composers who wrote many songs in the Great American Songbook. |
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Jerome Kern
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Composer, not a lyricist.
Lyricists: P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton Born in New York Jewish immigrant family Started out as a song plugger on Tin Pan Alley selling music Kern's big break was from writing book musicals. Small scale book musicals in the Princess Theater. Many of his book shows were done between 1915 and 1918 Leave it to Jane-- one of the shows. Wrote Showboat |
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Showboat
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Composed by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein Magnolia/Gaylord = operetta type couple Parthy/Cap’n Andy = owners of the show boat (physical comedy) Julie = mixed race passing for white Ellie/Frank = comedic couple, song and dance team Queenie/Joe = black couple who keeps the show boat running The show was a risk because of the tragic element |
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Trunk Songs
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Pieces that were written for musical theater but not used. Maybe for preview performances or they didn't suit the show or actor. Composers can reuse them some other time.
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Blackface
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-white men dressed in black makeup to make fun of African Americans
-many white performers made their living doing this -African Americans performed in blackface too so they could get work |
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Cultural Appropriation
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-borrowing from a culture and synthesizing it into your own
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Coon Shouters
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-White performers who performed in blackface and sang specialty songs in black dialect
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Under the Bamboo Tree
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-Bob Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson
-Sung by white performers in blackface -About a Zulu king |
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Minstrelsy
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-songs, dances, skits, etc.
-blackface shows |
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Alexander's Ragtime Band
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-Irving Berlin’s first big hit
-Written in a ragtime style – allowed Ragtime music to be more widely accepted -Made famous by Sophie Tucker |
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You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun
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-and in-one song that Merman would sing in front of the curtain
-popular song from “Annie Get Your Gun” |
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Princess musicals
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-small scale shows written by Kern, Wodehouse, and Bolton
-1915-1918 -wrote about college life -allowed young, new people to be cast -takes advantage of youth and charm -got the attention of Broadway on Kern |
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Till the Clouds Roll By
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-originally written for “Oh Boy”
-love duet with a scaled down feel -more intimate |
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Sweet Adeline
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-Written with Oscar Hammerstein as the lyricist
-Brings a large scale serious vision to the theatre -“Some Girl is On Your Mind” shows how ambitious he is |
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Ol’ Man River
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-the heart and soul of “Show Boat”
-anthem of the show |
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Paul Robeson
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-Played Joe in Showboat
-the role of Joe was written for him -he could not participate in the original Broadway production -starred in revivals, London cast, and other incarnations |
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George Gershwin
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-Composer
-born to Russian Jewish immigrant parents -worked as a song plugger -composed through improvisation when he started -auditioned to work for Berlin transposing songs but was turned down because Berlin thought he should be writing his OWN songs -influenced by ragtime and jazz -VERY musically sophisticated -Not conservatory trained – just naturally very good and had more formal training than most composers -Wrote music for concert halls, musicals, and even classical music |
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Ira Gershwin
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-lyricist
-George Gershwin’s brother -Collaborated on many famous and popular musicals -Known as “The Jeweler” for his ability to set words into music -Together the Gershwins captured the energy of the jazz age |
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Swanee
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-George Gershwin’s most famous and well sold song
-Sung by Al Jolson |
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Rhapsody in Blue
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-first performed at the Aeolian concert
-mixes sounds of big band and classical orchestra -pulsing rhythm that is jazzy while also utilizing orchestral instruments -designed to capture the energy of NYC -piano pulls it in the direction of a classical piece -proved that classical music didn’t need to be consistent – it could be spontaneous and playful |
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Aeolian Concert
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-where “Rhapsody in Blue was first played
-also had symphonic arrangements of George Gershwin’s Broadway hits -also music from other big composers |
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Fascinating Rhythm
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-written by the Gershwins
-in the show, “Lady, Be Good” -written for Fred Astaire |
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Lady, Be Good
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first show the Gershwins collaborated on
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Girl, Crazy
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-debut of Ethel Merman
-contains many songs that became American classics -“I’ve Got Rhythm” -Made Ethel Merman a legend |
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Of Thee I Sing
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-satirized the American government
-building block for Gershwin to focus on actual issues in his shows -book by George S. Kaufman and Morris Ryskind -used sing-songy patter songs (remnant of Gilbert and Sullivan) -had a true book and story -lampooned the irrelevance of the vice president, the self importance of the supreme court, etc. -first musical to win the Pulitzer prize -John Wintergreen is running for president and someone comes up with the idea that he needs a wife to be elected. They have a beauty pageant to select his wife, but he ends up falling for someone else |
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Who Cares
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-Song from “Of Thee I Sing”
-Dian Devareaux wins the pageant and sues John Wintergreen for breach of promise because he falls in love and marries someone else (Mary Turner) -Uses mini melodies to make the audience think the song is imaginative -Dig at the public and the fact that they would elect someone for a superficial reason |
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Porgy and Bess
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-more opera than musical
