MUSICAL THEATRE HISTORY

BEFORE BROADWAY

Musical Theatre is an American art form that has developed with the country.
Immigration to the United States brought together the cultures of many ethnic groups,
which influenced the creation of American art, as the rhythm and sounds of the folk
music of different countries came together in new ways. Several forms of early American
entertainment had direct influences on the development of the musical theatre. The best
or most popular aspects of these forms became part of the blueprint of the musical.

Minstrel Shows
Minstrel shows were popular from the mid-1800’s, and persisted into the early
20th Century. “These were variety shows, made of songs, dances, and jokes united by
subject matter—black life and love in the southland—and performed not only by whites
but (till the 1870's) by men only.”i White men performed in blackface, and presented an
exaggerated impersonation of African American life and habits. Minstrelsy was a popular
entertainment that featured sketches, songs, and dances that idealized plantation life,
presenting a sentimental depiction that never truly existed. Comedy was an essential
component of the Minstrel show; the impersonations were often blended with improvised
comedy on humorous subjects. Later, as African American performers began appearing
in Minstrel shows, they too adopted the burnt cork makeup, and exaggerated
characterizations.
“From a single act, the minstrel show grew to three. The First Part, as it was
called, remained the key event: a semi-circle of men backing up, at center
stage, the Interlocutor and, at the sides, the two end-men. These were Mr.
Bones (playing two semi-attached bone-like substances producing a castanet
crackle) and Mr. Tambo (on the tambourine). “Gentlemen,” cried the
Interlocutor at the start, “be seated!” He then announced the number and
worked the jokes with the endmen, all in stage-southern dialect, repeating the
set-up lines so the public wouldn’t miss the punchline. The jokes were
traditional, often virtually pointless.
The second part, known as the “olio”, was a variety show made of anything
from song and dance spots to crazy novelty acts… One thing the public could
count on was the “stump speech”, modeled on the politician’s pompous
rhetoric but filled with doubletalk, allusions to everything from the Bible to the
latest scandal, and aimless fill-in phrases such as “due to de obvious fact dat,”
which merrily led from one topic to another without a blip of continuity.
 The Third Part brought forth a playlet supporting more songs spots, reserved
in particular for the Old Favorites… Sometimes the Third Part offered a spoof
of some literary or dramatic work.”ii
“Minstrelsy was the first form of American stage entertainment to commission
popular music specifically for the stage.” iii The songs in Minstrel shows sought to capture
the spirit of Southern life, and featured simple lyrics, melodies and harmonies. Northern-
born composers like Dan Emmett, Stephen Foster and James Bland created original
popular songs for Minstrel shows, and many (i.e. “O Susanna”, “Camptown Races”,
“Buffalo Gals” and “Dixie”) have become recognized as American folk songs.

Burlesque
Burlesque was “low-comedy parody complemented by the exhibition of girls in
tights who displayed ample portions of the female anatomy (which would seem tame to a
modern audience) never before seen in public”, iv and originally a satire of serious works,
with an emphasis on puns and wordplay. Around 1910, burlesque shows began to focus
solely on “dirty shows”, featuring little more than a bump and grind, and in the late
1920’s the striptease developed as a form, including humor and vocal audience
participation. As comics and stars moved on to more lucrative contracts in Broadway
revues, and legitimate theatre began to feature the female form, burlesque theatres fell
into disrepair, the audience declined and the genre slowly faded out.

Vaudeville
Vaudeville was essentially “a show form of unrelated acts following each other in
succession”v, and variety acts included: singers, dancers, actors, comics, magicians,
monkeys, dogs, and circus acts. Artists had limited time to display their talents, and get to
the climax of their acts. The vaudeville bills eventually became a well-planned program
to ensure audience satisfaction, and stars demanded the coveted spots just before
intermission or just before closing. Performers who got their start in vaudeville include:
Charlie Chaplin, Fanny Brice, Bob Hope, Harry Houdini, Fred and Adele Astaire and the
Marx Brothers. Vaudeville thrived until the Depression in late 1920’s and 1930’s;
vaudeville’s stars moved on to Hollywood and audiences flocked to talking pictures.
 The development of the modern musical can be traced most directly from the
influences of two popular forms of the early 1900’s: operetta and the revue.

