Musical Theatre - Class Notes PDF

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1 MUSICALS OUTLINE 11/29 Spring awakening- The Newer Rock musicals o 60-70s culture and music evolved o Musicals now follow the musical trends o Musicians are apart of the show, they are playing live on the stage o Broadway casts people who can act and those who can play the instruments themselves- economical, and more interesting Current issues of race and ethnicity in entertainment o Hamilton open audition-non-white characters o Union- was upset because everyone should be encouraged to try out  Cant say “non-white” characters o Hamilton says that it is essential for the show- to be performed by non-white actors  Not going to cast them, but they can come! o Colorblind casting vs Whitewashing  Colorblind- casting a role without considering ethnicity  Newer idea  Age and gender  Romeo and Juliet-back actors or mixed race  Whitewashing- to cast white actors in historically non-white roles  Othello is the most common example  Ned Kynaston- black face  Mickey Rooney as Japanese- we see it as a comical stereotype  Popular in the mid- 20th century  When does it cross a line??  Psychologist suggest stereotyping is a primitive neural method of pre- mapping types  Are they dangerous or not??  This suggests that WE CAN NOT STOP stereotyping  The first “original form of entertainment from the United States”  Billy Van- used to make a commentary on African Americans  Now very inappropriate  We also see  Blackface  Brownface  Yellowface How is diversity trending on Broadway right now?  Minority actors landed more roles than ever before  3% annual increase in “non-white” members in the audience every year  Hamilton wins more Tony nominations in the history of theatre o Origins of the Broadway Musical  The great white way

2 Super dangerous to go out at night in NYC- so the huge stores payed to put in gas lamps  Attracted people to the center of NYC during night- wanting to shop, and have entertainment From Vaudeville to Cinema- Popular Culture and Entertainment  Several different acts  Physical feats  Staged battles  Used songs and music- Just not as one piece  What Changes?? The “taste” for storytelling  A competition from Hollywood’s new Film industry  A musical “book” or Libretto THE BIRTH OF THE STORY PART OF THE MUSICAL  It tells a clear story  Creates understandable characters  Creates moments that “call characters to song” Show Boat  The first “musical book”  Paul Robeson- the first actual black actors to perform Othello in the US  Anything Goes o Cole Porter 1934 o Jazz and we see an integration of white and black musicians o Dance doesn’t advance the story line  Oklahoma o 1949 o Dance took on part of the narrative structure o “No legs, no jokes, no chance” NO LONGER THE TRUTH o Rogers and Hammerstein o Are the dances “justified”??  Pajama Games o 1956 o “Steam Heat” o Choreography Bob Fosse  West-side story 1957 o Leonard Bernstein o Stephen Sondheim o How to make the Story (book) even more compelling? o Look at Shakespeare- Romeo and Juliet o Montagues and Capulets become Sharks vs Jets o The orchestral score- very modern o Human voices punctuate- as if there voices were part of the music  Cabaret 1960s 

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o Civil rights issues in US o Then in Berlin- duality of the story o Bob Fosse- Director and Chorography o Audience becomes part of the show Hair- The first “rock musical” o Stephen Sondhiem written so many hits! Into the Woods o “agony”...