The Evolution of American Musical Theater, Exams of Music

Download The Evolution of American Musical Theater and more Exams Music in PDF only on Docsity!

UIUC THEA 110 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND

ANSWERS 2024/

Kislan's Parts of a Musical the book, the lyrics, the score, the dance The Book generates the theater in musical theater; an outline of highly compressed dramatic development that provides a working umbrella for the songs and dances that distinguish a good production The Lyrics compact pattern of words that when set to music communicates information vital to the dramatic life of a show; put language to the task of expressing thoughts and emotions through the denotative and connotative meanings of words, patterns of literary development, and form denotative meaning explicit factual definition found in the dictionary connotative meaning a more emotional meaning derived from personal experience and associated less with fact than with memory and imagination the score reinforces emotions in drama in a way that cannot be duplicated by language alone the dance "the most direct expression of human feeling and sentiment"; transcends geography in a way that language cannot; humanizes expression in a way that music cannot Kislan's view on musicals musicals embody the spirit and philosophy of the theater of romance; enriches human life by raising the ordinary to the exceptional; musical theater is presentational; musical theater requires a strict acceptance of the convention unique to it Theater of Romance presents life as it should be total theater an artistic system that not only encourages the use of techniques beyond the spoken word for projecting dramatic ideas but makes nonliteral dramatic revelation a priority in the creative and interpretive process Naturalism a style of theater or film in which everything feels as if its actually happening for the first time

Realism portray human life as it really is Waiting for Godot very non-realistic and an extreme example of how some plays ignore verisimilitude Singing in the Rain perfect choreography, the combination of music and lyrics, and the rain itself arent truly real but there are still elements of reality present Musicals music plays a central role in the telling of the story and without the music the work would fall apart non-musicals do not rely on music to convey their message or tell their story verisimilitude the appearance of being true or real Elements present in a musical music, dance, instrumentation, singing Tom Jones advice on partnership have similar tastes, have different key talents, be able to behonest with each other, keep it a business partnership, come to agreements together Metatheatrics, alienation "breaking the fourth wall" Premise what the musical is really, truly about plot events that occur, and the sequence of the events, and the conflict in those events and the eventual resolution concept the delivery method that can become the guiding precept of the creation of the work workshops have a couple of people doing a "stage reading" for people who could produce competitions you submit your work, and it gives a lot of people the chance to see it and hopefully some of them have money production takes money; might get a production with an established company; might have to fundraise; have to find a place to rent The Disappointment first known musical written on these shores but it was stopped from ever being performed

20th century audinces typically white and middle class what laid the groundwork for the twentieth century American musical? H.M.S Pinafore HMS Pinafore writers gilbert and sullivan HMS Pinafore arrival 1878 The Good Years Floradora Floradora context setting in the Phillipines which along with Puerto Rico became a U.S. possession after the Spanish- American War Techno-pride Ziegfeld follies; automobile and motorboat on stage Techno-pride context marriage of man or woman and machine triumphing over adversity; symbol for American pluck, sportsmanship and technology America's Boosters: Teddy Roosevelt and George M. Cohan TR was the subjact of a number of songs and sketches Ziegfeld and TR first put TR on stage in his 1909 Follies George M. Cohan pioneered what became the essential of the form, tone, and national character of American musical comedies; upbeat patriotism but also xenophobia The Euro-Title Shows a chauvinistic patriotism that married positive exhibitions of U.S. naval intervention in foreign affairs with negative portrayals of foreigners, particularly non-Europeans African American Musicals before World War I to succeed a black performed had to conform to, and hence, perpetuate the stereotypes of his race created by white performers and endorsed by white audiences Blackface Minstrelsy exclusively a white urban, male, Northern phenomenon First minstrel show 1843 -- The Virginia Minstrels E.P. Christy Minstrels

first part: concert, the cast sat in a semicircle, the Interlocutor in the upstage center seat, and the end men at either end; second part: olio, series of unrealted songs and speciality performances; third part: one act skit almost always set on Sourth plantations 1855 blackface minstrelsy ceased to be an exclusively white phenomon; not mixed-race companies but solely African American troops Black Musicals and Mainstream Broadway most of the new black shows were revues or vaudeville- though their origins were in minstrelsy, they were broader in the scope of their material and tone In Dahomey the first full length musical written and performed entirely by African Americans to play a major broadway house, the New York Theatre Over There Over Here- America Awakens to the Noises of War from 1914 to 1918 only a few straight plays and fewer books musicals treated the war The War in Revue kept audiences mindful of the war, but also kept the tone of the shows as a whole light and entertaining Follies of 1915 Ziegeld and Joseph Urban created "America" "America" focused on America's armed forces and was more militant in tone than most of his earlier shows Follies of 1916 featured a convincing recreation of a North Sea naval battle; without live actors a war vessel appeared to be moving along in the ocean The Century Girl producers Ziegfeld and Charles Dillingham The Century Girl composers Irving Berlin and Victor Herbert The War in Book Musicals just three book shows touched on soldiering during the war Topical and Diversionary Musicals during the war in terms of book musicals only Ladies First touched on a topical subject other than the war Follies of 1919 touched on the Prohibition The Princess Theatre Shows shows that revolted against the "boy meets girl" concept Bolton told plausible tales about believable characters who spoke like everyone else

Operetta- A Casuality of War from 1900 to 1914, most book musicals to achieve success were European imports Operettas (book) usually took place in a romaticized past or fictious country and had artificially elegant dialogue and lyrics Winter 1917 Broadway entirely banished European operetta from its musical stages until nearly a year after the Armistice Goodbye Vienna- Hello Broadway more room for shows by American composers, lyricists, and librettists What is Theatre? the art of people acting out and giving witness to their most pressing, illuminating, and inspiring concerns What must exist for their to be theatre? conveys stories, emotions and thoughts; props and costumes; sitting in an actual theatre; performers; audience; space/idea Non-musicals start with playwright, producers, directors, designers, creative team, actors Musicals have all aspects of non musicals, but add composer, lyricist, music directors, choreographers, orchestra/band Opera dramatic work set to music Operetta (lecture) a short opera, light/humerous themes revue light theatrical entertainment with short sketches, songs, dances minstrels entertainers with blackened faces who use African culture vaudeville a mixture of speciality acts such as burlesque, comedy, and song and dance The Black Crook year 1868 The Black Crook writer Charles M. Barras The Black crook producer William Wheatley and Henry Jarrett The Black Crook music and lyrics took popular music from the times

The Black Crook Context end of the Civil war, people were actually able to have the time to go to the theatre; huge amount of infrastructure like trains were open to the public and affordable The Ziegfeld Follies years 1907 to 1931 The Ziegfeld Follies shows 21 Implications of the follies celebration of American identity; shaped and influenced how the world viewed American and American resources Glorification of the American Girl set the standard for what was considered desirable; managed to make sexy seem sophisticated The Follies and their Talents development of stars which was the catalyst for the creation of the book musicals Bert Williams first African American performer who had his history recorded The Follies and their Talents