THEATRE 3020 American Musical Theatre Fall 2005 Charles Eliot Mehler, Instructor CONTACT INFORMATION Telephone: E-mail: Please do not hesitate to contact me between classes. If I m busy, that s why God made e-mail and voice mail. I ll be back to you within 24 hours. CLASS E-MAIL SITE In order to post documents for general availability and avoid the unnecessary difficulty of BlackBoard, I have created a class e-mail site on Yahoo. The e-mail address is. To access the e-mail site, please go to mail.yahoo.com and enter mustheafa05 for the Yahoo ID and charlie for the password. Please do not tamper with anything on this site other than to read material from it (you may copy material to your own hard drive). Also, PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME AN E-MAIL FROM THIS SITE, or I will think you are very stupid and say cruel things behind your back.
CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM Any tampering with the e-mail site will be considered cheating, and will be dealt with in the strictest possible manner given LSU plagiarism and cheating standards. Bear in mind that this will also be true for any assignment handed in for class. COURSE DESCRIPTION An overview of the history of the American musical theatre, with an emphasis on the craft of writing for this medium. While some time will be spent on the discussion of the roots of musical theatre, class discussion will concentrate on the history of American musical theatre from 1940 onward. COURSE OBJECTIVES After taking this course, the student will be able to a) identify the leading practitioners of musical theatre in America, especially post-1940. b) define the basic vocabulary of the medium. c) relate the development of musical theatre to social and political history that surrounds it.
d) identify the tools of the craft of writing libretto for musical theatre. e) recognize and respect the vast diversity of style, opinion, and wealth of work that encompasses this great American art form. TOPICS TO BE COVERED IN CLASS (Time Permitting) 1. Not your grandfather s Broadway -- the last five years 2. Evolution of love song 3. Openings 4. Ballads 5. Charm Songs 6. Comedy Songs 7. Musical Scenes 8. Significant Writers and Composers a) The Gershwins b) Irving Berlin c) Cole Porter d) Jerome Kern e) Rodgers and Hart f) Rodgers and Hammerstein g) Lerner and Loewe
h) Leonard Bernstein I) Comden and Green j) Stephen Sondheim k) Jule Styne l) Jerry Herman m) Harnick and Bock n) Kander and Ebb o) Cy Coleman p) Newley and Bricusse q) Frank Loesser r) Meredith Wilson s) Adams and Strouse t) Jones and Schmidt 9. RAGTIME TEXT Richard Kislan, The Musical. I have the 1995 edition, but there is a 2002 edition as well. If, in answering questions from the text, there is a substantial difference between the two editions, please bring this to my attention. I am using Kislan with a greater concern for history rather than recent events, information for which we can easily glean from the library and the internet. (Thank goodness for smart classrooms!)
PBS: THE MUSICAL On Wednesdays, we will view the PBS multi-part documentary, The Musical (forgive me if this is not the exact title). You will be tested on this material in the midterm and final. EVALUATION: 1. Midterm Exam: 100 points Format: multiple-choice and short answer To be held: Friday, September 30, in class (Subject to class discussion. We may change this if people feel more comfortable with another date. If we change this date, we may change the due dates on the Kislan assignments.) Cumulative through 2 sessions before the midterm 2. Final Exam: 200 points Format: multiple-choice, short answer, and long essay. To be held: According to the LSU final schedule Objective questions NOT cumulative only second-half material. Essay cumulative. 3. Kislan questions: 6 assignments at 20 points each = 120 points
See below. The Kislan text is meant to amplify your knowledge of musical theatre history. You may use it when taking exams. 4. Book reports: 6 assignments at 20 points each = 120 points. You will be choosing five musicals from the annals of American musical theatre, and writing book reports on them. The format for each book report is available below. The sixth book report will be based upon a musical-in-progress from the Writers Workshop at Theatre Building Chicago, of which I have been a member since 1996. This sixth musical will be provided some time after the midterm exam. 5. Research Paper: 100 points A 10-12 page (double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, standard MS Word margins) research paper on a topic to be arranged in advance with the instructor. This paper needs to have appropriate footnotes and bibliography, and should focus more on research than on personal opinion. The paper will be graded at the level of an upper-level undergraduate effort. SUMISSION OF ASSIGNMENTS WRITTEN OUTSIDE CLASS Please submit all assignments written outside of class via e- mail, to cem8877@yahoo.com. Please do NOT use the class e-mail site mustheafa05@yahoo.com to submit your work, or you will be penalized up to 10%. DUE DATES FOR ASSIGNMENTS WRITTEN OUTSIDE CLASS
Kislan Assignments: Unit I: Friday, August 26 Unit II: Friday, September 2 Unit III: Friday, September 9 Unit IV: Friday, September 16 Unit V: Friday, September 23 (Week off for midterm) Unit VI: Friday, October 7 Book Reports: BR#1: Friday, October 14 BR#2: Friday, October 21 BR#3: Friday, October 28 BR#4: Friday, November 4 BR#5: Friday, November 11 BR#6 (to be assigned): Friday, November 18 I will accept late assignments, with a late fee of 5% per day late. All assignments are due before class time. The final research paper is due on the last regular day of class.
