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Musical Theatre History
MT History Final
110
Other
Undergraduate 2
12/09/2013

Additional Other Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Bob Fosse
Definition
Choreographer: Pajama Game (Steam Heat), Cabaret, All That Jazz, and Sweet Charity Revival.
Sexual, Turned in feet, vaudevill tricks/humor
Term
Vaudeville
Definition

Early Performing Arts form, a variety show (combination circus and theatreical pieces). Big Time/Medium Time/Small Time. 11 o'clock numbers.
Nicholas Brothers

W. C. Fields

Bert Williams

Eddie Cantor

Al Jolson 

Term
The Cradle Will Rock
Definition

Labor Opera (musical comedy)

Shown From a working class perspective.

Funded by the Federal Theatre Project.

Term
George M. Cohan
Definition
Wrote Little Johnny Jones, "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Yankee Doodle Boy"
Term
The Nicholas Brothers
Definition
Fayard and Harold, Vaudeville tap dancers and acrobats. Showed the sophistication of African American men. Headliners.
Term
Oscar Hammerstein II
Definition

Integrated Musicals. 

Envisioned an operatic musical where the songs functioned to solve the narrative. 

Richard Rodgers (music) and Hammerstein (lyrics)

Showboat, Oklahoma!, Carousel, King & I, South Pacific, Sound of Music, Cinderella, Annie Get Your Gun

Term
The Ziegfeld Follies
Definition
Massive musical extravaganza, Tableaux Vivant (high art) or Tin Pan Alley (Low Art)
Term
Integrated Musical
Definition
The music is fully involved in the plot--they are written for one another. Brainchild of Rodgers & Hammerstein Formula
Term
Richard Rodgers
Definition

First w/ Larry Hart (Rodgers & Hart) then Oscar Hammerstein II (Rodgers & Hammerstein). Composer of Rodgers & Hammerstein team. 

Oklahoma! King and I South Pacific Sound of Music Annie Get Your Gun

Term
Jerome Kern
Definition

Composer: Show BoatAnnie Get Your Gun

Collaborated with Oscar Hammerstein II.

Composed "The Way You Look Tonight" (Dorothy Fields)

Term
Dorothy Fields
Definition

Lyricist

Weber & Fields: "On The Sunny Side of the Street"

Herbert-Fields: Annie Get Your Gun, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Term
Cole Porter
Definition

Composer: Anything Goes, Kiss Me, Kate

Witty musicality with implied sexuality

Term
Annie Get Your Gun
Definition

Music + Lyrics: Irving Berlin

Libretto: Dorothy Fields

Producer: Rodgers and Hammerstein

Stars: Ethel Merman, Ray Middleton 

Source: Life story of Annie Oakley

·      Songs: “There’s no Business Like Show Business.” “Anything you can do.”

Term
The Black Crook
Definition

The first "musical" in 1866.
Originally written as a ballet, but turned into a musical melodrama. A hot, hot mess.

pulchritude: emphasizing feminine beauty to cover up how bad the show was.

Term
The Interlocuter
Definition

Emcee of a Minstrel Show, the only white man

Ends ever Segment

Term
Stump Speech
Definition
In the vaudeville act of a minstrel show, a long speach about nothing.
Term
The Headliner
Definition
11 o'clock number, the main event in a vaudeville show. Right before the closing act. (Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Bert Williams, Nicholas Brothers)
Term
Princess Musicals
Definition

1915-1918, Intimate, low-budget musicals. Developed the musical comedy structure. Elizabeth Marbury, Jerome Kern, Guy Bolton, and P.G. Wodehouse.

Only 7 ever made

Term
Cinderella Musicals
Definition
"Rags to Riches" shows. One of the Begats. Easy to make, all followed the same basic plotline.
Term
Miscegenation Scene
Definition
The scene in Show Boat when it is revealed that Julie is mixed race and cannot marry a white man, so her husband mixes her blood with his.
Term
Conditional Love Song
Definition
R&H Formula, two lovers sing a song about how they aren't in love, railing on the other. Annie Get Your Gun, My Fair Lady, Sound of Music
Term
Kander & Ebb
Definition
Kander (Composer) and Ebb (Lyricist), wrote Cabaret, Chicago, and The Scottsboro Boys, known for Vamps, Screamers, Story Songs, and 3/4 Waltz. Concept Musicals.
Term
Federal Theatre Project
Definition
New Deal project to fund theatre in the Great Depression. Birthed The Cradle Will Rock.
Term
"Rose's Turn"
Definition

Gypsy; Music: Jule Styne, Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim, Producer: David Merrick. Performed by: Ethel Merman (orig.), Angela Lansbury, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, and Patti Lupone. 

