Since 1735, the American musical has been alive and growing. Throughout the years, it has evolved with different forms appearing, disappearing, and then reappearing all over again. Our wonderful history has experienced operas, minstrels, vaudeville, burlesque, extravaganzas, and revues, all of which have influenced the musicals of today.

“The first real musical theater to establish itself firmly was Italy’s Grand Opera.” (Tumbusch, p. 1-2) Later, people searched for a lighter kind of musical theater then the grand opera. That was when we saw the rise of the comic opera and the operetta.

Comic opera, popular from 1880-1900, was an opera in which the audience could understand the dialog as well as the jokes. The careful crafting of Gilbert and Sullivan “produced independent, completely realized scenes, lyrics, and songs that played on the stage as an indespensable part of an artistic and stylish whole.” (Kislan, p. 95) Comic opera was followed by the operetta, which employs music, spoken dialog, light subject matter, comedy elements, and romance. Operetta differs from Comic Opera in many ways.

One such difference comes in the matter of emphasis and tone. While comic opera is light and charming with delicate moment sof romance, the operetta has greater ambition. It exploits portions of nineteenth century romantic theater such as love, adventure, color, music, and dance. It appeals to the senses by “abandoning everything to the imagination.” (Kislan, p. 96) Meanwhile, the comic opera appealed to the intellect by “exploiting plausible situations by using farce and verbal wit.” (Kislan, p. 96)

Opera’s decline happened in the late 1920’s. “The public grew indifferent to nostalgia and sentiment, bored with storyland and impatient with obvious love situations. The opera was condemned to memory and the occasional revival.” (Kislan, p. 98) At one time, musicals were dependant on European models, but that all changed with the arrival of the minstrel shows. The minstrels were probably the earliest, and most influencial form of musical theater. These performances added shows of American origian that, “reflected the character, will, and taste of the American public.” (Kislan, p. 19)

Minstrels, such as the Virginia Minstrels of 1843 and the Christy Minstrels of 1857, impersonated Negro life with white men in black face. Happening in the days of slavery, the minstrels were crude and offensive. They all reflected the stereotypes of blacks because the truth would have provoked anxiety and anger. Although the minstrels were very offensive and falsely impersonated blacks, the integrated the idea of big time show business by charging $.25 admission. They were also able to inspire future musicals, including what was once known as Vaudeville.

Vaudevill began around 1865 and was a variety show packed full of singers, dancers, actors, musicians, midgets, and even some animals. One man, a former showman, Tony Pastor, opened a theater in New Jersey that was created especially for variety entertainment. His theme was meant for families, with no smoking, drinking, or vulgarity allowed inside. Vaudeville, or variety shows, bred discipline into its performers. It taught them how to capture an audience, pace a performances, and respond to a crisis, all without a script or a director. “If a manager gave an act five minutes, it lasted five minutes. If he wanted ten, it lasted ten.” (Kislan, p. 55) Many future stars began in vaudeville, including Lillian Russell, The Four Cohens, Will Rodgers, and Harry Houdini, who became vaudeville’s number one draw with his outstanding and now historical escape routines.

Vaudeville declined during the depression. Economic recovery wasn’t immediate which meant that people had to give up favorite pastimes such as attending the theater. Another problem that faced vaudeville was the fact that so many of its stars deserted for Hollywood. America had just been introduced to talking motion pictures, radio, and nightclubs. Although vaudeville is long gone, it lives on today in television variety shows and will remain a part of our musical history forever.

Immediately following vaudeville was bulesque, “a low parody, complemented by the exhibition of girls in tights, who displayed ample proportions of the nineteenth century female anatomy never before seen in public.” (Kislan, p. 58) Burlesque theater included oriental dancers, interpretive dancers, control artists, tassel dancers, exotics, and strippers. Evolving from English burlesque, “men only” productions began in 1868.

Two popular burlesque shows were “Adonis” starring Henry E. Dixey and Ida Mulle, and “Evangeline,” starring Fay Templeton and James L. Moffitt. One of the most popular shows though, was that of “the Black Crook,” in 1886 which was five and a half hours long, and featured 100 ballet dancers who showed a lot of leg. It also featured elaborate scenery and lighting and although very scandalous, it was also very successful.

The most consistent contribution to burlesque was comedy. Weber and Fields, a favorite in burlesque, combined a lavish musical show with an outrageous travesty of a dramatic show or melodrama. They were a Dutch act, a routine of old minstrel jokes delivered in a German accent. Their costumes included, “fake chin whiskers, garish costumes, and formal derbies.” (Kislan, p. 68) They also had moments of slapstick in which they hit each other with canes.

Many popular comedians came out of burlesque, including WC Fields, Sophie Tucker, and my personal favorite, Abbott and Costello. From the 1870s-1920s, burlesque companies toured the country, but its demise began around 1910 when even worse bump and grind routines began and the audiences slowly dissolved into nothing. The comedians had left to star in new and daring comedies and without the best talent, jokes, and routines in the business, burlesque eventually became stale.