KISLAN QUESTIONS For each question, unless stated otherwise (see Unit IV), please write a three-to-four paragraph short essay response. (You can make these longer if you feel the need.) You are encouraged to use outside sources, such as the Internet and your local library. Please make sure to cite your outside sources. Each unit is a separate assignment, and should be submitted via e- mail ( ) as soon as you complete it. UNIT I (Introduction, chapters 1 through 3) 1. Read Kislan s introduction, A Philosophy of Musical Theatre, with a critical eye. Where do you agree with Kislan? Where do you disagree? 2. Describe the standard which THE BEGGAR S OPERA set for the ballad opera form. 3. Discuss comic opera, pasticcio and the lesser early European forms of musical theatre. 4. Irving Berlin s THIS IS THE ARMY was a show (later a movie, featuring the talents of Ronald Reagan and George Murphy), originally written for World War I soldiers, in which World War II soldiers performed various short scenes, meant to entertain. It is perhaps most famous for Berlin s performance of his own, Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning. THIS IS THE ARMY also features a scene depicting soldiers performing in an old-fashioned minstrel show. This show/movie
was made in the 1940 s. What is the problem with this, given the history of race relations in America? 5. Compare and contrast vaudeville to more modern musical theatre. UNIT II (Chapters 4 through 6) 1. Discuss the role of women and sexual reference in burlesque. 2. THE BLACK CROOK is often denoted as the first American musical. Compare and contrast THE BLACK CROOK to more modern musical plays. 3. How did the Ziegfeld Follies change the face of American musical theatre? 4. The revolution we are about to see in musical theatre has to do with integration of book, songs and movement. How did what Kislan calls the intimate revue contribute to this revolution? 5. Discuss the careers and lives of Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml. Unit III (Chapters 7 and 8) 1. Describe the relationship between Jerome Kern and the intelligent book in American musical theatre.
2. How did SHOW BOAT revolutionize the American musical theatre? 3. Write brief biographical sketches of Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. (You may need to go to the Internet on this one.) 4. What are the hallmarks of a Rogers and Hammerstein musical? 5. Pick two songs written by Rodgers and Hart and two written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Compare and contrast them for music, lyric content, lyric style, and social relevance (if appropriate). (You may need to go to the library on this. Otherwise, most of the used book outlets deal in inexpensive used CD s of all the Richard Rodgers musicals.) Unit IV (Chapter 9) For this unit, please read Kislan s chapter on Stephen Sondheim (chapter 9). Then read the following (which may end up as the thesis for my PhD dissertation here at LSU): Before the mid-1930 s or so, musical theatre lyric writing consisted of writing snappy sounding lyrics without much content. A good example of this is Cole Porter s You re the Top from ANYTHING GOES: You re the top!/you re a Caesar Salad!/You re the Top!/You re a Gershwin ballad!, etc. This is a very cleverly written list song, but really doesn t involve much in the way of character development.