Screamer--Rose Breaks down. 

Term
Jule Styne
Definition

Jazz background. Repurposed songs instead of writing completely new ones. 

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Peter Pan, Funny Girl. "Don't Rain on My Parade"

Term
David Merrick
Definition

"The Abominable Showman"

Prolific Producer (~90 shows), 20% of B-Way in 1960 under his Employment. Producer of Gypsy, came out on stage during the show. Total a-hole, but like, awesome.

Term
Gypsy
Definition

Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Libretto- Arthur Laurents

Director- Jerome Robbins

 Music- Jule Styne

Producer- David Merrick, Leland

Stars: Ethel Merman

Source: My G String Mother (memoir)

Screamers, Star Vehicle, Musical Comedy, Defies Stereotypes, Breaks Barriers between audience and performer. 

Term
Moss Hart
Definition

Director: My Fair Lady, Camelot.

Possibly Bisexual? 

Also wrote for Hollywood.

Term
My Fair Lady
Definition

"The Perfect Musical"; Supremely integrated, Musically Brilliant.

Music: Frederick Lowe

Lyrics & Libretto: Alan Jay Lerner

Direcor: Moss Hart

Choreo: Hanya Holm

Producer: Herman Levin

Stars: Julie Andrews, Rex Harrison

Source: Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw

R&H Tried but couldn't get it right. 

Main Characters: Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins

Term
Agnes de Mille
Definition

Choreographer known for Dream Ballets

Choreographed Oklahoma!

Used dance as a fully-formed narrative language.

Term
Sally Bowles
Definition

Headliner in the Kit-Kat Club in Cabaret. Original: Jill Hayworth; Film: Liza Minelli; Revival: Natasha Richardson

Must make the choice between keeping her Cabaret lifestyle and aborting her baby--chooses to abort.

Term
"Ol' Man River"
Definition

Song in Show Boat made famous by Paul Robeson.

Composed by Jerome Kern, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. 

Term
Double Song
Definition

Irving Berlin

Consists of 2 Separate songs that express a different point of view yet are composed to be sung together. The lyrics don't bump into each other; one song is smooth, the other rhythmic

Example: "Old Fashioned Wedding" (Annie GYG)

Term
Screamer
Definition

Songs that build throughout the duration: notes get higher and volume increases. inspired by a will/need to survive. 

Ex.: "Rose's Turn," "Defying Gravity," "Come to the Cabaret"

(Defining trait of Kander & Ebb)

Term
Irving Berlin
Definition

Composer: Annie Get Your Gun (After the death of Jerome Kern)

The Double Song. "Irving's Sexist-Racist Country Show."

"Oh! How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning!" <-- Clip, he wrote and performed it

Term
West Side Story
Definition

Music: Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Libretto: Arthur Laurents

Director/Chorographer: Jerome Robbins

Producer: Harold Prince & Robert E. Griffith

Songs: "Something's Coming" "Tonight" "America" "Somewhere"

Stars: Chita Rivera, Larry Kert, Carol Lawerence

BROWN FACE

Term
Ethel Merman
Definition

The Original Broadway Diva.

Mama Rose (Gypsy) Annie (Annie Get Your Gun)

Term
Ballad Opera
Definition
A satirical play with traditional or operatic songs: The Beggar's Opera
Term
Burlesque
Definition

Sex, Songs, and Transgressive Comedy

Lydia Thompson, the mother of Burlesque: "Lydia and her British Blondes"

Term
Gilbert & Sullivan
Definition

Gilbert (lyricist), Sullivan (Composer)

Famous for Patter Songs

Defined the comic opera: absurd situations, patter songs, articulation, lyrics, inner and end rhyme, lampooning Victorian life.