One type of theater that paralleled burlesque in both character and popularity was probably th extravaganzas. These shows were elaborate and adapted from the Europeans. They were offered as spectacles, with brilliantl costumed female dancers and novel scenic devices, as well as sumptuous setings and melodramatic musical scenes.

The revue soon followed and was satirical entertainment that included music, speciality scts, and pretty girls. The “ingredients correspond to those in minstrels, burlesque, and extravaganzas.” (Kislan, p. 79) There were two kind of revues; the spectacular revue, and the intimate revue. The spectacular revue originated in 1894’s “The Passing Show,” a lavish mixture of variety, burlesque, and travesty entertainment with inoffensive parodies. It was once described as, “a musical-farcical-vaudeville entertainment with just enough sifficent coherency.” (Kislan, p. 81) The best known spectacular revue was without a doubt, The Ziegfield Follies.

Created by Florence Ziegfield, his revue included four components. First was the glamour. He had the most beautiful girls in settings if style and splendor. Next, was pace. All the elements of his show were arranged to build toward two theaterical climaxes; the first act and the spectacular finale. Thirdly, came the decency. Zieglief once stated that, “I pledge my honor that the American people will find nothing suggested or unclean in any of my shows.” (Kislan, p. 82) Finally, he had the spectacular ending.

The Ziegfield Follies declined gradually. First, after 1925, the brightest stars abandoned the revue and and Ziegfield’s main interest turned to book shows such as “Show Boat.” By 1930 it was considered old fashioned and in 1932, Florenz Ziegfield died.

The intimate revue began with Grand Street Follies, an off Broadway show in 1924. It rejected glamour and splendor for simplicity, wit, satire, and sophistication. It placed imagination over budget and originality over box office formulas. The intimate revues were different then the spectacular, not because of tune or attitude, but because of form and materials. “In order to succeed, it requires sketches of comic impersonation, lively music, bright lyrics, and refreshing performances.” (Ewen, p. 75)

Spectacular revuews faded along with the Depression, but intimate revues survived especially as an effective forum for musical theater entertainment on serious subjects. The intimate revue today, lives on in cabarets, variety shows, community theater, and the occasional New York performance. Many of the Twentieth Century’s best song writers came from revues. Song writes such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin. They all raised standards for writers, composers, and lyricists, and according ti Leonard Bernstein, “a variety in unity – that was the key lesson that musical comedy learned from the revue.” (Kislan, p. 92)

For the longest time, women and children would not to go the theater. The stage was “looked down upon by the respectable American family. For example, The Black Crook was considered devil’s brew.” (Ewen, p. 8) This all changed with the arrival of “Pinafore,” which was introduced on November 15, 1878 in Bostom. In one season, ninety different companies were performing it around the country. The show included children’s groups, colored groups, and even religious groups. It proved that “a stage presentation could be wholesome and refined entertainment.” (Ewen, p. xxiv)

After World War I and until 1960, America experienced the Golden Age of theater which arrived in two phases. The first phase was the musical comedy. This included Gershwin’s “Strike up the Band” and “Girl Crazy,” and Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes.” Musical comedy employed comedic plots and characters as well as trivial themes. They were anything of big importance, but the themes were “enlivened by a lot of singing and dancing incidental to the play.” (Cohen, p. 310)

Eventually, a departure was made as several writers tried to bring originality and authenticity of characterization and background. They also wanted to bring dramatic truth to the stage. The succeeded with ‘Show Boat,” a musical play with “an artistic entity, dramatic truth, authentic characterization, effective atmosphere, and a logical storyline.” (Cohen, p. 310)

Musical theater dominated Broadway in the 40’s and 50’s. Rodgers and Hammerstein had one blockbuster hit after another from “Oklahoma” to “Carousal” to “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music.” “They all had some kind of social conflict, richly romantic settings and songs, and beautiful solos as well as duets and wonderful choral, choreographed, and orchestral emsembles.” (Cohen, p. 311)

Broadway was very influencial to the theater. Their shows ran for years, not months, and for once, tickets were sold months in advance. Broadway shows with huge stars even toured nationally. Broadway songs were constantly the Top Ten and films based on the musicals were widely popular. To top it all off, the performers were made famous by the musicals that they starred in. There performers included Julie Andrews, Ethel Merman, Yul Brennar, and Carol Channing, all of whom became national celebrities.

Since the Golden Age, musicals have continued to develop, mostly since 1970. But most of the successful musicals in the 80s and 90s were revivals of earlier shows, like “Show Boat,” “Grease,” and “Guys and Dolls.” And its no longer “American.” We have seen throughout the years, big hits like the Britsh musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber such as “Evita” and “Phantom of the Opera.” We have also begun to see French-British musicals from Allain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, including “Miss Saigon,” and “Les Miserables.” There there are the Polish musicals, like “Metro,” the African American musicals like “Sarafina,” and various Asian musicals.