Musicals
The musical is a theatrical genre, mixing comedy , singing and dancing.
Appeared in the twentieth century , it is in line with the marriage of theater and classical music that had given birth in the preceding centuries in ballet at the opera at the opera buffa and the operetta. It was particularly developed in the United States , breaking ranks from the 1910s genre of classical music by integrating "new" as jazz. In fact, the term refers today mostly to the United States and especially Broadway.
As for the term " comic opera ", the word" comedy "is in the broad sense: indeed, the themes of the musical may be light or tragic. And West Side Story , inspired by the drama of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet , can be considered a room "comedy." Therefore the names of musical theater or musical are the last twenty years preferred, as well as the word .
The term includes, by extension, in common parlance a musical film. The worlds of musical comedy and film music are intimately linked: many musicals have been adapted to film the arrival of talking pictures. More rarely, sometimes a musical film is the subject of a stage adaptation, such as Frequently Asked illusions of Rodgers and Hammerstein or, in recent years the cartoon Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King of Disney.
Summary |
Origins
In 1285, Jacques Bretel in its tournament Chauvency describes a game that has all of the germs of the musical: it's a small piece theatrical love theme, where the actors improvise and express themselves by singing, dancing and miming their feelings. A minstrel, a noble lady and a knight are the heroes of this "game of the rosary" or "Crown of Flowers".
The term "musical" (musical comedy) appeared a priori for the first time in the eighteenth century in Italy to describe the few light musical works combining voice and dialogue (and possibly dance), like the opera-comique French.
We find this name in France, the " Between the two world wars "until the late 1960s, to describe small musical comedies Boulevard, also known as" light operettas, such as Berth No. 3 Joseph Szulc , Alex Madis and Albert Willemetz founded in 1929 at the Theatre des Capucines . She then has nothing to do with the American musical in its original form. The adjective "musical" will once more appear in the hexagon in the mid-1990s to characterize (more or less justified) different forms of musical works.
The musical Anglo-Saxon
History
The American musical, in its primitive form, was born in the early twentieth century. It is so very different from European operetta or musical comedy. It is indeed not born to a theatrical form but the mixture of two genres of British origin, very much in vogue across the Atlantic: the "Burlesque," a sort of little magazine was born circa 1830 of the popular scenes of "bellowing" English, more or less built around a lightweight frame, a single theme or thread that it retains the system of linking comedy musical numbers, and review music hall , a born twenty years later in the great " caf 'conc' "in London and grew up in the United States lavish productions of Florenz Ziegfeld in the years 1910-1920.
The dramatic continuity is not there then really respected. His books are rather a set of links around a vague story or a concept, serving only to give coherence (sometimes fragile) to all. It happens so often that the musical numbers of the same musical were written by different composers. Irving Berlin , Cole Porter or George Gershwin distinguished themselves in this hybrid genre, with works of great musical quality that many "numbers" have become "standards" "of American song. The genus is nevertheless dramatize quickly. This development accelerated particularly in the early 1930s with the advent of talking pictures (and singing), which calls for more scenarios consistent.
In 1943, Richard Rodgers starts a collaboration - that became legendary - with librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. After trying a few magazines, had started this great composer, too, in the musical "first option" with the main collaborator Lorenz Hart. Already, with books like The Boys from Syracuse, in 1938 (according to The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare ), or Pal Joey in 1940, he initiated a more constructed musical. Hart's untimely death in 1943 led him to seek new employees, it finds in the person of Hammerstein, with extensive experience in the musical "classic" (the latter is indeed the author of Success as Rose-Marie with Rudolf Friml in 1924, The Desert Song with Sigmund Romberg in 1926 and Show Boat with Jerome Kern in 1927) and was adapted into a musical opera Carmen in the title of Carmen Jones.
The new duo will evolve the genre, not hesitating to tackle serious subjects in a light tone and never neglecting the social message (as Hammerstein had already begun with Show Boat about racism). Their collaboration produced works most of which will become "classics", due in particular to their film adaptations. Among them: Oklahoma! (1943), South Pacific (1949), The King and I (1951) and The Sound of Music (1959).
They open a new way for established composers as Irving Berlin (with Annie Get Your Gun in 1946, Miss Liberty in 1949 or Call Me Madam in 1950), Frank Loesser ( Guys and Dolls in 1950) Cole Porter ( Kiss Me, Kate in 1948, Can-Can in 1953), Meredith Willson ( The Music Man in 1957) but also to newcomers: Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe ( My Fair Lady in 1956), Jule Styne ( Gypsy in 1959, Funny Girl in 1964 ), Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick ( Fiddler on the Roof in 1964) Jerry Herman ( Hello, Dolly! in 1964) or Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion ( Man of the Mancha in 1965)
But it is the choreographer Jerome Robbins and composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who set the rules of the American musical that can be described as "contemporary." In On the Town in 1944 , Robbins began to put ideas into practice so revolutionary closely together musical forms usually separated in the U.S., singing and dancing, taking into account the nature of characters and rendered in spoken dialogue. The "chorus line" (dance together) is always present as the first time but are always justified and can also be divided into solos. The culmination of this research result in 1957 which will certainly "the" masterpiece of the American musical: West Side Story.
