Song Character Analysis Worksheet - The University of North ...

Mordden, the audience was crying out for a more believable, more modern, heroine
instead of the traditional “masquerading heiresses, and bullied princesses.” 23
The Princess Theatre Form represented this popular gender trend in mid-1920s
musicals of the strong, modern, wise-cracking heroine. Unfortunately, these shows are
not yet truly integrated, nor liberated. The plot was still secondary to the performer as a
star vehicle, and the independent heroine was still happily coupled and assimilated by the
final curtain. 24 The success of these intimate musical escapes, however, quickly became
the latest fad on Broadway and was exploited by the Gershwin brothers in Lady, be
Good! (1924) and Oh, Kay! (1926), and by Vincent Youmans in his smash hit, No, No
Nanette (1924). These shows now seem innocent and archaic, but they introduced some
of the most en-during 1920s popular standards that thrilled the “gallery gods” and
ensured a long run for the producer’s profits. 25 It was into this period of expectation and
financial security that Show Boat sailed onto Broadway in December 1927.
152.
23 Make Believe: Broadway Musical in the 1920s. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997),
24 Sally and Sunny were both written for the precise abilities of Ziegfeld’s “comedy queen” triplethreat,
Marilyn Miller. Sunny is also important as the first collaboration of Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
and includes two innovations that were later used in Show Boat’s libretto: the heroine is introduced as part
of the chorus rather than in a grand entrance, and the heroine is not affluent in disguise; Klein, 41. Regarding
the requisite happy ending of musical comedies, Martin Sutton articulated some very astute observations
about the symbolism related to “the bringing together of cultural oppositions” in marriages and the
conformity to hegemonic society that women must accept. “Patterns of Meaning in the Musical” in Genre:
The Musical, A Reader, ed. Rick Altman (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), 194-195.
25 Lady, Be Good! (starring Fred Astaire with his sister, Adele) introduced “Fascinatin’ Rhythm.”
Oh, Kay! (written as a star vehicle for Gertrude Lawrence) included “Clap Yo’ Hands” and “Someone to
Watch Over Me.” No, No Nanette was a veritable “hit parade” with “Tea for Two,” “I Want to Be Happy,”
and “Hallelujah!” Bruce Kirle described the “gallery gods” as the working class patrons in the cheap
balcony seats who became a most discriminating audience; “a full balcony ensured profitable runs.”
“Cultural Collaborations: Re-historicizing the American Musical” (Ph.D. diss., City University of New
York, 2002), 10.
25