-Gershwin’s most ambitious work for Broadway -“Folk opera” – wanted it to have a wide appeal -started as a novel by DuBose Heyward -inspired by music of the Gullah in South Carolina -takes place in “Catfish Row” -Gershwin wrote his own folk songs and spirituals -The uncut version of the show is about 4 hours long -Todd Duncan = original Porgy, Anne Brown = Bess -Show premiered to mixed reactions because of how it portrays African Americans -Was a financial failure at first, took years to get popular -Last show George Gershwin wrote for Broadway |
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DuBose Heyward
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-wrote the novel “Porgy” which inspired the Gershwins to write “Porgy and Bess”
-also wrote the book for the musical -wrote lyrics for the songs with heavier material |
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My Man’s Gone Now
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-Song from “Porgy and Bess”
-Sung by Serena -Original Serena = Leontyne Price |
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Walter Winchell
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-“The bard of Broadway”
-one of the most famous theatre writers of all time -had many nicknames for Broadway that captured its many sides -came up with the nickname, “The Big Apple” |
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Fred Astaire
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-born in Nebraska in 1916
-traveled with his sister Adele on the Orpheum circuit, then moved to Broadway shows -Adele dropped out of show business when she got married, and Fred goes to Hollywood -First screen test: “Small, balding, can dance a little” -Once he got into movies, he never went back to the stage -Was partnered with Ginger Rogers (famous for their ballroom dancing and mixing of dance styles) -Effortless dancing and timeless look, very elegant -Dances with his entire body (top half could be doing something completely different from bottom half) -Instinctively knew how to make the camera love him |
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime
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-Written by Yip Harburg
-spoke to the people living through the Depression -became an anthem of the 1930’s -at one point it was banned from the radio because it was too potent |
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The Great Depression
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-Some Broadway musicals showed life as it was while others were very escapist
-Art gave people an escape -Some used art as a form of social commentary |
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Cole Porter
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-offered Broadway audiences an escape from the world of the Depression
-wrote both music and lyrics -wrote about 30 musicals in 30 years -didn’t fit the archetype of the usual composer of this time (wealthy family, grew up in the Midwest, went to Yale) -He was gay and almost out of the closet -Married to a woman but more of a marriage of friends than a sexual relationship -Often described as “Sophisticated, urbane, dirty.” -He didn’t HAVE to work but he worked VERY hard -Strange that a privileged white man could reach people in such a special way -Many of his shows disappeared after playing around 100 performances -What is still known today is his songs, not his shows |
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Café society
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-people who went out every night
-their lives revolved around NY theatre -Cole Porter was the darling of this crowd |
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Let’s Do It
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-Cole Porter’s first commercial success
-Written for the musical, “Paris” -List song and very euphemistic |
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Anything Goes
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-epitome of a 1930’s musical
-Porter’s most well-known musical -Starred Ethel Merman as Reno Sweeney – a nightclub singer/religious evangelist -Billy Crocker – toying with two different types of women from two different worlds -Hope Harcourt – from a wealthy family, other than that there’s not much to her, ingénue -Gave Porter the opportunity to satirize the time, but also explore many manifestations of love -Takes place on a cruise ship -Had many revivals (each is reorchestrated and new songs are added or taken away) -Current version contains only about half of the original songs |
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I Get a Kick out of You
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-from “Anything Goes”
-shows Reno’s devotion to Billy -opening song -strange way to start a show because it is somewhat depressing -signifies her boredom with everything else in the world other than her obsessive love for Billy |
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All Through the Night
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-Hope and Billy’s love duet
-Plays up how good the sex is between these two characters -Man sings a verse, then woman – not much interaction -“Day is the enemy, night is my friend” – sexual part of the relationship is better than everything else |
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You’re the Top
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-Billy and Reno’s love duet
-List song -They were friends first so they have a much better relationship -They genuinely like each other -Contains references to many things specific to the time period but also many that are timeless (also a mix of high and low culture) -Roots you into the world of the show |
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Night and Day
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-performed by Fred Astaire in his first starring role opposite Ginger Rogers
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I’m a Gigolo
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-written for “Wake Up and Dream”
-has a lot of allusions to Cole Porter’s homosexuality |
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Make it Another Old Fashioned
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-written for “Pajama Hottie”
-sung by Ethel Merman -strange for the time to have a woman sitting alone at a bar -helped define women in musical |
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Miss Otis Regrets
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-became a very famous jazz standard
-Ella Fitzgerald has a famous cover -Takes someone from one class and puts her in another |
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Kiss Me Kate
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-written by Cole Porter in 1948
-about backstage life of a company putting on a musical version of, “Taming of the Shrew |
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Musical Movies
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-mass marketing culture on a wide scale
-movies were big during the Great Depression -in the 30’s they began to have synchronized sound -big production companies: MGM (Gene Kelly, Judy Garland), RKO (Fred Astaire) -movies raided Broadway’s talent pool -movies have less songs than stage musicals and more big production numbers |
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Production number
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-a chance to start a song and use it as a building block
-adds dancing, spectacle, and showed off how large-scale movies could be |
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Top Hat
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-1935
-used Irving Berlin’s songs -escapist entertainment -starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers -“Cheek to Cheek” |
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The Piccolino
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-big production number from “Top Hat”
