Musical Theater Essay, Research Paper

At the beginning of the 20th century, American theater was to a great extent dominated by commerce. In 1909, an effort to set up a European-style art theater in New York City was made ( Geisinger, 241 ) . The edifice was so cavernous and ill-sorted for experimental work that the undertaking failed after two seasons. Dedicated to bring forthing the best of European and classical play and to furthering new American dramas, the first production groups of the 1900 s were amateurs ( Geisinger, 241 ) . The ranks were organized by subscription, so that true experiment could be conducted without commercial force per unit area. One of the first of these companies in New York City was the Washington Square Players. From a similar group, the Provincetown Players, appeared the first American playwright of international stature, Eugene O & # 8217 ; Neill. His first full-length drama, Beyond the Horizon, was successfully produced in 1920. ( Taubman, 121 ) . Most of O & # 8217 ; Neill & # 8217 ; s subsequent work represented a ungratified hunt for theatrical manner such as expressionism in The Emperor Jones and The Hairy Ape and fable in his updating of Aeschylus & # 8217 ; Oresteia trilogy, Mourning Becomes Electra, before he found a suited parlance for modern calamity in his autobiographical drama Long Day & # 8217 ; s Journey into Night ( Blum, 242 ) .

In 1918, art theater was established on a commercially successful footing by New York City & # 8217 ; s Theatre Guild ( Priestly, 134 ) . During the following two decennaries it became the most of import platform for American play, promoting such dramatists as Robert Sherwood, Maxwell Anderson, and Elmer Rice, in add-on to O & # 8217 ; Neill and European authors ( Priestly, 134 ) . The Theatre Guild & # 8217 ; s success rapidly stimulated independent Broadway manufacturers to follow its illustration. The artistic challenge was besides taken up by assorted interior decorators, including Lee Simonson, Norman Bel Geddes, and Jo Mielziner, who provided distinguished scenes that were realistic, symbolic, or expressionistic as required ( Priestly, 135 ) . In 1927 Show Boat by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern set new criterions in the musical theater, and in malice of competition from the spread outing motion-picture industry, the figure of productions on Broadway grew from 150 in the 1920-21 season to 280 in 1927-28 ( Blum, 240 ) .

The stock market clang of 1929 heralded the terminal of the alone prosperity of both the theater and the state. The state recovered from the resulting economic depression, but the theater, under increasing competition from gesture images, wireless, and telecasting, did non ( Blum, 242 ) . During the following 30 old ages, going companies all but disappeared, and productions on Broadway shrank to 60 in 1949-50, thenceforth averaging between 50 and 60 a twelvemonth ( Blum, 242 ) . No new theaters were constructed. Nevertheless, live theater continued to pull gifted authors. From the societal protest motion of the 1930s came Clifford Odets, Sidney Kingsley, Lillian Hellman, Thornton Wilder, and William Saroyan ( Taubman, 456 ) .

Attempts to reconstruct the cultural cloth of civilisation after the desolation of World War II led to a rethinking of the function of theater in the new society ( Priestly, 156 ) . Competing with the proficient polishs of gesture images, wireless, and telecasting ( all of which were offering play ) , the unrecorded theater had to rediscover what it could give to the community that the mass media could non. In one way, this led to a hunt for a popular theater that would encompass the whole community, merely as the Greek theater and the Elizabethan theater had done ( Priestly, 158 ) . In another, it br

ought to completion a new moving ridge of experiments that had started before the war and was non to lessen until the early 1970s which sought to dispute the audience, interrupting down the barriers between witnesss and performing artists ( Taubman, 501 ) .

By the beginning of the 1950s the verve of American theater was acknowledged around the universe. The international repute of Eugene O & # 8217 ; Neill was complemented by two potent immature playwrights: Arthur Miller, who turned the ordinary adult male into a figure of tragic stature in Death of a Salesman ( 1949 ) and The Crucible ( 1953 ) ( Geisinger, 461 ) , and Tennessee Williams, who created a universe disintegrating with passion and sensualness in dramas such as A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie ( Geisinger, 461 ) .

During the sixtiess, a strong ultramodern theatre motion known as & # 8220 ; Off-Off-Broadway & # 8221 ; emerged ( Blum, 310 ) . Among the most influential groups were Joseph Chaikin & # 8217 ; s Open Theatre, Richard Schechner & # 8217 ; s Performance Group, Julian Beck & # 8217 ; s and Judith Malina & # 8217 ; s Living Theatre, and Peter Schumann & # 8217 ; s Bread and Puppet Theatre ( Blum, 310-311 ) . These groups sought to research forbidden subjects such as gender, nakedness, and crudeness. They besides signaled, nevertheless, a motion off from literary values: coherent address and concise duologue were in most instances replaced by improvisations, oinks, and scream ( Blum, 311 ) .

By the late seventiess, the wild experiments had dissolved into conventional playwriting, largely of second-rate quality. Even by the mid-1980s, really small had emerged to replace the enthusiasm of that period when theater seemed to hold found a new intimacy and a fresh manner of affecting all sections of the community ( Taubman, 671 ) .

After Rodgers and Hammerstein breathed new life into the musical comedy with Oklahoma! , the signifier acquired more edification with such Broadway successes as Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady, and it broke new land in West Side Story produced in 1957, which conveyed much of the secret plan through dance. The scope of topics widened: hippie civilization was introduced in Hair, faith was popularized in Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971, and dance became the cardinal component in shows such as A Chorus Line and Dancin & # 8217 ; in the late 1970 s ( Blum, 358 ) . By the 1980s, Stephen Sondheim had become the most advanced force in the musical theater, uniting the functions of lyrist and composer in such plants of huge proficient edification as Company in 1970, A Small Night Music in 1973, and Sunday in the Park with George in 1984 ( Blum, 358 ) .

Bibliography

Blum, Daniel. A Pictoral History of American Theatre 1860-1970. New York: Crow Publishers, Inc. 1969.

Geisinger, Marion. Plaies, Players, and Dramatists: An Illustrtaed History of the Theatre. New York: Hart Publishing Co. 1975.

Priestly, J.B. The Wonderful of the Theatre.. New York: Doubleday and Company Inc 1969.

Taubman, Howard. The Making of the American Theater. New York: Coward Mccann Inc. 1965.

Addendum Beginnings

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. New York: Grove Press, Inc. 1954.

Bloom, Harold. William Shakespeare: Histories and Poems. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. 1986.

Henderson, Amy and Dwight Blocker Bowers. Red Hot and Blue: A Smithosonian Salute to the American Musical. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1996.

hypertext transfer protocol: //www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/music-glance/B000000OM9/104-2850880-0598806. 2/28/00.

Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. New York: Penguin Books. 1987.