Pirates of Penzance

Term
Mr. Tambo & Mr. Bones
Definition
The end-men of a minstrel show. Played the tambourine and clappers respectively.
Term
Bert Williams
Definition
Top paid black actor in his lifetime, a blackface African American performer in minstrel and vaudeville shows
Term
The 11 O'clock Number
Definition
The show-stopper in the second act in a Vaudeville show, the Headliner's song.
Term
Banjo Eyes
Definition

Eddie Cantor's signature schtick.

"Makin' Whoopee"

Term
Al Jolson
Definition

The Jazz Singer, first "talkie".

"The World's Greatest Entertainer," wore blackface because he was uncomfortable with himself and his identity. 

Term
Eddie Cantor
Definition
Vaudeville blackface performer, known for banjo eyes. Was in the Follies. Tiny little guy, squirrley looking. "Makin Whoopie"
Term
Lorenz Hart
Definition

Lyricist with Rodgers (Rodgers and Hart) before Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Small Homosexual Jewish man who hated himself: raging alcoholic.

Known for witty, incisive, sophisticated, cynical, and pyrotechnical music. 

Term
The Berlin Stories
Definition
Written by Christopher Isherwood, source for I Am A Camera, the source for Cabaret
Term
Marc Blitzstein
Definition
Composer-lyricist of The Cradle Will Rock, his first musical comedy, though he was already a classical composer.
Term
Dream Ballet
Definition
Made famous by Agnes de Milles, uses choreography as a narrative tool. Oklahoma!
Term
Labor Opera
Definition
Musical to represent the working class: The Cradle Will Rock. 
Term
Jerome Robbins
Definition

Director/Choreographer: West Side Story, Gypsy

Communist. The "Show Doctor" would come in and fix failing shows: Funny Girl. Died young.

Term
Arthur Laurents
Definition

Librettist: Gypsy, West Side Story

Director: La Cage Aux Folles

Term
Angela Lansbury
Definition

Film & Stage Actress

Mame, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd

Mrs. Potts (BATB)

Murder, She Wrote; Picture of Dorian Gray.

4 Tony Awards.

Term
Michael Butler
Definition
Producer: Hair (The Public Theatre)
Term
Julie Andrews
Definition

Actress & Singer

Originated Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady

Came in completely new and inexperienced, intimidated by Hollywood veteran Rex Harrison

Maria The Sound of Music (film)

Term
George Bernard Shaw
Definition
Author of Pygmalion, the source material for My Fair Lady
Term
Stephen Sondheim
Definition

Kati's Boyfriend.

Lyricist: West Side Story, Gypsy

Music & Lyrics: Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with GeorgeCompany

Mentored (raised) by Oscar Hammerstein II.

"Content Dictates Form, God is in the Details, Less is More, all for the sake of Clairy."

The Concept Musical

Counterpoint, Contrafactum, and Leit Motif

Term
James Rado
Definition

Co-Authored Hair with Jerry Ragni

Originated Claude Bukowski

Term
Hair
Definition

Music= Galt McDermot

Lyrics+ book= Ragni, Rado

Director- Tom O’ Horgan

Producer- Michael Butler

Songs= “Aquarius”, “Let the Sun shine in”, “Hair”, “Easy to be Hard”

Performers= Rado, Ragni

An Original Musical "Be-In"

Term
Lerner & Loewe
Definition

Alan Jay Lerner (Lyricist/Librettist), Frederick "Fritz" Loewe (Composer) team: My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Camelot

Known for lush scores, sophisticated lyrics, and fantastical settings. 

Waltz style music, no syncopation. Loewe 17 years Lerner's senior. 

Term
Pygmalion
Definition
Written by George Bernard Shaw, source material for My Fair Lady.
Term
Contrafuctum
Definition
the substitution of one test for another without changing the music
Term
Counterpoint
Definition
a combination of two or more melodies that are played simultaneously
Term
Leitmotif
Definition
a short recurring musical phrase associated with a particular idea, person, place, or thing.
Term
Alain Boubil & Claude-Michel Schonberg
Definition

Boubil (lyrics), Schonberg (music) for Les Miserables: originally written in French and translated for Broadway.

Adapted in English by Trevor Nunn & John Caird.

Counterpoint, contrafactum, leitmotif, harmony.

