MUSICAL THEATREA History

Forward by John Kenrick

“Let’s start at the very beginning…”

Did Broadway’s GOLDEN AGE end in the 1950s? 60s?

OR

Is the theatre itself “an art form of the now.”

January 12, 2011Glenn Beck Weighs In on ‘Spider-Man’

Another Pint of Melancholy‘Once,’ With Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, at Jacobs Theater

Spider-Man Musical Postponed To March…FinallyInternational Business Times, January 14

This textbook sidesteps the trend…• Musical Theatre has enjoyed several golden ages

• Elements of musical theatre have been around more than two thousand years before the time of Christ

• History shows that musicals thrive in “trendy” cities that meet FOUR essential criteria

1. A large and prosperous population

2. A thriving artistic community

3. A shared sense of optimism

4. Freedom from extensive government censorship

Offenbach’s LES BRIGANDS

Gilbert and Sullivan

My Fair Lady!

As an art form of the now…

Theatre defies second-hand appreciation…books, essays, recordings or videos cannot capture the visceral impact of live theatre

As an art form of the now…

Theatrical history can be examined, however by examining the people and environments that gave birth to great musicals in the past

As an art form of the now…

From Ziegfeld to David Merrick and beyond, denizens of the musical theatre have have done much to revise and reshape reality

Songwriter Jerry Herman

In a lyric from DEAR WORLD (1969)

he wrote the lyric…

Little by little the pearls become real…

And isn’t it the same with memories?

What to expect in our study…• A brief look at the ancients and Middle Ages• Comic opera and grand opera• Paris in the 1840s and Jacques Offenback• Gilbert and Sullivan in London and New York• The rise of British Music Hall• Extravaganza on the American Stage• Contributions of vaudeville, burlesque and minstrelsy• Cohan, Herbert and Kern• Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein• The Golden Age• The lean years and the rise of the “Pop-sical”

What is a musical?

According to the dictionary…

MUSICAL (noun) a stage, television or film production utilizing popular style songs to either tell a story or to showcase the talents of writers and/or performers, with dialogue optional.

Primary role of a musical is

…TO TELL A STORY (or in the case of revue to tell a number of brief stories)

When all goes well, the musical’s blend of song, dance and art entertains evoking an intellectual as well as an emotional response

An art form requires…

AN ARTIST

A MEDIUM

AN AUDIENCE

A commercial art form requires

An artist, a medium and an audience

AND

A commercial art form requires

The paying audience makes the expression profitable

AND

A commercial art form requires

As in any commercial endeavor, the taste and attitude of the audience determine the development of the product…the demand shapes the supply

The Producer’s PerspectiveOne of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that it’s essential that any and every business out there, Broadway Show or Law Firm or Hot Dog Cart, check in with their customers, find out who they are, and see how they’re doing from time to time.  And blogs are no different.  (BTW, this lesson applies to personal relationships too . . . asking your spouse or your friends what they think of your behavior is a hard but awesome

way to improve connections).  

Producer Ken Davenport

Sure, you’ve got sales, number of clients, and web stats to measure your success of your business to some effect.  But if you really want to do better at whatever it is you’re doing, you gotta dig deeper.

And so, with that, it’s about that time for me to stick that thermometer you know where and see just who all of you are out there and what you think of the blog . . . and what you like and/or don’t and most importantly, what you want to see more of/less of.

Broadway GrossesForthe week ending January 13, 2013:Show Name GrossGross TotalAttn %Cap

AvgPaidAdmANNIE $822,129 8,583 62.81%

$95.79CHICAGO $433,628 5,714 66.13%

$75.89EVITA $834,914 8,931 69.25%

$93.48JERSEY BOYS $892,531 8,153 82.99%

$109.47MAMMA MIA! $601,136 8,238 68.74%

$72.97MARY POPPINS $546,571 8,190 56.97%

$66.74NEWSIES $822,822 8,911 93.21%

$92.34NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT $679,850 7,640 66.37%

$88.99ONCE $976,903 8,166 96.48%

$119.63ROCK OF AGES $419,474 4,219 90.46%

$99.42SPIDER-MAN $1,129,755 12,272 79.48%

$92.06THE BOOK OF MORMON $1,630,961 8,754 102.65%

$186.31THE LION KING $1,620,752 13,179 98.23%

$122.98THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD $359,201 5,752 71.61%

$62.45THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA $762,638 10,155 79.09%

$75.10WICKED $1,519,043 13,586 93.88%

$111.81

Take The Producer’s Perspective survey!

I hope you’ll take a minute or two (it’s short, promise) to click the link below and fill out the brief survey.  I’ve learned amazing things from you in the past, and I am looking forward to seeing the results again.

If you take the survey, I promise you two things:

1.  I’ll publish the data here.

2.  The blog will get better.

So take The Producer’s Perspective Survey!  Click here!

And when you’re done, ask yourself what you can ask of your customers/audiences/friends to improve what you do everyday.

Musical theatre continues to reshape itself

Elements of a musical

MUSIC AND LYRICS

BOOK/LIBRETTO

CHOREOGRAPHY

STAGING

SPECTACLE

Types of musicals

THROUGH-SUNG (Les Miserables)

DANCE-BASED (Contact, Movin’ Out)

The best musicals possess

Intelligence

Emotional appeal

Courage to do something new

What makes a musical great?