The cultural and social upheavals accompanying the late 1960s and allow new talent to emerge. Among them John Kander and Fred Ebb ( Cabaret , 1966) and of course Stephen Sondheim. This composer is certainly the most original. He began his career as a librettist and author of lyrics , including West Side Story and Gypsy, or to one of the few books that Richard Rodgers composed after the death of Hammerstein (that Sondheim considered his mentor) in 1960: Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965). But he can design a book and lyrics without the music and wants to be recognized as a composer. Its beginnings are hard (Company in 1970, Follies in 1971 and A Little Night Music in 1973 after a film by Ingmar Bergman ). His musical language is indeed not like the standards of Broadway and diverted the public (up to some critics call him a "gravedigger of the musical" Features Most books of the American musical are today structured and follow a dramatic continuity. It is however noted that the genre has preserved some features of its origins. The most obvious is the importance of dance, musical theater Europe - starting with the opera - for its emphasis on hand singing and often completely ignored by even the ballet (this trend tends to change). Another peculiarity is found fairly often in dialogues with the repetition musical number that follows it. Unlike France, the success of a musical in the United States and the United Kingdom is judged by its duration. A musical show that toured France will remain a few days in each city, while in Anglo-Saxon, musicals may spend several months in the same city. Les Miserables thus holds the record with 21 consecutive years in The poster, from 1985 to 2006. This difference is explained by the fact that the Anglo-Saxon musicals involve large financial resources can not be profitable as significant operating times. Moreover, they often require special management theaters. The room is also, in some cases, also decorated with the colors of the show. The musical "in French is particularly successful in 1920-1930 where it is called also" operetta light ". True smaller boulevard musical comedies, they are very different from their "cousins" U.S.. Interpreted by at most a dozen performers, they are accompanied by a handful of musicians, even a single piano. Musical theater "light" (as opposed to "serious" music) suffers from the 1970s a long eclipse. But from 1995, a slight tremor began to be felt a few times with "standards" but also performances of musical montages such as The Java memory , The Twist Years and Fever of the 80 of Roger Louret. These shows, which, however, can be likened to musical theater was made around a concept and not a booklet, win favor with the public, receiving promotions widely relayed by the media. Their success opens the door to Notre-Dame de Paris , created September 16, 1998, for which Richard Cocciante has earned the "tubes". We can not yet call it strictly a "musical" insofar Luc Plamondon (which does not bother to criticize it so) has written rather a series of scenes without dramatic continuity, to give images what is basically an album discography. It is nevertheless undeniable popular success that lays the groundwork for a new form - wrongly called "operatic" (unlike Miserables) - and that will generate many works, also adapted musical album successes widely. Other production extravaganza, Da Vinci, musical inspired by Christian Schittenhelm life Florentine painter and created during the summer of 2000 at the Casino de Paris, using 3D technology in its scenography. With the 2000s, a "return to traditions" can be felt with the emergence of many smaller productions that won public and critical success of their originality as The Cabaret of Lost Men (Molire's 2007 musical) or L ' Opera Sarah (Molire 2009 musical). The arrival of the company Stage Entertainment in August 2005 disrupts the musical landscape by delivering the taste of the day the American musical through the proven success of Cabaret at the Folies-Bergere and The Lion King at the Theatre Mogador (Molire's 2008 musical) , strong theatrical works accompanied - as it should - with an orchestra. Holder of the rights of many great musicals, she buys in the wake Mogador theater to make it a landmark musical theater equivalent to those in London and Broadway. With the return of musical theater, a profession is beginning to organize and structure for most associations, are formed gradually. Created at Beziers in 2005 by producer Matthew Gallou, the festival The Musicals is transported to Paris during the summer of 2007 before financial problems led to premature termination of its sixth edition in 2009 . Another structure was created in 2008: Diva, an organization founded by Cathy and Jacky Sabroux Azencot (already behind and Music Festival Concert Hall The Basement), organizer of the Webzine musical regardencoulisse. com in May 2009 the "Festival of Musical Theatre" in Theatre Comedia and "Discoveries Diva" public readings of books being written or production research presented in preview . A "Federation of Musicals," yet at the initiative of Matthew Gallou, together since 2006 for professionals (artists, writers, composers, producers) to assist in the creation, promotion and dissemination of all forms of musical theater . The French musical
Some musicals
Musicals Anglo-Saxon
The 1920
The 1930
1940
The 1950
The 1960
The 1970
The 1980
The 1990
The 2000s
French Musicals
Years 1960-1970
The 1980
The 1990
The 2000s
Musicals in other countries
External Links
References
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