Enter Oscar Hammerstein II, who, with collaborator Richard Rodgers, rejected this model of song writing for the musical theatre. Hammerstein claimed that a) the song lyric must derive from the character and plot of the musical, and b) people don t really talk like this! A good example of Hammerstein lyric writing comes in his You ll Never Walk Alone, from CAROUSEL. In this scene, Julie Jordan s aunt tries to console her when her husband, bad boy Billy Bigelow, is killed. When you walk through a storm Hold your head up high And don t be afraid of the dark At the end of the storm Is a golden sky And the sweet silver song of a lark Walk on through the wind Walk on through the rain Though your dreams be tossed and blown Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart And you ll never walk alone You ll never walk alone Though not particularly snappy, this lyric reflected a sense of heart and soul that had not been seen in musical theatre heretofore. By today s standards, we might consider this lyric kind of saccharine and sentimental. No matter, said Oscar Hammerstein, who never apologized for his cockeyed optimism. In the mid-1950 s, Alan Jay Lerner came along and added to the Hammerstein equation for lyric writing. With his and Frederick Loewe s MY FAIR LADY (adapted from George Bernard Shaw s PYGMALION), Lerner lyric writing combined some of the cleverness of the Cole Porter prototype with the need to reflect character and plot. For example, in describing Henry Higgins misogynistic attitude toward women, Lerner wrote the lyric Let a woman in your life
And your serenity is through She ll redecorate your home From the cellar to the dome Then go on to the enthralling Fun of overhauling You! Let a woman in your life And you re up against a wall Make a plan and you will find She has something else in mind And so rather than do either You do something else that neither Likes at all Milton You want to talk of Keats and She only wants to talk of love You go to see a play or ballet And spend it searching for her glove Let a woman in your life And you invite eternal strife Let them buy those wedding bands For those anxious little hands I d be equally as willing For a dentist to be drilling Than to ever let a woman in my life This lyric not only investigates the depth of Higgins complex character. It sets up the conflict that results when Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle shows up on his doorstep. In more recent times, Stephen Sondheim has come along as the premier theatre lyricist of our age, combining the cleverness of a Cole Porter and the book development aspects of Oscar Hammerstein II. Though more cynical than Hammerstein, Sondheim s lyrics are always a true reflection of the character s motivations and attitude. In addition, from as early as Mama s Turn from GYPSY, Sondheim s lyrics met the needs of increasingly complex dramatic forms in musical theatre. In shows like COMPANY, PACIFIC OVERTURES and ASSASSINS,
Sondheim and his collaborators explored non-linear dramatic ideas based, rather than on a beginningmiddle-end plot line, a concept, like marriage, international relations and the dark side of American history. One might also look at a show like MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG for interesting, counter-linear form. In this show, we see the action in reverse. After you ve read the above thesis, write a two-to-three page paper on the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim. It might be helpful to listen to a few Sondheim shows, if possible, before writing your paper. You should focus on the idea that Sondheim was able to combine the cleverness of Cole Porter, the strict attention to character motivation of Oscar Hammerstein, and the needs of an increasingly complex world of theatre writing in general, and musical theatre in particular. Unit V (Chapters 10 through 12) 1. Discuss the five major elements of a musical theatre book (plot, character, situation, dialogue and theme). 2. Is there a particular kind of subject matter that makes for the most successful musical theatre? 3. Discuss the difference between ballads, charm songs, comedy songs and musical scenes. 4. On page 203, Kislan quotes Jerome Robbins in saying that the lyricist must tell the audience immediately what the play is about. Discuss three examples of this principle.