Operetta
Imported from Europe, operetta employs music, spoken dialogue, light subject
matter, comedic elements and romance. Operetta usually included: exotic and
picturesque locations, lush melodies and scores, and a three to five act structure.
European-born composers Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg and Rudolph Friml were
the most celebrated composers of early 20th Century operetta in America, bringing
original European-style music to American audiences.
Closely related to operetta is Comic Opera. While French comic opera, opera
bouffe, was introduced to American audiences first, English Comic Opera was a
sensation. An English libretto allowed the audience to clearly understand dialogue, enjoy
the jokes, and marvel at wordplay and clever rhymes. The works of Gilbert & Sullivan
are the most popular examples, and are characterized by political satire and social
commentary, and careful crafting of “completely realized scenes, lyrics and songs that
played on the stage as indispensable parts of an artistic and stylistic whole”. vi

Revue
Revues were a mixed bill of musical numbers, comedy, sketches and specialty
routines, arranged to create a sense of unity. Unlike vaudeville and minstrel shows, a
theme or context usually unified the evening’s entertainment by loosely linking the acts.
Generally assembled by a producer, these included the: Ziegfeld Follies, George White
Scandals, Music Box Revues, Garrick Gaieties, and the Earl Carrol Vanities. Revues
were a training ground for performers, composers and lyricists; many had their first
Broadway opportunities in revues.
“The earliest revues relied on spectacle, beautiful girls, and wonderful stage
effects that attracted an affluent public eager for glamour and excitement.”vii The greatest
of the spectacular revues were the Ziegfeld Follies, produced by one of the greatest
showmen of American Theater: Florenz Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld presented 23 editions of the
Follies between 1907 and 1931, all conforming to the same basic formula of glamour
(with a focus on the most beautiful of American girls), pacing built toward the climaxes
at the end of each act, decency in content, grand spectacle, and were assembled by the
best writers, composers, designers and performers money could buy. From composers
like Jerome Kern, Victory Herbert and Irving Berlin, Ziegfeld commissioned over 500
songs, including the Berlin song which became the Follies theme: “A Pretty Girl Is Like
a Melody”.
The “intimate revue” developed alongside the spectacular, but rejected glamour
for simplicity, wit, satire and sophistication. These shows required clever sketches, lively
music and clever lyrics. Rodgers and Hart wrote their first Broadway score for the 1925
Garrick Gaieties.
 EARLY MUSICALS

In the early 20th Century the music of the theatre was popular music. In the time
before radios and recorded music, homes had a piano in the parlor, and hit songs could be
measured by the sale of sheet music. American popular song was influenced by the
melting pot of cultures: the minor qualities of Eastern European music and the rhythm
and syncopation of African music and jazz. The verse and 32-bar chorus became the
standard form for songs in musicals, jazz and dance music.
Most major music publishers were located in one New York neighborhood: “Tin
Pan Alley”. Sheet music was sold to performers and the public by song pluggers/piano
pounders, who worked in cubicles or small rooms. The racket that was created was
likened to the “clatter and clanging of tin pans”.

Early musical comedies were generally written to feature a star performer, or the
music of a specific composer or team. Plots were constructed to give a sense of character,
provide opportunities for comic scenes, and loosely link songs together. As Ethel
Merman described in her autobiography: “the writers who used to think up the books that
were wrapped around Gershwin or Cole Porter scores, started from scratch, with only
their bare cupboards and an unmanageable sense of humor to guide them. First a
producer signed a cast; then he hired writers to rustle up some material for that cast to
use.”viii
In Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920’s, Ethan Mordden illustrates
several song set-ups and scenes from early musicals, using La La Lucille, The Student
Prince, The Stepping Stones and Lady, Be Good! as examples:
“Reminiscing with her father about her show-biz past, a young woman recalls
her greatest triumph, singing “Tee-Oodle-Um-Bum-Bo” in red satin pants.
She favors us with a nostalgic chorus of the song, where upon her father
chimes in with the second chorus. Then the orchestra cranks up the tempo, the
two exit, and a line of chorus girls dances on to pursue the number, all dressed
in red satin pants. We have no idea who these women are, how they all got
hold of replicas of the heroine’s old costume, and why they have suddenly
erupted into her apartment.
Or: the curtain rises upon an operetta’s third act to reveal “a room of state at
the Royal Palace” in Karlsberg as “ladies and gentlemen of the court are
dancing a quadrille.” Uniforms and fancy dress emphasize the high tone of the
 affair, the violins saw regally away, and a lackey introduces, “The Grand
Duchess Anastasia”…
Now for a snippet of humorous dialogue. Star comic applies for a job as a
bus boy. Tavern proprietress has seen him already. “Did I tell you then,” she
asks, going into traditional business of sizing him up, flirting and posing, “that
I wanted an older boy?” Winking at the audience, star comic replies, “Yes,
ma’am. That’s why I came back today.”
Finally, consider the Eleven O’clock Number, the star shot just before the
folding up of the plot and the everybody-onstage-for-the-last-reprise finale.
This one has two stars, dancing siblings who now appear in eccentric costume,
she in Alpine togs with an outlandishly feathered hat. The book writers
gamely try (and fail) to rationalize the outfit; it’s really there to provision a
song called “Swiss Miss”, which will allow the pair to dilate comically upon
the rituals of mountain courtship, then to go into a mock-Tyrolean dance
capped by their trademark “run-around” exit, in which they lope along in ever-
widening circles to the orchestra’s Germanic oompah and the pealing bells till
they disappear from sight and the audience goes crazy.”ix

