Broadway Musicals have always been the most exciting part of Broadway for me. They have tunes that make it so worthwhile to watch the show and not only watch but enjoy as well. An even better thing is that they have albums that will constantly remind you of the music even though the show is not running.
No matter whom the playwright is or whether the show has received reviews or not. There are shows that are bound to leave you spell bound with just how realistic they can be. The Broadway musicals actually take us into another time and place that makes us forget about the real world for a moment.
There are movies that have been made into Broadway musicals. Some people like to call them Disney on Broadway which I agree is a title that suits the show quite well. These shows are a hit more so with the children because of how they manage to accelerate the wide scope of the children imagination.
No matter how old or how young you are, the musicals are for everyone. Unlike other plays, it is rare to find one that has an age restriction. These will only happen with the wicked plays. Advances in technology have done little to influence Broadway. People who feel they might not enjoy the theater will always have the options of going to a Cinema to watch big screen movies. However if you are sure that you want maximum thrill, then Broadway is the way to go.
In this article we’re going to present a brief history of musical theater from its early beginnings right up to the present day.
Musicals actually started with the ancient Greeks who put on plays with songs. While they weren’t called musicals at the time, that is indeed what they were. The music was crude by today’s standards and the stories were not very well done, again by today’s standards, but this was the early beginning of what was to become the modern musical.
In the 1700s there were many stage entertainments, though again they were not called musicals. The first English language work that had any lasting value was The Beggar’s Opera which was done in 1728. It was a satirical spoof of the times. This was typical of the type of entertainment one would find up until the 1800′s.
Musicals, as we know them today, started in the 1800s with the French and Viennese Operettas. The works of Offenbach and Strauss were the first musicals to achieve international popularity.
The contemporary Broadway musical, as we know it today, took its form from these operettas and was done in what we call Minstrel Shows. These eventually gave way to a new form of musical known as Vaudeville.
It wasn’t until 1860 with the success of The Black Crook that the American musical really began to take off. During this time we were treated to the great works of Gilbert and Sullivan from 1871 to 1896.
During the early 1900s, composers like George M. Cohan and Victor Herbert gave musicals a new sound and style that is still popular to this very day. This style was then updated by composers such as Jerome Kern, Guy Boulton and P.G. Wodehouse.
By the 1930s the American musical had reached popularity the like of which it had never seen before, with composers such as Rogers and Hart and Cole Porter dominating the era.
By the 40s and 50s we were treated to some of the greatest musicals in what was called the modern era. These musicals included such classics as Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, The King and I, My Fair Lady, and the list goes on for miles.
In the 1960s we saw such great musicals like Hello Dolly, Fiddler On The Roof, and Hair, which was the first musical in the United States to feature nude actors.
By the 1970s musical theater had become pretty extravagant with the advances in technology and design. The 70s brought us such great shows as A Little Night Music, A Chorus Line, No No Nanette, Sweeney Todd and Evita.
But the hits kept coming and would continue to come, many from Britain. In the 80s we saw such great shows like Cats, Les Miserables and Phantom Of The Opera.
In the 25 years since, literally hundreds of musicals have hit the stage. Some great, some not so great. But what was once a humble beginning is now one of the major forms of entertainment, not only in the United States but all across the world.
The Hollywood musical is recognized as a distinguished part of our movie history, playing an integral role in the evolution of movies during the 1920s through 1950s. Today, despite this fact, most people are unaware of how they originally got their start. The development of moving pictures with sound during the 1920s paved the way for the era of Hollywood musicals. Prior to the development of the musical, as we are familiar with, there were some vaudeville fillers produced in the early 20th century that included music. While accepted by the audience, they were never as popular as the full production Hollywood musicals that America came to love.
During the mid 1920s, Warner Brothers studio began experimenting with something new known as Vitaphone. The Vitaphone provided a method of coordinating a musical soundtrack with film, thereby effectively creating a sound picture. This method, however, overlooked much of the huge potential regarding the adding of sound to motion pictures. At this time in movie history, Warner Brothers felt it was not necessary to hear the individuals talk, and merely wanted the sound to provide some musical background noise to film. It wasn’t until 1927 that Warner Brothers first introduced to the big screen singing along with sound in their release of The Jazz Singer; a remake of the Broadway musical of the same name.
The late 1920s brought difficult financial times to the country. It was during this time that Hollywood came to the publics rescue with the wonderfully entertaining diversion of the Hollywood musical. Hollywood movie studios began to release numerous musicals which offered the movie going public a chance to temporarily escape from the financial issues at hand. Some of the most popular and highly regarded musicals to come out during the 1930s included 42nd St, Bright Lights, and Gold Diggers. The 1939 musical, The Wizard of Oz is one of these classic musicals that still continues to entertain audiences today.
It was during the 1940s that the Hollywood musical really came of age and their popularity continued right through the 1950s. One of the more popular 1940s musicals was Yankee Doodle Dandy, a film that introduced movie lovers to a young James Cagney who gave a performance that earned him an Oscar. This movie continues to be one of the most famous musicals ever produced. Another popular title that has become a holiday tradition is The Bells of St. Mary’s.
The original Hollywood musical is a page out of movie history that can never be duplicated. The memories, however, are forever captured on film and continue to be enjoyed by audiences around the world.