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

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CHAPTER I OVERTURE Musical theatre has become an extremely popular type of entertainment and activity among young singers, from the elementary school to the collegiate level. This trend is exhibited in the economic successes and cultural indoctrination of the “Broadway Jr.” series (Musical Theatre International) that is aimed at elementary and middle school students as well as in the popularity of local high school and community productions. Musical theatre may be experienced as part of the admission price on cruise ships and in amusement parks. Or one may enjoy professional musical theatre through national touring companies and sold-out performances in Broadway theaters, at triple-digit ticket prices. 1 Its pervasive influence is also seen in the increased number of colleges and universities, following the lucrative examples of Ithaca College and the University of Michigan, with musical theatre departments that turn out triple threats (actor/singer/ dancer) who go on to successful careers in some form of musical theatre entertainment. The purpose of this study is to address the needs of young performers involved in each of these venues. The thesis is to formulate a critical, gendered approach to research for an informed approach to performance practice for classic musicals, achieved through an examination and preparation of the female lead roles found in Show Boat. As a model 1 Statistical research has confirmed that the majority of tourists traveling to New York City plan to see a Broadway show (either musical or “straight” play). See Paul Libin’s comments in It Happened on Broadway: An Oral History of the Great White Way, eds Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer (New York: Harcourt Brace,1998), 283. 1
for research, this paper will explore four areas of context for performance practice and character development in early twentieth-century lyrical musicals. These areas of context are the history of the American musical until Show Boat (1890-1927), the socio-historical trends relative to this era from the perspective of gender role stereotypes of women in society and on the stage, and the traditions of an embodied performance in musical theatre. The rationalizations for this type of academic study are described on the following pages as this approach fits within a research niche between two relatively new disciplines of musical theatre performance practice and gender studies. The Need for an Academic Study of Musical Theatre Performance Practice American musical theatre shares with jazz a distinction as an original American art form that germinated in the early twentieth century. Similar to jazz, it is a hybrid of musical and theatrical styles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that could have come together only in the United States. 2 Unlike jazz, however, whose academic scholarship began in the 1950s, the formal scholarship of musical theatre as an academic discipline did not garner serious respect until the 1980s. Before that time, musical theatre history and criticism had been the domain of popular music critics and fans. 3 Perhaps the delay for serious research is due to the universal expectation that musical theatre’s purpose is to provide an entertaining and enjoyable evening of spectacle, not an aesthetic or 2 Some of these style sources include Viennese and British operetta, French cabaret and music hall revues, minstrel shows, burlesque, British musical comedy, eastern European klezmer bands, and American ragtime. 3 “Musical comedy” did not appear as an article in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians until the 1980 edition. 2
Page 1 and 2: LEWIS, ANNE, D.M.A. An Examination
Page 3 and 4: APPROVAL PAGE This dissertation has
Page 5: TABLE OF CONTENTS iv Page ACKNOWLED
Page 9 and 10: MacDonald, labeled musical theatre
Page 11 and 12: The musicals that have entered the
Page 13 and 14: and individually as handwriting.”
Page 15 and 16: Methodology The base of research fo
Page 17 and 18: Feminine Character in Selected Libr
Page 19 and 20: from the 1920s, they are timeless i
Page 21 and 22: e helpful to recognize the specific
Page 23 and 24: as a Cinderella-type heiress who ma
Page 25 and 26: Vereen described the “blackface c
Page 27 and 28: Casino Theatre in Manhattan. The re
Page 29 and 30: functional sets, and an eleven-piec
Page 31 and 32: The History of the Musical, Show Bo
Page 33 and 34: amount of instrumental music, the d
Page 35 and 36: Ferber’s novel begins with the na
Page 37 and 38: Act II begins four years later as G
Page 39 and 40: CHAPTER III SOCIETAL STEREOTYPES OF
Page 41 and 42: communion.” 5 This bias continued
Page 43 and 44: children, however, did allow mother
Page 45 and 46: unhealthy, sub-human environments.
Page 47 and 48: dominated by masculine traits in ap
Page 49 and 50: magazines, including Ladies Home Jo
Page 51 and 52: Nineteenth Century Stereotypes of W
Page 53 and 54: usiness. She was responsible for th
Page 55 and 56: gender) inequality forced them inst
Page 57 and 58:
The 1920s was the Jazz Age, a time
Page 59 and 60:
CHAPTER IV THEATRICAL STEREOTYPES O
Page 61 and 62:
peoples . . . to save us from our o
Page 63 and 64:
separate seating arrangements). The
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Feminine Aesthetic in Theatre Any a
Page 67 and 68:
gossip columns. 17 Exploitation on
Page 69 and 70:
means to economic or career advance
Page 71 and 72:
Florenz Ziegfeld, reportedly, was q
Page 73 and 74:
in a subservient role as a domestic
Page 75 and 76:
looked, Magnolia decided, as if the
Page 77 and 78:
When he holds me close, Close as we
Page 79 and 80:
In the novel, Parthy Ann is a three
Page 81 and 82:
opens her handbag and takes out a p
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“hero”) and the piano player (t
Page 85 and 86:
the nineteenth century’s gender r
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of that time. Performance practice
Page 89 and 90:
possibilities for manipulation and
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order while the musical number repr
Page 93 and 94:
“Finding in that sound all the ki
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often distorts vibrant voices, rend
Page 97 and 98:
elationships with other characters
Page 99 and 100:
Finally, the process includes a mus
Page 101 and 102:
any other theater music heard up to
Page 103 and 104:
een presented in previous chapters,
Page 105 and 106:
“Though the cold and brutal fact
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[Bridge]: When he goes away dat’s
Page 109 and 110:
angelically while caught in the act
Page 111 and 112:
The song appears twice more as a pl
Page 113 and 114:
CHAPTER VI CURTAIN CALL The musical
Page 115 and 116:
theatre performance practice. They
Page 117 and 118:
BIBLIOGRAPHY General Sources Burkho
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Long, Mary Anne. “‘All Our Girl
Page 121 and 122:
Kerber, Linda K., and Jane Sherron
Page 123 and 124:
Levine, Lawrence W. The Opening of
Page 125 and 126:
Song Title: Show Title: Lyricist: C
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