2. THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
Barnum took a refined approach to variety shows at
his American Museum.
Clean Acts – Variety Show
“Moral lectures” attracted a family audience
3. BOOK MUSICAL AND REVUE
• Book musical
• Tells a coherent story through a
mixture of songs and spoken scenes
• Revue
• Offers a disconnected variety of acts
and skits.
4. THE SEVEN SISTERS (1860)
• Transformation scenes required use of mechanical scenery change in front of
audience
• The show couldn’t tour because of the heavy stage machinery
• Laura Keene (1826-1873) first woman to excel as an actor-manager in the American
theatre
5. THE BLACK
CROOK (1866)
• First show in world history
to run more than a year
• Nationwide hit due to
RAILROADS
• Used musical elements
from classic European
opera
6. BURLESQUE
• Burlesque = to make fun of something
• Women wore revealing tights onstage
• Openly interacted with members of audience
• Borrowed melodies from opera and popular songs
7. FORMULA FOR
SUCCESS
• A story with intriguing comic
possibilities
• Extraordinary performers – a star is
(almost) born!
• Abundance of jokes and sight
gags
• A score that is easy on the ear
• Songs added to the fun but did
not relate to the plot or
characterization
9. TIN PAN ALLEY
Music publishing industry centered in New York City’s West 28th Street
grew to fill the need for printed sheet music
Every middle- to upper-class home had a piano and someone who could
play it
Musicals began to write their own music due to the steady demand for
new material – the publishing industry is born!
1910 photo