5. Discuss the seven functions of music that Kislan describes. Unit VI (Chapters 13 through 15, Epilogue) 1. What are the dramatic functions of dance in musical theatre? 2. Describe the procedures involved in designing a musical play. 3. Describe the principles of design. 4. How did Andrew Lloyd Webber and his collaborators succeed in conquering Broadway in the 1980 s? 5. On pages 297-299, Kislan makes a list of recommendations to save the American musical theatre. a) Evaluate these recommendations critically. With which ones do you agree or disagree? b) Kislan s book was first written in 1980, then revised in 1995. Has the state of the musical theatre changed since he wrote his book? (You may need to do some research on this one.) SAMPLE BOOK REPORT FOR THEATRE 3020 Student Name
Musical Theatre October 21, 2004 BOOK REPORT #4 (or whatever number book report you re on) TITLE: Carousel BOOK BY: Oscar Hammerstein II LYRICS BY: Oscar Hammerstein II MUSIC BY: Richard Rodgers ORIGINAL PRODUCTION OPENED: April 19, 1945 NUMBER OF PERFORMANCES OF ORIGINAL PRODUCTION: 890 PLOT DESCRIPTION: In Act I, nice-girl Julie Jordan falls in love with bad-boy carousel barker Billy Bigelow in nineteenth century New England. Julie decides to marry Billy, despite warnings from other townspeople. The marriage to Billy turns sour, and Billy is about to walk out on Julie when Julie announces that she is going to have a baby. Billy ponders the idea of having a child, and decides that he must do everything in his power to prevent the child from having to grow up in poverty. With his ne er-do-
well friend Jigger Craigin, Billy gets involved in a plot to rob local fishing magnate Enoch Snow of his payroll, a large amount of money. Mr. Snow is the fiancé and ultimately the husband of Julie s best friend, Carrie Pipperidge. In bungling the robbery attempt, Billy is killed by the local constabulary when he attempts to escape. In Act II, Billy finds himself in an after-life limbo (somewhere short of heaven, but not you-know-where), where he has the job to shine all the stars in the heavens. Billy asks to see what has happened to his wife and child. A heavenly friend lets Billy see how his daughter Louise, now a teenager, has fared. Unfortunately, Louise is taunted by the local children because of her poor, fatherless background. Billy s heart is broken to see how cruelly his daughter is being treated, and begs the heavenly friend to let him go back to earth to help her. When he arrives, Billy gets into an argument with Louise and slaps her. But he produces one of the stars he s taken from the heavens and leaves it with Louise as a gift. After Billy has left, Louise tells her mother, Julie, what has happened. At hearing Louise s story, Julie knows that Billy is watching her from the heavens, and she is gladdened. Louise tells Julie that the strange man slapped her, but it didn t hurt. Julie explains that sometimes, when a special person hits you, it is an act of love. As a result of his act of kindness to his daughter, Billy is allowed to enter heaven. IMPORTANT MOMENTS: 1. The bench scene, which takes fifteen minutes of stage time, allows Billy and Julie to discover that they are in love with each other. It features the haunting ballad, If I Loved You. 2. Billy s soliloquy, which features no fewer than nine melody lines. In this, another long scene, Billy starts out being happy that he will have a son, whom he can teach the ways of
manhood. He then figures out that the child might be a girl, and realizes he has to prepare for her. 3. The dream ballet, in which a carefree Louise is confronted by her peers, and left crying. 4. The other haunting ballad of the show, You ll Never Walk Alone, sung to Julie after she finds out that Billy is dead by her Aunt Nettie, and at the end of the show at Louise s high school graduation. This song has become a beacon of optimism the world over. COMMENTS: 1. This show is a continuation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution in musical theatre, in which the writers insisted that the scripts, songs and movement be integrated into one artistic whole. This revolution started with Oklahoma! in 1943. 2. This show deals with a darker subject matter than had ever been seen on Broadway. 3. The song If I Love You is a continuation of Oscar Hammerstein s revolution of the Broadway love song. If I Love You is a conditional love song, one in which the protagonists do not directly declare their love for each other. Other examples of conditional love songs include Hammerstein s Make Believe from Showboat (1927) and People Will Say We re In Love from Oklahoma!, as well as Lorenz Hart s This Can t Be Love from The Boys from Syracuse (1938). (Hart was Richard Rodgers original lyricist, before he worked with Hammerstein.)
4. This play is based on Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molinar s Lilliom, which was not as optimistic as this version. The optimism can be credited to Oscar Hammerstein, who showed optimism through all of his work. See below for OTHER WORKS. 5. The great difficulty in producing this musical for modern audiences lies in its blasé attitude toward domestic violence. Modern audiences, for the most part, do not accept the idea that it is all right for a man to slap his wife or his daughter. OTHER IMPORTANT WORKS BY THESE WRITERS: Hammerstein, with Jerome Kern: Showboat (1927) Rodgers, with Lorenz Hart: Babes in Arms (1937), The Boys from Syracuse (1938), Pal Joey (1940) With each other: Oklahoma! (1943), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951) and The Sound of Music (1959) SOURCES: (Please provide a bibliographic citation for each source you used. I did this sample mostly from memory!) ===============================================================
PLEASE NOTE: The Internet Broadway Data Base (ibdb.com) is a wonderful source of facts on Broadway shows. For off-broadway shows (like The Fantasticks and Little Shop), I suggest doing a web search on the individual show. Also, please do not copy long passages directly. I want to see material written in your own words. Your work will be graded on the quality of writing (content and style) and factual accuracy.