Adam Blosse
MD - Lecturer - Music Systems
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
"Make Believe"
B&PC MT Performance Contexts Module - Lecturer: Adam Blosse
Week 5
The Story - "Why Believe'
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
A good story is about something the audience decides is interesting or important. A great story often does both by using storytelling to make important information interesting.
Identify areas of our lives where stories are important & where we find them.
Answers could include: learning languages, inducing entertainment, learning history etc.
What makes a good story?
Discuss: Narrative Structures, Character Arcs, Truthful Content
The Story - "Make Believe'
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
A book of a musical determines the show’s structure. If anything, a sung-through musical demands even more from the book writer. The songs must carry the story line, and the lyricist must work hand-in-hand with the librettist to determine what each song must accomplish dramatically and emotionally and how collectively these songs add up to a satisfying piece of storytelling.” — JAMES LAPINE
“The book writer provides the blueprint from which the rest of a musical is made. Most problems with a musical begin with the script, just as they do in a play. To underestimate the contribution of the librettist is to fundamentally not understand how a musical is made.”— TERRENCE McNALLY
“Without book writers, a musical is ‘a Ziploc bag of pearls.’ But with a book, the pearls become a necklace of great value. … A musical without a book would be a concert. If there is story, there’s a book, even if no one says a single sentence. The book is the thinking, the storytelling. It is the design, the big picture into which the actors enter and sing.” — MARSHA NORMAN
“The book writer is in charge of protecting the story, of managing all of the narrative threads in a musical, seeing to the progress of each character’s journey as it fits into the larger design.” — CRAIG LUCAS
“Perhaps the toughest, most pivotal and thankless job in musical theater is that of the book writer. Their work lays the groundwork that allows our songs to soar. Their words are the runway we take off on, the flight plan we follow and the key to our safe landing.” — ALAN MENKEN
The script/drama/story is at the heart of the musical and its creation.
The Story - "I Believe'
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Why was Solomon recognized as the wisest man in the world?
Because he knew more stories than anyone else.
Take a few minutes to consider your favourite story (in any form). Consider its characters and plot. Consider all their interactions and mediations. Consider its impact on culture and thus you and your perspective. Why has it been created like this?
Let us know what your favourite story is.
Do we have any commonalities within our class?
Are any of the techniques used to engage the audience in the story similar?
Pre-Golden Age - "yellow Brick Road"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
The Golden Age is generally considered to be in full swing from the 1940s. But to develop a greater understanding of what made it so golden, we will be attempting some case studies on two shows that bookend the era and work out the seminal developments from its comparison.
Pre-Golden Age - "yellow Brick Road"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Highlights between: [1900-1920s]
Franz Lehár | Jerome Kern | Irving Berlin | Al Jonson | Cole Porter |
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart | George and Ira Gershwin
Case Study- "Showboat"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
CASE STUDY- "SHOWBOAT"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Show Boat chronicles the lives of three generations of performers from the 1880s to the 1920s, who live and work on the Cotton Blossom, a floating theatre travelling between small towns on the banks of the Mississippi River.
The original production of the musical Show Boat took place in 1927 with a short tour before opening on Broadway to great acclaim. The show was revived on Broadway in 1932 and again in 1946 with a revised score. Additional New York revivals were produced in 1948 and 1954. A new production in 1966 had revised orchestrations. A 1989 production sought to restore the show to the creators’ original intentions. The 1994 production was Broadway’s longest running Show Boat and went on tour to London and Melbourne.
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
CASE STUDY- "SHOWBOAT"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Discussion & Note Taking:
Take 5 minutes to write up new thoughts.
What new things has been brought to light from the previous writings?
Discuss the context we now have.
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
CASE STUDY- "SHOWBOAT"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Discussion:
What is Showboat about? What themes do we see? How is it important?
Establish how much we know of the history of slavery and the Black experience in America at the turn of the century
Further Discussion: Jim Crow / Blackface in context of performance
The following video is a full length documentary on Showboat.
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Case Study- "Oklahoma!"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
CASE STUDY- "Oklahoma!"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Oklahoma! marked the first of nine Broadway shows written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, who would go on to become the most successful team in musical theatre history and dominate the genre for the next two decades. It also single-handedly revived the art form, being the first stage production to seamlessly integrate themes, plot and character into the score and was the first musical to release an original cast recording.
The landmark stage production was an instant success and already studios were scrambling for film rights, but Rogers and Hammerstein wanted to wait until the show had finished its run, which led to an unprecedented stretch of 2,212 performances, national and international tours, countless revivals and a film adaptation 12 years later.
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age I
CASE STUDY- "OKLAHOMA!"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Discussion & Note Taking:
Take 5 minutes to write up new thoughts.
What new things has been brought to light from the previous writings?
Discuss the new context we now have.
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
CASE STUDY- "OKLAHOMA!"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Discussion:
What is Oklahoma! about? What themes do we see? How is it important?
Establish how much we know about re-contextualising & revivals.
Further Discussion: New York Times Oklahoma! Revival Review
The following video is a full length Proms version of Oklahoma!
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Differences - "it takes two"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
What are the innate differences between a musical like Showboat & Oklahoma!
After extensive studying on the two musicals, list their technical differences.
An integrated musical vs non-integrated.
Differences - "it takes two"
Musical Theatre
The Golden Age
Homework Assignment:
Highlight the salient differences between Showboat & Oklahoma!
Some aspects you could mention include:
structure / book / music / choreography / style / target audience / instrumentation / lyrics / narrative arcs / character arcs / leitmotif / set / staging / psyche / humor / revivals etc.
~150-200 words
Upgrade your notes
Listen to new music / new ideas / resource the reading list.
Assignment Incoming:
Follow up on something you found 'problematic' during the two lectures and argue FOR its case as best you can. This is called 'steel-manning'. ~100-300 words.
Questions:
adamblosse@me.com
fb.com/adamblosse
Musical Theatre - The Golden Age I
By Adam Blosse
Musical Theatre - The Golden Age I
B&PC MT Performance Contexts Module - Week 5