Irving Berlin (1888-1989)

“Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is

American music.” – Jerome Kern

Born Israel Baline in Russia, Irving Berlin’s

family immigrated to the United States when he was two,
and he grew up in poverty in New York City. When he
was eight his father died of tuberculosis, and at 14 he left
home to lessen the financial burden on his family.
Berlin had no musical training, could not read
music and only played piano in one key. He wrote at a
special piano with a lever to transpose, and hired musical
assistants to notate what he’d written. Despite these
limitations Berlin had a great ability with language and rhythm, and an ear for melody
and harmony. While seemingly simple, Berlin’s music and lyrics are rarely simplistic and
have a charming colloquial sensibility.
Berlin's early Tin Pan Alley successes were comedy numbers, often written in
dialects. By 1911 he was a publishing partner (with Ted Snyder) and composer of over
fifty songs. That same year “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, though not authentic ragtime,
was a hit and became the soundtrack for the ragtime ballroom dancing dance craze, and
earned Berlin $50,000 in royalties. The popularity of the song also helped establish the
32-bar form as the standard for popular music.
Berlin celebrated patriotism, and when drafted in World War I he was
commissioned to write a show, Yip, Yip, Yaphank, which displayed the experiences and
emotions of the soldier in songs like “Oh, I Hate to Get Up in the Morning”. During
World War II he revived the old army show and retitled it This Is the Army, and it toured
with an all-soldier cast, featuring the Berlin song “God Bless America”.
He wrote for several editions of the Ziegfeld Follies, and all four annual editions
of the Music Box Revues, which specifically featured Berlin’s music. As tastes and style
changed in the 1930’s, so did the tone of Berlin’s shows. 1932’s Face the Music dealt
with the Depression, and police and political corruption. In 1933 As Thousands Cheer
was a musical revue inspired by the headlines and sections of the daily newspaper, “with
individual scenes depicting news events, the funnies, the lonely-hearts column, the
society page and other features.”x Songs from the show include “Heat Wave” (from the
article “Heat Wave Hits New York”) and “Supper Time”, sung by a widow of a black
man lynched by a mob.
In the late 1930’s he wrote for Hollywood, including the films Holiday Inn,
Easter Parade and White Christmas. When he returned to Broadway in the 1940’s, styles
had changed again and composers had to be concerned with the integration of songs and
libretto. Berlin began writing book musicals, including: Annie Get Your Gun (1946),
Miss Liberty (1949) and Call Me Madam (1950).
 Cole Porter (1891-1964)
Cole Porter is known for his sophisticated
lyrics, clever rhymes and complex structures.
Double entendres abound in Porter lyrics, and
many songs were risqué. He was the master of the
list song, which often featured pop-culture
references. “Porter’s lists at their best not only are
notably brilliant in their neatness and invention
(“Let’s Do It”), but the tunes which support them
are memorable, “You’re the Top” being the
supreme example.”xi Though Porter was neither
born nor raised in New York City, his songs were
the essence of New York society and
sophistication.
Porter was born in Indiana, and his maternal grandfather was a wealthy lumber
magnate who intended to leave him a considerable inheritance, on the condition he
became a lawyer. At his mother’s insistence he studied piano and violin in his youth. He
attended Yale University, and studied law for one year at Harvard, before transferring to
music at the suggestion of the dean (and with his grandfather’s reluctant approval).
In 1916 Porter’s first show, See America First, was produced on Broadway. It was
poorly received, and in 1917 he left New York for France. Though he continued to write
and play piano at parties, Porter much preferred living and traveling in Europe to a
professional career as a songwriter. Many encouraged him to write for the stage, but
besides contributions to a few revues, Porter remained content writing for the amusement
of friends.
Upon his return to the United States, his first hit show was 1928’s Paris, which
featured the song “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)”. The parenthetical “Let’s Fall in
Love” was added to appease censors, and the song garnered Porter a reputation as a
clever and sophisticated lyricist (see the lyrics that follow). “During the Thirties, when
other composers were writing social satires and experimenting with new and different
forms, Porter was creating songs that did what they could do to perpetuate all that was
glamorous in the Twenties”xii including the musicals Gay Divorce (1932) and Anything
Goes (1934), one of Porter’s biggest hits.
Between December 1939 and January 1944 Porter wrote five box office smashes
in a row: Dubarry Was a Lady, Panama Hattie, Let’s Face It!, Something for the Boys,
and Mexican Hayride. By the mid-1940’s, however, he seemed to be unable to create the
outstanding scores of his early shows. Little was expected of his musical adaptation of
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, but Kiss Me, Kate proved a great success, won
the first Tony Award for Best Musical, and is one of Porter’s most enduring musicals
today.
In 1937 his legs were crushed in a horseback riding accident. He refused
amputation, underwent 31 operations over the next 20 years to try to correct the damage,
and spent the rest of his life in pain. In 1958 his leg was ultimately amputated, and Porter
withdrew and stopped writing. He passed away in 1964 after surgery for a kidney stone.

