by Karen Tung
My Fair Lady, when you’re listening to The Sound of Music on Titanic, I definitely know you’re not dreaming about movies but about musicals. Therefore it won’t surprise you when you see The Phantom of the Opera walking his Cats on Sunset Boulevard. Have you ever heard of these musicals? I think most people have because the musical is such an inviting form in the performing arts. Its variety and flexibility satisfy people of different tastes. What makes musicals so unique though? After my brief introduction to the history of the musical, I hope you can find your own answer. Musicals can be traced back to seventeenth-century England. However, the decisive forerunners were vaudeville, the minstrel show, revue and operetta. What set the musical to develop along new lines was actually an accident. In 1866 the popular French Ballet came to New York but was unable to perform because their theater had burned down. Thus, other theater managers hired the dancers as a chorus and had them sing and dance through a play called “The Black Crook,” even though there was no connection between the play and the dancers. Surprisingly the production was a hit because of the beautiful, sexy dancers. From then on dances, songs and plays were mixed together and became known as musicals. Elaborate costumes and extraordinary stage designs attracted even more attention. But the Depression and WWII were the real formative periods of the musical. People suffered from economic shortages and political pressures during wartime. This sense of insecurity and instability greatly influenced the life of the performing arts. More and more theaters were closed; in order to survive, theater managers tried new innovations. Since financial support was extremely limited, extravagant productions of revues and operettas almost came to an end. Producers focused instead on the content of the musical: the plot, the lyrics and the dialogue. Composers and librettists started to care about social issues such as racial discrimination and the rise of feminism. Producers were inspired from great literary works as well. Show Boat was the greatest milestone at this stage of the musical. It was adapted from an Edna Ferber novel which dealt with the delicate relations between men and women, unfair racial discrimination toward black people, and the struggle of a mulatto woman. The music strengthened and emphasized the dramatic plot elements. After 1943, people wanted to keep far away from the terrible memories of war and they looked toward a brand-new future full of hope. This is the golden age of the musical, beginning with the innovative Oklahoma, created by the famous team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Oklahoma illustrates the hope for peace and breaks the rules of past musicals. The story is about a compromise between farmers and cowmen in the American west. In the past, the opening of a musical required big production numbers, handsome boys and girls, energetic dancing and a chorus. Instead, Oklahoma began with a single old woman churning butter on a spacious stage. Dancers were shown in groups but the focus was on individuals. Dancing and characters were connected to each other. And many forms of dance were used, including modern dance, traditional folk dancing, ballroom dance, and jazz. In fact, the musicals of the golden age had a definite shade of optimism, the spirit of America. Rodgers and Hammerstein set a perfect model for musicals up to the 1970s. The lyrics, the score, the stage design, and the dancing should all work together to tell a story. All the elements are balanced and unified. And one remarkable feature of this era is always a happy ending. Times change, and the musical changes. In the 1960s, America was involved in the Vietnam War. The civil rights movement was becoming more and more serious. The assassinations of President John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King inspired riots and revolts. At the same time, America was undergoing a huge sexual revolution. As a result, rock-‘n-roll came into fashion to express strong emotions and relieve depression. Young adults began to question authority and to rebel against the privileged. Hence rock musicals came to the stage. The representative example is Hair by Tom O'Horgan. It’s a story about a group of young people who are against the war and the restrictions of law. They’re hippies; they seek free love, they take drugs, they drink. In Hair, the stage design was bare, the score was loud and wild, the cast of twenty-five actors performed with simple body language. The most sensational scene of all was the one with all the actors nude on stage. All at once all the rules had been overthrown and the experimental theater began. However, in the 1970s there was a great change in American musicals. Over the last thirty years musicals became less important in popular arts. The invasion of TV, films, and pop music on the radio has taken the place of the musical. In America musical productions were decreasing and theaters closed down. Amazingly, however, in Britain Andrew Lloyd Weber has staked out a whole new world for the musical. He has provided audiences with what they want : dynamic rock scores and incredible visual effects. Besides, his music is available on CD and on video, making it very accessible and the songs can be appreciated outside of the context of the musicals themselves. His most famous works include Joseph and the Amazing Thehnicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, Starlight Express, The Phantom of the Opera, and Sunset Boulevard. In the 1990s, the use of computerized special effects and laser lights has enhanced the richness of the musical. Moreover, the Disney Company provides new hope by creating new markets and stimulating musical audiences to return to Broadway. This began with the animated film, Beauty and the Beast, and in 1997 Julie Taymore, the director of The Lion King, succeeded in using ingenious staging techniques and experimental methods such as puppetry and masks to present vivid images of the animals. The musical is the perfect combination of fine art and pop art and appeals to all kinds of people, reflecting contemporary culture and society. But I’m sorry to tell you that in Taiwan musicals are only available on CD, video, and websites. Through them I am able to satisfy my fascination for their enchanting scores. “Softly, deftly, music shall caress you…Feel it, hear it, secretly possess you…” (from The Phantom of the Opera). a
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May 2024
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