Dance 101 Study Guide 2 Essay

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

By 1900, there were currently thirty-three legitimate Broadway theatres, and many more would be built over the next couple of decades to meet the demand of the growing audiences. The productions included those of drama, comedy and musicals, but legitimate theatre was not the only theatrical entertainment of this time. During this time a large group of entertainers travels from one small theater to the next, entertaining thousands with their simple song and dance, mini-comical skits, and different acts of entertainment. These people were known as Vaudevillians and their theatre circuit was known as Vaudeville.

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

Ballet “Cry” simply showed to us real life of all African women. Every single American people know what kind of life they went through. Therefore it touched their heard. Alvin Ailey’s “Cry” presented wonderfully combined movements, technique and emotion. Ms. Donna Wood uses tragic face, a mask of sorrow. It is a face born to cry, but when she smiles it is with an innocent radiance, joyfulness that simple and lovely. She never tries consciously to please an audience. He was not only concentrating in movements and physical performance, but also using flowing white gown

In Vaudeville shows there is no book or story plot as opposed to musical theatre. There may be a common theme between the acts but there is no formal plot. Also in Vaudeville there is change of content between shows. Depending on popularity of the performer an act can be cut or added. In contrast musical theatre productions are final cuts in terms of the content of the show. The addition of Vaudeville acts into the show brings about the purpose of the show. Sassy entertainment!

Art and theater were more popular than ever in the 1920s. Early modernism in art began at the turn of the century and continued through World War II. Modern styles of art included abstract expressionism, realism, and surrealism. The best museums featured shows by the important artists who used these styles. Broadway reached an all time peak. There were 276 plays offered in 1927 in New York City. (This is a lot compared to only 50-something in the 1970s.) Historians argue over exactly how many theaters there were. Some say eighty, some say seventy, but everyone agreed that Broadway was booming in the 1920s. After the war, the American population was moving more and more into the cities. In response to the many social changes in America, the new

Nevertheless, during the 1860’s and before, “variety” shows were strictly for-men-only and were performed in boats, concert saloons (also known as honky-tonks and dive bars), tents, churches, and just about anywhere a troupe could set up a stage and proscenium (Gilbert 10-15). The Second Great Awakening, a time in America when fundamentalism was being played out on a political scale that would shape America’s future, made its mark on theatre (D. 46). An early theatre owner, actor, and promoter Tony Pastor is considered to have transitioned variety shows in the 1860’s from what were considered to be “dirty” shows to “clean” ones. Moreover, this also brought in both male and female patrons which essentially doubled the income (Stein 3). Whether

The presence of a passive audience facilitates the better performance of any show and encourages the performers to do well. In most cases, the success of any show, such as a comedy show, a dancing show, or a singing show depends on the audience. Vaudeville acts were not very famous until Keith and Albee, two entrepreneurs and the main characters in the second chapter, Vaudeville INC., of Robert Snyder’s book the Voice of the city, teamed up and reshaped the style of Vaudeville. In addition to their motivation to increase the popularity of vaudeville theater performances, “the middle class audiences” made a huge impact on vaudeville acts by attending them in great numbers. The development of vaudeville marked the beginning of popular entertainment as big business and demonstrated the changing tastes of an urban middle class audience. Keith and Albee made the tickets for vaudeville acts very inexpensive, ten cents a seat, and attracted the middle class. Shirley Staples, the author of Male-female comedy teams in American vaudeville,

Staging Race is a book that focuses on black performers between 1890 and World War I. During this time period blacks were dealing with many social events which included: the Jim Crow segregation, the Niagara Movement, and heightened racial tension. The goal of this book is to show the way that black performers were able to use public entertainment to present their political ideas and use them to appeal to the white audience and at the same time entertain and educate the black people in the balcony seats.

When your interest is as broad as theatre it’s almost impossible for your identity to not be represented. However, like many of my peers, I’ve struggled to find my identity and have floated between different adjectives for the past seven years. Luckily for me my love for Broadway guided me to a perfect show that let me know it’s okay to be confused about who I am.

The United States was built on a history of racial injustices. From the Native Americans being bribed off of their land, Africans being kidnapped, shipped, and sold into slavery, Japanese internment, to the more recent wrongs of faux vigilante-type killings like that of an African American teen, Trayvon Martin, in Florida, and the alleged, police-involved killing of 18-year old, African American teen Michael Brown of Ferguson, MO. These are just a few of the entrenched ideologies that have haunted and continue to haunt the United States. With that being said, the arts have not been immune to the throws of racial strife, in particular, theatrical productions.

Eleanor W. Traylor begins by explaining the fallacy in thinking that ragtime was the first and foremost contributor to black theatre art in America. She argues that "the source of all that can be called representative American theatre is Aframerican" (47). In other words, she elaborates, there were two kinds of ceremonies and narratives pervasive to black theatre before ragtime. The minstrel show is one example. The article stresses that the minstrel show was not invented by white plantation owners, but that the minstrel show was a failed attempt at satirical imitation. The real minstrel show came from "the Afro American magic circle of creation" (Traylor 48). In the same page, she argues that their African American Minstrel show had its roots in African tradition, specifically, the Yoruba tradition. In this tradition, "the mask is wood until it becomes the mask in motion." Somehow, this mask got translated into blackface, into a tool for hiding rather than a tool for revealing. The mask used in African American minstrelsy would reveal the spirit of the mask wearer. Yoruba music would be wholly original, unusable by their white counterparts because it wasn 't wholly understood. The apparatus of using the wholly spiritual and authentic to create an art that is fully American would evolve over the centuries until black theatre became what it is during contemporary times. Traylor argues that it is the only truly American theatre because it was created in America.

This paper proposes the idea that Papp helped continue and help remarkably grow the theater culture during his time, making Papp one of the most influential men in the history of the American Musical. Analysts of the

The history of American music begins with a fundamental process of exchange through all different social lines, where diverse cultures meet, and mix. Music has and always will be defined as sounds that are arranged in a particular pattern that are played to be meaningful and pleasurable. The chronology of music began in the Medieval period, when chanting was introduced into the Church. Music has then moved its way through many stages: renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic and leading up to 20th century American music. American 20th century music is made up of a diverse number of styles that are reflected by cultural traditions and the era’s of the past. Immigrants from Spain, France, England, Germany and Ireland all contributed and brought their own unique styles to the forefront, hence creating American music. African Americans created influential musical traditions that include rhythm and improvisation that were later combined with European traditions and other indigenous music.

“...the musicals that Prince, Sondheim and their various collaborators offered in the early 1970s re-energized the Broadway musical, setting the genre on a soul-searching course that redefined the genre”