Based on Musical Theatre: A History (J. Kenrick)

1. AMERICAN VARIETY
P. T. BARNUM (1810-1891)

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

8. PANTOMIME
• Clown-like characters
enact a story using little
or spoken words
• Grew out of 15th-
century commedia
dell’arte

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

10. TIN PAN ALLEY
2011 photo

11. BROADWAY
GOES
CORPORATE
• Theatrical Syndicate