Term
Sir Andrew Loyd Webber
Definition
British Composer: Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Evita
Term
Cameron Mackintosh
Definition
Producer of basically every popular British Musical: Les MisérablesThe Phantom of the OperaMary PoppinsOliver!Miss SaigonCats.
Term
Terrance Mann
Definition

Originated: Rum Tum Tugger (Cats), Jerry (A Chorus Line), Javert (Les Miserables), Beast (BATB).

Charles in the upcoming Pippin revival. 

Term
Trevor Nunn
Definition
Adapted Les Miserables to English for Broadway.
Term
Patti Lupone
Definition

DIVA

Evita (Evita), The Cradle Will Rock revival, Anything Goes, Oliver!, Les Miserables, Gypsy, Annie Get Your Gun, Company

Term
Chita Rivera
Definition
Original Anita in West Side Story. Actually of Puerto-Rican descent.
Term
Les Miserables
Definition

REVUE-SICAL/Megamusical

Music: Claude-Michel Schonberg

Lyrics: Alain Boubil

Original French Text: Alain Boubil & Jean-Marc Natel

English Adaptation: Trevor Nunn & John Caird; James Fenton; Herbert Kretzmer

SOURCE: Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name

6680 perf.

 

  • Musical elements carry dramatic heft
  • Counterpoint, contrafactum, leitmotif, harmony
  • Relatively Simple Staging
Term
Megamusical
Definition
SPECTACLE. Not as much about the story as it is about entertaining and blowing the audience away. Hugely expensive.
Term
Revuesical
Definition
Sung-through musical that undermines dramatic momentum in opposition to Aristotle's unity of time.
Term
Jerry Herman
Definition

Composer known for simple, hummable melodies. Sondheim's antithesis. Known for marches and waltzes, alternating between major and mind, and inspirational lyrics with twist endings. 

Composer & Lyricist: La Cage Aux FollesMame, Hello Dolly

Term
La Cage Aux Folles
Definition

Music and lyrics: Jerry Herman

Director: Arthur Laurents

Book: Harvey Fierstein

The beginning where not only one person produces a show: the corporatized musical producer

Stars: George Hearn and Gene Barry

"I Am What I Am"

Term
George Hearn
Definition
Orignal Albin in La Cage. "I Am What I Am"
Term
Harvey Fierstein
Definition

Dat voice.

Wrote the book for La Cage, Newsies, Kinky Boots.

Started performing in drag at 15.

Played Edna Turnblad in Hairspray

Term
Michael Bennett
Definition
Choreographer & Director: Company, A Chorus Line, Promises, Promises, Follies, and Dream Girls
Term
Donna McKechnie
Definition
Original Cassie in A Chorus Line, breifly married to Michael Bennett
Term
Marvin Hamlisch
Definition
Composer: A Chorus Line
Term
The Workshop Process
Definition
The process by which A Chorus Line was written: written as they went based on interviews of dancers.
Term
Company
Definition

Libretto: George Furth

Music and lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Director/Producer: Hal Prince

Choreography: Michael Bennett

Stars: Elaine Stritch (Joanne), Dean Jones, Larry Kert

Songs: "Being Alive" "Company" "Ladies Who Lunch"

Non-linear, a series of vignettes. Metaphysical setting. Cynicism is key.

Trapped in their own isolation.

Term
Elaine Stritch
Definition
Joanne in Company, holding a mug of gin during recording of "Ladies who Lunch"
Term
Concept Musical
Definition
Director's vision must be clear, and the overall concept can precede the script. Nonlinear, fragmented musicals. Tend to do well in revival because they are built as concepts, and can therefore be placed in any context (e.g. Company)
Term
Harold "Hal" Prince
Definition

Director & Producer of Company, Cabaret. Produced West Side StoryThe Pajama Game

Directed/produced 43 different plays and musicals plus 22 revivals. 

Term
Disneyfication of Broadway
Definition
Broadway goes corporate. Times square became a theme park. Theatre belongs to everyone because everyone can relate, but does it really? Tickets are hugely and unnecessarily expensive.
Term
Beauty and the Beast
Definition

1994 Disney Musical. Incredible advances in costume design, makeup, and tech. Megamusical: huge specitcal. 

Dramaturgically driven show, recreating the effects of animation onstage. R&H Formula.

Term
Mel Brooks
Definition
Wrote the music, lyrics, and book for The Producers
Term
The Producers
Definition

Movical!