Ethel Merman (1908-1984) was a celebrated star of early

musical theatre. A serio-comic heroine, “Merman was too
big not to carry a show, therefore had to become a
romantic lead (and bring new information to romance)” xiii.
She made her Broadway debut in Gershwin’s Girl Crazy
in 1930, where she debuted the song “I Got Rhythm” and
wowed the audiences with her stamina and power, holding
a single note through the chorus while the band played on
(in an era before any vocal amplification). By 1940 her
name alone appeared above the title. The force of her belt,
her clarity of diction, personal vocal style (including a
frequent little “dip” into pitches), and knowing sensibility became her trademarks, and
marked most of her roles. She appeared in over a dozen musicals, frequently in shows by
both Berlin and Porter. She created roles in Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me
Madam and a number of Porter shows, including Anything Goes, Red, Hot and Blue, and
Panama Hattie. Later in her career Merman created the role of Mama Rose in Gypsy,
surprising both audiences and critics with her dramatic abilities.
i

Mordden, Ethan. Anything Goes, A History of American Musical Theatre. New

York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Page 10.
ii
Mordden, Ethan. Anything Goes, A History of American Musical Theatre. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pages 10-11.
iii
Kislan, Richard. The Musical, A Look at the American Musical Theatre. New
York: Applause Books, 1995. Page 19.
iv
Kislan, Richard. The Musical, A Look at the American Musical Theatre. New
York: Applause Books, 1995. Page 60.
v
Kislan, Richard. The Musical, A Look at the American Musical Theatre. New
York: Applause Books, 1995. Page 41.
vi
Kislan, Richard. The Musical, A Look at the American Musical Theatre. New
York: Applause Books, 1995. Page 98.
vii
Kislan, Richard. The Musical, A Look at the American Musical Theatre. New
York: Applause Books, 1995. Page 84.
viii
Merman, Ethel. Who Could Ask for Anything More. Garden City, NY: Doubleday
& Company, 1955.
ix
Mordden, Ethan. Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920’s.
x
Green, Stanley. The World of Musical Comedy, 4th Edition. San Diego: Da Capo
Press, 1980. Pages 76-77.
xi
Sondheim, Stephen. Finishing the Hat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Page
212.
xii
Green, Stanley. The World of Musical Comedy, 4th Edition. San Diego: Da Capo
Press, 1980. Page 143.
xiii
Mordden, Ethan. Broadway Babies, The People Who Made the American
Musical. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Page 114.
Sondheim, Stephen. Finishing the Hat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Page
153.

LET’S DO IT (Let’s Fall in Love) And that’s why

Words and Music by Cole Porter Birds do it, bees do it,
from the musical Paris Even educated fleas do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
When the little Bluebird, In Spain, the best upper sets do,
Who has never said a word, Lithuanians and Letts do it,
Starts to sing: “Spring, spring;” Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
When the little Bluebell, The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it,
In the bottom of the dell, Not to mention the Finns
Starts to ring: “Ding, ding.” Folks in Siam do it,
When the little blue clerk, Think of Siamese twins.
In the middle of his work, Some Argentines, without means, do it,
Starts a tune to the moon above. People say, in Boston, even beans do it,
It is nature, that’s all, Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
Simply telling us to fall in love.
Romantic Sponges, the say, do it,
Oysters, down in Oyster Bay, do it.
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love. The nightingales, in the dark, do it,
Cold Cap Cod clams, ‘gainst their wish, Larks, k-razy for a lark, do it,
do it, Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
Even lazy Jellyfish do it, Canaries, caged in the house, do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love. When they’re out of season, grouse do it,
Electric eels, I might add, do it, Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
Though it shocks ‘em I know. The most sedate barnyard fowls do it,
Why ask if shad do it, When a chantacleer cries.
Waiter, bring me shad-roe. High-browed old owls do it,
In shallow shoals, English soles do it, They’re supposed to be wise.
Goldfish, in the privacy of bowls, do it, Penguins in flocks, on the rocks, do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love. Even little cuckoos in their clocks, do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.

