Janine Elya The Evolution of Music from Broadway Shows History: The first Broadway show was called

The Black Crook and was performed on September 12th, 1866 The show was created by William Wheatley at the end of the Civil War to save his business a small theater in New York It was the first show to combine the elements of dance, music, and acting The earlier musicals were usually comedies and were a way for people to get away from it all during the hard times Musics role in shows: To heighten emotion To reinforce dramatic action To evoke atmosphere and mood in ways that words alone cannot To develop characters and advance the storyline The Musical Reprise: Reprise: any repetition of an earlier song or theme, usually with changed lyrics to reflect the development of the story. Often times the songs that are sung by the same character or regarding the same narrative motif have similar tunes and lyrics, or incorporate similar tunes and lyrics Examples: Im not that girl from Wicked; Look at me, Im Sandra Dee from Grease The Orchestra Pit: Most pit orchestras consist of anywhere from 3 to 24 musicians Newer shows tend to require less instruments due to the use of synthesizers Many musicians in pit orchestras play multiple instruments, as not all instruments are used in each musical number Instruments commonly used in musicals: Keyboard & Piano Cello Flute Violin Trombone Viola Trumpet French horn Clarinet Saxophones Guitar Drums Bass Percussion A Musical Timeline The Roaring Twenties: Composers for musicals tended to ignore plot in favor of emphasizing star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs Light-hearted songs (in major keys) with little meaning and that did not help the storyline; awkward transitions between songs and dialogue scenes Shows from this time included Funny Face and No, No, Nanette Showboat was the musical that started the progression away from frivolous plotlines and flashy, shallow musical numbers; it had music with depth, and dealt with serious social issues The Great Depression: Musicals returned to being light, escapist entertainment until the premiere of Oklahoma! In 1943

One of the most successful shows during this time was Anything Goes by Cole Porter (1934) The start of political satires such as Of thee I sing The Golden Age (1940s-1960s): The peak for musical-writing duo Rodgers and Hammerstein; some of their works include The Sound of Music, Cinderella, South Pacific, and The King and I Musical numbers began to move plotlines along, create emotional tones, develop characters, and deal with serious issues West Side Story at first criticized by many regular theatre-goers for its darker side; composed by Leonard Bernstein who used warped but beautiful melodies(for example, Maria, a song with a melody based on tritones) Stephen Sondheim: darker, more complex musical numbers and lyrical sophistication; composer for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and later, Sweeney Todd Jerry Herman: many of his pieces have become popular standards, such as We Need a Little Christmas and the Best of Times Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret marked end of the Golden Age The Rock Musical: Storylines are told through rock music instead of classical style of show tunes Hair started the rock musical movement Many musicals with African-American influences came on Broadway in the 1970s: The Wiz, Raisin, and Dream Girls Chicago returned back to musical theater roots, telling the story through the style of Vaudeville Famous rock musicals include Rent, Jesus Christ Superstar, Footloose, and Grease Social issues a dominant theme in most if not all rock musicals; these issues were expressed in the musical numbers by both the thoughtful lyrics and emotional tones The 80s and 90s (big budget musicals): Dark, grim realities in these shows; most songs in minor keys Phantom of the Opera Andrew Lloyd Webber; Les Miserables - Claude-Michel Schnberg; Miss Saigon - Claude-Michel Schnberg and Alain Boublil These musicals involve extraordinary special effects, dramatic stories, and complex, intense musical scores Juke Box Musicals: Musicals that are based off of an album by a musical group; for example, Mamma Mia compiled the songs of Abba, and American Idiot turned Green Days punk rock album into a Broadway hit The 2000s: Many of todays shows are rock musicals New shows without specific genres have emerged, such as Wicked and Avenue Q Social issues still a dominant theme in the newer shows Other Fantastic Composers: Jonathon Larson Stephen Schwartz The Gershwin Brothers

Sources: http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/theater_topics/Musical_Theater.htm http://www.ehow.com/about_6573046_broadway-musical-theatre-history.html http://www.americana-music-and-memories.com/history-of-broadway-musicals.html http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/composers.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Crook http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_instruments_are_typically_in_a_pit_orchestra http://www.answers.com/topic/reprise http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/resources.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_theater#Development_of_musical_comedy Discography: La Vie Boheme Jonathon Larson Maria Andrew Lloyd Webber Im not that Girl Stephen Schwartz Im not that Girl (Reprise) Stephen Schwartz Anything Goes Cole Porter