American Musical: Broadway

American Musical: Broadway

The American Musical is a famous American tradition which strings from as far back as Greek musical theatre. Opera can be compared to the American Musical Theatre, but it is not exactly the same thing. American Musicals are composed of  music, acting, dance, farce, and dialogue. American Musicals have been going on since the late 1800's. The most famous American Musical Theatre is "Broadway".

Broadway

The Broadway House in Times Square, it is the most famous American Musical Theatre in the United States. In 2010, Broad grossed over 1 billion dollars in sales, with a total of 12.1 million people attending. 

Broadway features over 25 different shows, currently it is features 26 different shows, in over 30 different locations. The shows are as followed

• Anything Goes • Chicago • Death of a Salesman • Godspell • Gore Vidal's The Best Man • How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying • Jersey Boys • Jesus Christ Superstar • Mamma Mia! • Mary Poppins • Memphis • Once • Other Desert Cities

• Priscilla Queen of the Desert • Rock of Ages • Seminar • Sister Act • Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark • The Book of Mormon • The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess • The Lion King • The Phantom of the Opera • Venus in Fur • War Horse • Wicked • Wit

In the early years of the United States, "imported ballad operas, romantic light operas alongside native musical burlesques and occasional spectacles"(Musicals 101) headlined The USA. Niblo's Garden, located on Prince St. and Broadway St. in Manhattan became a famous nightspot theatre. Believed to be the first REAL famous American Musical, The Black Crook(1866), featured beautiful girls in flesh colored tights and had a dark romantic plot. Plays such as this, and H.M.S. Pinafore(1879) highlighted the early days of American Musical. During this same season, Ned Harrigan and Tony Hart created musicals that highlighted New York City life and made The American Musical extremely popular and desired. Each decade seemingly has a new feeling or overall message in its plays. 

Famous plays per decade:

• The Black Crook(1866)

• H.M.S. Pinafore(1879)

• The Passing Show(1894)

• Little Johnny Jones(1904)

• Naughty Marietta(1910)

• Show Boat(1927)

• Oklahoma!(1943)

• West Side Story(1957)

• Catch Me If you Can(1965)

• Grease(1972)

• Cats(1982)

• The Lion King(1997)

• Wicked(2003)

Most of these plays/musicals have grossed a plethora of money. Even though radio and television killed vaudeville, the passion, talent, and voice of Broadway can never die out.

The Lion King theatrical musical came out in 1997 and still plays on Broadway today. Tickets range anywhere from $100-$137 at the moment(2012). This musical is composed of people wearing animal fur and heads, mixed in with African music and exotic dancing with a wide range of colorful colors.

The musical Grease was later transformed into film, however, the musical itself is also very popular among Broadway musicals. It has wacky, 1950's suburb characters, known as Greasers. The musical is witty, wacky, and overall a fun musical to watch. The greasers slick their hair back and look for fun on teenage weekends and weeknights.

     Seeing a Musical

     Going to see a Broadway musical is wondrous! Just the tradition and feel for Broadway is exhilarating. You can expect wacky singing and acting. The actors usually have top notch voices and tell a story in musical rhythm. There is a set, a songwriter, a lyricist, a dialogue writer, a director, and most importantly, the singing actor. Some Broadway plays are funny, while others are sad. Some are even dark and sinister. One example is Sweeney Todd, which is dark, but funny at the same time. Actors spend weeks and months rehearsing their parts and getting their voices in tip top shape. Broadway tries to target big name actors or singers in order to draw crowds, and the plan works.

     Most musicals display an overall message, and a lot of them are ideas from Shakespeare plays. The audience can expect weird hair, props, special effects, lighting, prosthetic, music, sounds, and an amazingly wide wardrobe. Characters sometimes connect with the audience in special ways and call out to them, but usually not on Broadway. Overall, Broadway is a great escape for tourists and even natives. You will leave with a smile no matter what, some may even be in tears!

Avenue Q was expected to make a one time run because people believed that younger audiences would no be willing to go see the play. Avenue Q still runs today and is one of the best grossing films. It is noted for its obscene language, innuendos, and comedy. Puppets shout out explicit things such as " The internet is for porn. " The show is about life on the city streets. Avenue Q was a great success, it went from underdog to top of the chart!


An outside view of Broadway in New York City, apart of Time Square, the most famous part of NYC. As you can see, Broadway features a wide variety of shows, and even runs old shows. Broadway even remakes old shows into new, sometimes updated versions.

 Shakespeare's classic production, Othello is brought to life on Broadway. The man is sad over his white lover who he is shamed for being with.

 This is the original Broadway building, Niblo's Garden. Niblo's Garden played the original play The Black Crook in its first appearance. It's amazing how far American Musical Theatre has come.

 Cats is a play that has been on Broadway since the early 1980's. Cats has won many awards, including a Tony Award, and will continue to be one of the most famous Broadway plays. Spin-offs and inspirations have been created from this piece of theare. Many writers are inspired to create dancing and musical film from the great choreography and music in this luscious musical!

Works Cited

      Boyer, Paul S. "Musical Theatre." Musical Theatre. Encyclopedia.com, 2001. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Musical_theater.aspx>.

      "Internet Broadway Database." IBDB. 2001. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. <http://www.ibdb.com/index.php>.

      Kendrick, John. "The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musicals." Musicals101. 1997. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. <http://www.musicals101.com/>.

      The world of theatre: tradition and innovation

Mira Felner - Claudia Orenstein - Pearson/Allyn & Bacon - 2006