1920's & 1930's
What shows by Florenz Ziegfeld were packed with war-related material, songs, dances, famous performers, etc?
Follies
The 1940's - 1960's is typically referred to as the ____________________
Golden Age of Broadway
Who composed the musical Rent?
Jonathan Larson
________ is Broadway’s highest grossing show.
The Lion King
A triple threat in musical theater is someone who is good at...
singing, dancing, and acting.
What style of singing did Ethel Merman help popularize?
Belt
Who were the two most well-known collaborators of The Golden Age?
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein
Name a musical (besides Annie) that came out of the 1970s.
Man of La Mancha, Cabaret, 1776, Hair, etc.
Who wrote In the Heights?
Lin Manuel Miranda
Musical theater features a ________style of acting because everyone in the audience needs to read your expression. A performer’s acting also needs to match their singing.
presentational
What two events in American history caused a lull in the musical theater scene in the 1930s?
The Great Depression A horrible economy; people didn’t have money to spend on entertainment
“Talking Pictures” (Movies)- Silent movies could now add sound (Why go see expensive live theater when you can see a cheaper movie?)
Name the actress who sings “The Trolley Song” in the video we watched in class.
Judy Garland
What is a technomusical?
In these musicals, spectacle is the selling factor, and the reason for audience thrills. There is an imbalance between effects and content.
Describe characteristics of 21st century musicals.
21st Century Musicals are a ‘melting pot’ of everything (legit/belt, cheap/expensive, fantasy/realistic, comedic/dramatic).
Discuss the origins of musical theater. What two performance styles had the biggest influence on musical theater?
European Opera (telling a story on stage through singing) and Vaudeville (variety act including singing, dancing, acting, and other tricks).
What was the biggest overarching theme in early musical theater performances, and WHY?
Spectacle was the biggest overarching theme in these productions.
Broadway producers could afford to put on large scale productions, and people could afford to go and see shows.
What play by William Shakespeare inspired the plot for West Side Story?
Romeo and Juliet
How were musicals in the 1970s different from musicals in the Golden Era? What would most of these musicals focus on?
The 1960s-70s was a time of “issue-driven” musicals where a social or political issue shares center stage with the plot of the show. Some issues discussed in these shows were women’s rights, minority rights, Vietnam protests, etc.
List three 21st century musicals.
Wicked (Mega-Musical)
American Idiot (Rock Musical)
Book of Mormon (R-rated Comedy)
Carrie: The Musical (Horror)
Hairspray (Nostalgic 1950s-60s Sound)
The Light in the Piazza (Legit Musical)
Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark (Comic Book Musical)
Hamilton (Hip-Hop Musical)
so many- list them and I'll know
What is a pit used for in musical theater?
it is where the orchestra plays music!
Why was Show Boat important? (list at least 3 reasons)
First musical to be racially integrated (white and black actors being on stage together)
First musical to show an interracial marriage
First musical to show a character of mixed race
Name at least two musicals composed by the “kings” of the Golden Age Era.
Why was the musical Rent unique in the 1990s? (3+ reasons)
Rent realistically portrayed struggles of being a young person in modern America by focusing on a group of friends diverse in race, sexuality, religion, and gender – all living in NYC while struggling with poverty, relationships, and illness (specifically AIDS). It catered to a desired demographic audience age (late teens and 20s).
Rent showed a musical can be small, inexpensive, and intimate (unlike huge mega musicals). It also showed Broadway musicals can be extremely diverse and inclusive in their onstage representations.
What was unique about Hamilton’s casting choices?
It told the story of America's founding fathers through eyes of America today. Every actor, except for King George, is a person of color
Demonstrate the difference between belt singing and legit singing.
sing!