Even if we have been able to see that musicals have been performed on the TV and at the cinemas, we are going to focus in the musical theatre which was the very beginning of this extraordinary artistic expression that combines music, songs, dialogues, dance and acting.
In order to you to understand how important musicals are we are going to describe some of the most important historical aspects (not all of them because there many). We have to know that musicals have been performed since ancient time, but the modern ones we know were a work of the Americans Harrigan and Hart. And know we will make a division in different years:
Renaissance to the 1800s: first of all it is very important to know that nowadays North America is the country of musicals but before becoming an independent country they received the influence of the Italian opera, the French Molière and the Elizabethan and Jacobean plays and an essential name: William Shakespeare. During the 18th century the most popular plays were “The beggar’s Opera” and “The Bohemian Girl”. However, until 1752 America didn’t have a real importance and it started its career with “The Merchant of Venice”.
1850s to 1880s: in Europe the Hervé’s opérette creation and the musical burlesque were very popular. But it was in 1866 when we saw the first American musical “The Black crook”. And as we said at the beginning to important people for this genre were Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart who also played in Broadway in those years. They tried to show the situation of the country with their comedies and burlettas.
1890s to the new century: in 1891 the Charles Hoyt’s play “A Trip to Chinatown” broke all the records in Broadway. In 1898 we saw the first play only performed by African American, “A Trip to Coontown”. But once again, during those years the top musicals were in London and America tried to copy most of the stories creating some of them like “The Belle of New York” which was the first American musical to be played in London.
Operetta and World War I: this genre arrived again to London and Broadway with “The Merry Widow” competing with the musical. In America Victor Herbert and their “Naughty Marietta” or “Babes in Toyland” were very important. But during the war people wanted to amuse themselves and they did it thanks to plays like “Irene” which was played in Broadway 670 times. During the 20th century America innovated in their musicals like Shubert Brothers did when in London still preferred the Edwardians one.
The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression: the 20s were full of songs, lights, dance and plays such as “No, No, Nanette” or “Oh, Kay!” but in order to innovate they presented in the Ziegfeld Theatre a new musical called “Show Boat” with a more elaborated plots.
1930s: Great Depression affected the musical business because people couldn’t afford it. However, during those years the scene we could see stars such as Fred Astaire and Ethel Merman. Furthermore, some producers moved from Hollywood to Broadway and created success such us “Hellzapoppin”. Moreover, once again, they tried to innovate and the political satire “Of Thee I Sing” won the Pulitzer Prize. This decade also knew the legendary musicals “West Side Story” and “Sweeney Todd”.
The Golden Age: Rodgers and Hammerstein created the revolutionary “Oklahoma!” which followed the example of “Show Boat” and whose song “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” won the Pulitzer. After that they also created some of the most important classic musicals such as “The King and I” or “The Sound of Music”.
1950s: during this decade we knew plays like “My Fair lady” and the performance of “Pygmalion” by Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. “The Threepenny Opera”, “The Fantasticks” “Ernest in love” were created.
1960s: many titles come to our minds during this decade like “Celebration”, “Hello, Dolly!” or “Funny Girl” but maybe you know better the legendary “Cabaret”. Other of those plays were the fairy tale play “Into the Wood” (very popular this year thanks to the Disney adaptation) or “Dear World”.
1970s to present: at the beginning we knew the new rock musicals such as “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Evita” or “The Rocky Horror Show”. Broadway also welcomed a huge variety of plays different from the usual style, but we could see other like “Chicago”, “Annie” or “Nine”. During the 80s we could see once again the European influence in Broadway with plays like “The Phantom of the Opera”, “Miss Saigon”, “Les Misérables” or “Cats”. In the 90s decade the Walt Disney Company had an important role in Broadway and plays like “The Beauty and the Beast” or “The Lion King” started to be performed. During the 2000 we didn’t only returned to the classic plays but we could also see the very important “Wicked”, “Billy Elliot”, “Hairspray” or “The Colour Purple” adapted from films.
To sum up, we could say that musicals, as you have seen, have been a very important part of the North American culture and they continue being one of the most acclaimed artistic expressions nowadays. We are very happy about have shown you this piece of art and we really hope you have enjoyed it!