The dragonflies, in the reeds, do it,

Sentimental centipedes do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
Mosquitoes, heaven forbid, do it,
So does ev’ry katydid, do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
The most refined lady-bugs do it,
When a gentleman calls,
Moths in your rugs, do it,
What’s the use of mothballs?
Locusts in tree do it, bees do it,
Even highly educated fleas do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.

The chimpanzees in the zoos do it,

Some courageous kangaroos do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
I’m sure giraffes, on the sly, do it,
Heavy hippopotami do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.
Old sloths who hang down from twigs
do it,
Though the effort is great,
Sweet guinea-pigs do it,
Buy a couple and wait.
The world admits bears in pits do it,
Even Pekineses in the Ritz, do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.

Copyright © 1928 by Harms, Inc.

 Rodgers and Hart
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart were the
first songwriting team for which the lyricist was
equally credited with the composer. Their songs
are frequently characterized by biting sarcasm
and cynical lyrics, offset by lilting, romantic
melodies, and are noted for the marriage of
words and music, which sounded like one
person, rather than a team wrote it. This is
especially remarkable since they rarely wrote
together. Often Rodgers had completed the
music before Hart began lyrics due to their very
different temperaments and approaches to their
work: Rodgers was a disciplined family man who liked to work regular hours, while Hart
was an alcoholic with erratic work habits.
Hart is often credited with advancing the art of lyric writing for Broadway, going
beyond simple words and simple rhymes to utilize interior rhymes (rhyming within a
line), polysyllabic rhymes (more than one syllable rhymes) and feminine rhymes (last
stressed vowel rhymes, not last syllable: i.e. handing/standing). However his work is
sometimes also criticized as sloppy or lazy, due to frequent examples of “mis-stressed
syllables, convoluted syntax and the sacrifice of meaning for rhyme”. xiv
Introduced by a mutual friend, Rodgers and Hart began writing together almost
immediately, and in 1919 one of their first songs, “Any Old Place With You” was
interpolated into a Broadway show; Rodgers was 17 and Hart was 25 years old. In 1920
they wrote 15 songs for the musical Poor Little Ritz Girl, but eight were dropped before
the show reached Broadway. Their work for the Garrick Gaieties in 1925 and 1926 was
well received by audiences and critics, and brought them popular success.
The late 1920’s and early 30’s saw a number of Rodgers and Hart shows
(including three Broadway shows in 1928 alone), but with few exceptions the shows were
less successful and enduring than their standout songs of the period, including: “My
Heart Stood Still” (from A Connecticut Yankee, 1927), “With a Song in My Heart” (from
Spring Is Here, 1929),“Ten Cents a Dance” and “Dancing on the Ceiling” (from Simple
Simon, 1930). They had greater successes with On Your Toes (1936) and Babes in Arms
(1937), which produced a number of hits: “My Funny Valentine”, “Johnny One Note”,
“Where or When”, “I Wish I Were in Love Again” and “The Lady Is a Tramp”.
1940’s Pal Joey was atypical of the time and lacked redeeming characters,
prompting critic Brooks Atkinson said of the show: “though it is expertly done, can you
draw sweet water from a foul well?” The show was purposely unsentimental, the main
character, Joey, was a two-timing schemer who dreamed of owning a nightclub. Not all
songs advanced the action, as some were performed in the nightclub. While not all songs
in the show were integrated with the plot, most did reflect something about the character
singing, or the character being sung about.
Rodgers and Hart’s final original musical was 1942’s By Jupiter, a box office
success starring Ray Bolger. In 1943 they presented a revival of A Connecticut Yankee,
but after the final curtain, and for two days following, Hart was nowhere to be found.
Discovered unconscious in a hotel room, suffering from acute pneumonia, Hart was
rushed to hospital. Rodgers and his wife were almost always by his side for the next three
days, but he never regained consciousness, and died at 48 years old.
xiv
Sondheim, Stephen. Finishing the Hat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Page
153.