Autobiography Of The Vaudeville Era

During this period, musicals (which were labeled “musical comedies” at the time) were in the form of acceptable of guilty pleasures - the appeal of women and their sexuality, silly characters that made fools of themselves, or the goofy country girl dancing through the chores of the day. Ziegfeld’s Follies, Marx brother shows, and Al Jolson playing his character in blackface are great examples of these shows that focused on showing off the stars and gave little care to the

Vaudeville was a theatrical paradigm in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance consisted of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female

This is a must watch Broadway show that makes your fine, terrible, or even boring day, an absolute blast. The Play That Goes Wrong has finally made its way to America and right at the heart of New York City near Times Square at the Lyceum Theatre. Therefore, the experience is a win-win situation for the audience. The Lyceum Theatre’s architecture is astonishing as it is filled with ornaments, I also realized the letter ‘L’ around the theater, but the most interesting fact is that it is a landmark. It has a proscenium stage while the audience is in the orchestra, balcony, or the mezzanine seats, like where I sat, and there is barely any space if you are a tall person. My seat was near the far end of mezzanine, I couldn’t see a part of the left side of the stage, so I found myself bending sideways to see what was going on, but I saw nothing. I found the side stage lights and a side balcony blocking my view and yet I had a great time.

At the end of World War I, an excited America was poised for a cultural renaissance; patriotism was on the rise, the strong concept of Manifest Destiny had passed its peak of influence, and, most importantly, there had not been a clear shift in culture for decades. The Jazz Age of the 1920s was about to dawn, bringing with it youthful, risqué morals and a carefree look on life. From these ideals, a new, strongly American form of entertainment would emerge: musical theatre. Most commonly found in New York City on Broadway even to this day, musical theatre became an escape from reality and an entry into the imagination. The grand and splashy components that make up what is considered a classic Broadway musical can ultimately be traced back to Cole Porter. Porter’s writing, albeit at times controversial or raunchy, was able to harness the frantically beating heart of the Jazz Age and turn it into treasured shows. Using his unique melodies, romantic or idealistic lyrics, and his pioneering of writing about the human experience, Cole Porter shaped American music and theatre from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Before one can understand why Bob Fosse has had such an indelible impact on the musical theatre community, one must understand the world that existed before he had stepped into the limelight. The American musical comedy gained international significance during World War I, distracting a run-down theatre-going public with light-hearted sentiments and popular songs “at the expense of a plot” (Acuban). Many shows were musical revues, series of sketches or songs with little to no connection between them, or sentimental operettas that were tailor-made for an audience to digest with ease. The appearance of Broadway’s Showboat in 1927 represented a brief respite from the comparatively frivolous productions of the previous decade, but the lighthearted

Before vaudeville even got its name it was called variety shows in previous years. Variety shows had been around for a long time but as years progressed it became more diverse and had more acts included in it. Tony Pastor (known as the father of vaudeville) was one of the men credited for these variety shows. In 1881 Pastor established a variety theater in New York (“Vaudeville”). He had many different acts performed in his theaters, especially for family entertainment. He focused on very high standards of

The “striptease” is still very much relevant and alive today as it was when it was first introduced to the world nearly 80 years ago. This timeless and provocative dance was the product of Gypsy Rose Lee, but by no means should one refer to her as a “stripper”. Doing so would be a great injustice to this iconic figure; it would be sacrilegious. Gypsy, born Rose Louise Hovick, brought more than sensual allure to the stage; Gypsy was intelligent, funny, and witty. An example of her immense wit and improve skills can be seen in how the striptease came into being. When the strap to Gypsy’s costume came undone during a performance, rather than run off stage in embarrassment, Gypsy noticed the positive audience reaction, causing her to implement the act into the focus of her performance.

The stage performance of Chicago offered a spectacle that I expected before attending the show. I knew there was going to be scantly clad girls with dark makeup and saucy attitudes. The performers brought to life all that was raunchy in the entertainment business during the roaring twenties. The lifestyle in Chicago featured jazz, booze, sex and crime. More importantly, Chicago had beautiful, young women with the dream of having their own Vaudeville act. The two main female characters, Velma and Roxy were two such women hoping to capture the public's attention. The composition of the show is a metaphoric integration of Vaudeville type acts amongst the book scenes and diegetic musical numbers.

Jukebox musicals began in film and later shifted to theatre. They had begun to make theatre more popular with the public, which had begun to gravitate towards film and music. By combining the two, they gain some of the same as well as a whole new audience. I will discuss how this came to be by speaking of the shift that occurred.

The musical film has always held a special place for me. From my time as a drama student in high school, my eyes have been opened to the amazing world of the musical and especially the musical film. The musical film is a film genre in which the characters sing songs that are integrated into the overall story. Since musicals first began in theaters, musical films usually contain similar elements. These elements often simulate that there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the film viewers become the audience members, at a theater production, as the actor performs directly to them. Due to the popularity of musicals in the theater, the style was quickly brought over into film. In 1927, the musical film genre began

“Shrunken perhaps by the vicissitudes and exigencies of the times, Broadway presented itself admirably throughout the Thirties. It not only managed to preserve the best, but also nurtured and expanded them. At the brink of the new decade, Broadway stood smaller but brighter”

Throughout this course we discussed the Jazz Age, cultural appropriation, racial and gender differences, and African Americans and Parisians during the interwar years. We looked at many African American performers and performances that had a huge impact on France’s cultural identity. After learning about all of this in class, I wanted to take my research further. I decided to research female foreign performers who have had a major influence on the Jazz Age in Paris. I decided to focus specifically on three foreign females, and they are: singer and dancer Josephine Baker, dancer Molly Spotted Elk, and dancer Ada “Bricktop” Smith. Each of these female performers had a large impact on taking the Jazz Age in Paris to another level.

Gypsy, an exonym commonly used to describe a race of people who are not only itinerant (nomadic in nature), but also poorly documented with no written record of their own. Although the origin of Gypsies, Romani, or Irish Travelers has served as a topic of academic debate for many years, further examination of this strong, resourceful, and resilient demographic group furnishes a tale more grandiose and exciting that even the lore of old. Furthermore, it is the study of the Romani origin, migration, culture, and social impact which will direct the quill to pen the great Romani story in full contextual color for the first time.

In 1937, New York’s mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, outlawed the popular theater pastime, due to what he saw as “glorifying filth”, eighteen years later in 1955; State Supreme Court lifted the ban by court order, claiming illegal pre-censorship. The burlesque world never quite recovered from the ban, and coupled with the rise of nudity found in film and magazines, it lost its popularity. However, in the mid 1990s, a number of burlesque performers initiated a rebirth, fusing the earlier styles of stripteases with present day influences to what is known as the neo-burlesque movement (Mannino).. Since its 1990s revival, burlesque has gradually shifted focuses from social satire to simple stripping, a demographic form of objectification welcoming any women regardless of age or dress size (Penny). In Margaret Atwood’s poem “ Helen of Troy does Countertop dancing”, we are introduced to a strong female character called Helen of Troy, who

Furthering the impression of Gypsy’s liminality is the sense that her identity is withheld. Her clothes are another indicator of how her identity has been stripped in the same way her clothes are removed, “Holding her clothes about her body she stepped to the corner of the lodge and looked across at the blazing house” (32). Clothes are an indicator of class, personality and therefore identity. By merely holding them “about her body” she bears no identity. Later in the text, she is stripped of a voice also. Whereas she had previously been very vocal and furiously passionate, she becomes completely silent once her grim fate is presented to her: “she said not a word now” (72). This silence aligns her with the discourse of subalterity as it is