Musical Guide - A Brief History Of Musicals
In this article we're going to present a brief history of
musical theater from its early beginnings right up to the
present day.
Musicals actually started with the ancient Greeks who put on
plays with songs. While they weren't called musicals at the
time, that is indeed what they were. The music was crude by
today's standards and the stories were not very well done, again
by today's standards, but this was the early beginning of what
was to become the modern musical.
In the 1700s there were many stage entertainments, though again
they were not called musicals. The first English language work
that had any lasting value was The Beggar's Opera which was done
in 1728. It was a satirical spoof of the times. This was typical
of the type of entertainment one would find up until the 1800's.
Musicals, as we know them today, started in the 1800s with the
French and Viennese Operettas. The works of Offenbach and
Strauss were the first musicals to achieve international
popularity.
The contemporary Broadway musical, as we know it today, took its
form from these operettas and was done in what we call Minstrel
Shows. These eventually gave way to a new form of musical known
as Vaudeville.
It wasn't until 1860 with the success of The Black Crook that
the American musical really began to take off. During this time
we were treated to the great works of Gilbert and Sullivan from
1871 to 1896.
During the early 1900s, composers like George M. Cohan and
Victor Herbert gave musicals a new sound and style that is still
popular to this very day. This style was then updated by
composers such as Jerome Kern, Guy Boulton and P.G. Wodehouse.
By the 1930s the American musical had reached popularity the
like of which it had never seen before, with composers such as
Rogers and Hart and Cole Porter dominating the era.
By the 40s and 50s we were treated to some of the greatest
musicals in what was called the modern era. These musicals
included such classics as Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me
Kate, The King and I, My Fair Lady, and the list goes on for
miles.
In the 1960s we saw such great musicals like Hello Dolly,
Fiddler On The Roof, and Hair, which was the first musical in
the United States to feature nude actors.
By the 1970s musical theater had become pretty extravagant with
the advances in technology and design. The 70s brought us such
great shows as A Little Night Music, A Chorus Line, No No
Nanette, Sweeney Todd and Evita.
But the hits kept coming and would continue to come, many from
Britain. In the 80s we saw such great shows like Cats, Les
Miserables and Phantom Of The Opera.
In the 25 years since, literally hundreds of musicals have hit
the stage. Some great, some not so great. But what was once a
humble beginning is now one of the major forms of entertainment,
not only in the United States but all across the world.