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Gold Diggers of 1933
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-mix of escapism and realism
-was never a stage show, just made to be a movie -music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin -choreographed by Busby Berkeley -Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler starred -About the backstage life of a show and how hard it is to make money in show business |
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Torch song
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a sad love song
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Busby Berkeley
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-famous film choreographer
-less about pure dance and more about dance formations -had a background doing military parades -when filmed from above, you could see the patterns that the dancers created -stylistic signature of 1930’s movies |
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Pettin’ in the Park
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-production number from “Gold Diggers”
-starts out as a small cute song and turns into a HUGE production number |
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My Forgotten Man
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-from “Gold Diggers”
-starts out like a usual Busby Berkeley number, but it has a sadder and more real message -shadow effects used to show soldiers passing by -remake of the typical Hollywood production number, expect instead of the image getting more and more luxurious, we are confronted more and more with social issues |
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Richard Rogers
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-very famous composer
-only one of the big composers to stretch through both big eras of musical theatre -born and raised in NYC on the music of Jerome Kern |
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Lorenz Hart
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-worked with Richard Rogers until he died in 1943
-born and raised in NYC -loved Gilbert and Sullivan |
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Rogers and Hart
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-Rogers partnered with Hart until his death
-Rogers: music, Hart: lyrics -Their lyrics made people listen as hard as they had to when watching a Gilbert and Sullivan piece -At one point they had 4 shows on Broadway at once -Temperamentally they were very different, made their relationship difficult -Rogers leaned towards more optimistic romantic music while Hart was darker and more sardonic -Playfulness but also tension between them |
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Manhattan
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-Rogers and Hart’s first commercial success in 1925
-Had clever and intricate lyrics -Put them on the map -Did for them what “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” did for Irving Berlin |
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Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
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-based on a book by Mark Twain
-allowed them to work with Old England but adapt it to the American vernacular |
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Boys From Syracuse
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-based on “Comedy of Errors” by Shakespeare
-title is a double meaning because Rogers and Hart met and became friends in Syracuse -kept to the story while also reinventing it and infusing it with the American spirit |
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Falling in Love With Love
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- Song from “Boys From Syracuse”
-sung by Adriana (main character) -lyrics feel sad and jaded while the music is happy and carefree (contrast) -Adriana separates herself from people who are naïve about love -Vocal style is soprano ingénue while the lyrics seem like someone older and more weathered -Lots of subtext (committed to the idea of love while denying it at the same time) |
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Sing For Your Supper
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-song from “Boys From Syracuse”
-sung by 3 female leads (two sopranos, one belter) -tight harmonic trio style (very popular style of the time) -allusions to things that are old, but sung in a modern style |
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Babes in Arms
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-a Rogers and Hart musical written in 1937
-original version was very political -about group of people putting on a show to avoid being sent to a work farm |
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Johnny One Note
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-From “Babes in Arms”
-remnant of Ethel Merman’s long held notes in “I’ve Got Rhythm” -shows how much composers and lyricists learned from each other |
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On Your Toes
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-Rogers and Hart Musical written in 1936
-About a teacher at a University falling for a ballerina |
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It’s Got to Be Love
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-From “On Your Toes”
-Sung by Frankie and Junior -Tries to find a way to show how young people act when they fall in love -Slightly funny and sardonic way of expressing love -New kind of theatrical language -Expressed and initial attraction and annoyance at the same time (characters are compatible even though they annoy each other) |
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The Wizard of Oz
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-Iconic American movie from 1939
-Issues like the Depression and America thinking about entering World War II were indirectly dealt with -Although it is not specifically about the depression, the sepia tones and the atmosphere in the beginning alludes to it -Land of oz is all about escapism -Movie is timeless because Dorothy turns her back on the perfect world to go home -Makes us think about our values -“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” is one of the most iconic scenes in film history |
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Federal Theatre Project
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-Part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that was set up by FDR to help generate work
-FTP was the only time that arts programs were federally funded |
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John Houseman
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-Well-known producer, sometimes actor
-Head of producing for the Federal Theater Project |
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Marc Blitzstein
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-Composer, lyricist, and playwright
-Wrote, “Cradle Will Rock” -HUGE fan of Bertold Brecht -Adopted Brecht’s style for “Cradle Will Rock” (theatre should raise an intellectual message about politics) |
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Cradle Will Rock
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-Written by Marc Blitzstein
-Labor opera – short piece designed to support labor unions and decry the abuse of the American worker -Sometimes described as leftist propaganda -Archetypal characters (Brechtian style) like Joe Worker and Mr. Mister -Opposite of escapist theatre, this is deliberately abrasive -Shut down by the heads of the FTP a few days before it opened because it was seen as propaganda (literally padlocked the theatre) -Welles and Houseman got access to an empty theatre and got an audience in through the back entrance to see the show -Blitzstein sat at a piano onstage while the actors sang from the audience -Only a few performances -Iconic event in theatre history -Influential in later works of high style political theatre |