New method of marketing and advertising thorugh its stars.

Music & Lyrics: Mel Brooks

Book: Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan

Stars: Nathan Lane & Matthew Broderick

Won 12 Tonys

Term
The Movical
Definition

Movies made into stage musicals.

Trend in the new millenium.

Ex: Hairspray, Elf, Producers, Legally Blonde

Term
Juke Box Musical
Definition

Modern B-Way Trend

Musicals created by popular Composers/out of popular songs

Ex: All Shook Up, Across the Universe, Movin' Out, Jersey Boys

Term
Nathan Lane
Definition
Star of The Producers, The Adaams Family. Voice of Timon in Lion King. In La Cage Film.
Term
RENT
Definition

Music, Lyrics, and Book: Jonathan Larson

Director: Michael Greif

Choreo: Marlies Yearby

Producers: NY Theatre Workshop

Stars: Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin

Source: La Boheme

"Queer Temporalities"

 

Term
Jonathan Larson
Definition

Book, Music, and Lyrics of RentTick, Tick, Boom!, JP Morgan Saves the Nation

Died the morning of the first preview of Rent

Rent was semi-autobiographical--characters loosely based on his own life

Term
RENT-heads
Definition
fans obsessed with RENT and buy anything having to do with the show
Term
Audra McDonald
Definition

Actress and Singer

Studied classical music at Julliard

Star: Carrie (Carousel), Sarah (Ragtime), Bess (Porgy & Bess)

Escaped typecasting as a riffing African American woman: told she doesn't "sound black"

Term
William "Billy" Finn
Definition

Composer of A New Brain: "Heart and Music"

Composer for The Falsetto Trilogy and Brave Little Toaster

Suffered from the same illness as the main character in A New Brain

Works with James Lapine (Into the Woods)

Term
Michael Mayer
Definition

Director: Spring Awakening, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Millie (2002), American Idiot, Everyday Rapture

Poetry, Politics, and Popcorn

Directed Natl. Tour of "Angels in America"

Term
Bobby Lopez
Definition

Book, Lyrics, and Music: The Book of Mormon

Music & Lyrics: Avenue Q

The Simpsons, Scrubs, Wonder Pets, South Park, Phineas & Ferb, Winnie the Pooh, Wreck-it-Ralph

The golden boy of modern B-way

Term
The Book of Mormon
Definition

Musicals that Eat Their Young

Book, Music, & Lyrics: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Bobby Lopez

Director: Trey Parker, Casey Nichola

Awards on Awards.

Also wrote South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut<--Sondheim says is the best musical of the past 15 years

Term

Spring Awakening

 

Definition

Music: Duncan Sheik

Lyrics & Libretto: Steven Sater

Director: Michael Mayer

Choreo: Bill T. Jones

Stars: Johnathan Groff, Johnny Gallager, Lea Michelle

Source: 1891 play by Frank Wedekind

Songs: "Bitch of Living" "Totally Fucked" "Mama Who Bore Me"

Term
Wicked
Definition

Megamusical

Music & Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz

Libretto: Winnie Holzman

Director: Joe Mantello

Choreo: Wayne Cilento

Stars: Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Joel Grey

Source: Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked

Songs: "Defying Gravity" "For Good" "Popular"

A feminist musical, R&H classic with a girl meets girl formula

Term
Stephen Schwartz
Definition
Music & Lyrics: Wicked, Children of Eden, Godspell, Pippin
Term
Musicals Who Eat Their Young
Definition

Irony in the 21st century, head nods to the older forms of musical theatre. Uses tropes you recognize and puts them into their own form. Ex: Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Urinetown, Family Guy, South Park

IRONY.

Term
Idina Menzel
Definition

Orig: Elphaba (Wicked), Maureen (Rent)

Famous for her belt, strong female character roles. Not a trained singer (or at least not trained correctly) and has hurt her voice as a result.

Term
Kristin Chenoweth
Definition

Orig: Glinda (Wicked)

Energetic, blonde, soprano, female lead. 

Term
Matthew Broderick
Definition
Star: The Producers opposite Nathan Lane
Term
Bill T. Jones
Definition
Modern choreographer for Spring Awakening. Dynamic movement, internal and organic. Intorduced handheld microphones into his choreography.
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