Essay about Showboat: A Revolutionary Production

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.

Symbolism allows writers to suggest their ideas within a piece of literature. This is found in most types of writing. Stephen Crane expresses this in his short story, The Open Boat. Through symbolism and allegory, it is demonstrated that humans live in a universe that is unconcerned with them. The characters in the story come face to face with this indifference and are nearly overcome by Nature’s lack of concern. This is established in the opening scenes, the “seven mad gods” and in the realization of the dying soldier. The descriptions that Crane uses in the opening scenes illustrate nature’s lack of concern for their tragedy. He discusses the waves in the ocean that continually roll and crest. The waves are problems or

The Ziegfeld Follies were a group of women who would dance during Ziegfeld’s broadway shows. In the beginning, in order to produce them, Ziegfeld would spend $13000 on them and by the end it would cost him $300000. The Follies were a huge success on Broadway and gave Ziegfeld his spot in the Broadway history books. Another thing he in order to cement his fame, was revitalize the Broadway show, ShowBoat. During the casting of the show, Ziegfeld made the controversial choice at the time which was to cast a black actor in a leading role. Before this, white actors would apply “black face” on them to look like a black person. Despite this choice, the revival was a huge success and Ziegfeld made the show into one of the best and iconic Broadway shows of all

Broadway was one of the first forms of entertainment. Before there were television programs, or movies, there was Broadway. Broadway originated in New York in 1750, when actor-manager Walter Murray built a theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street. A musical would show about once every weekend. The shows were very male based, and would commonly show a relationship between young boys and their fathers. Women were slowly integrated into Broadway, and as society changed its point of view on women, so did theatre.

Suddenly, a man appears on shore stripping his clothes off and running into the water. The rescuer

The short story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod is narrated by a man who comes from a fishing family. His mother’s side of the family has forever lived and worked by the sea and continues this tradition. The narrator’s father always wanted to be an academic, but worked on the boat to support his family. Through this passage it is evident that the parents’ characters clash in many aspects of their lives and are in constant conflict. MacLeod demonstrates this through the use of repetition, the contrast in other unrelated ideas, and through information that is withheld.

Would you sacrifice your life and happiness for someone else to give them a life of perfection? Alistair Macleod; raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, known as the protagonist and author of The Boat began to realize that his happiness isn't the only thing that matters. He told his father that he will stay by his side as long as he lived. Then he was suddenly gone. Alistair had no idea whether his father left because the sea wasn’t the right life for Alistair, or for himself. In The Boat Macleod conveys the idea that sacrificing happiness for another can ultimately lead to internal and external destruction through the use of irony, the protagonist's journey, and symbolism.

The 19th century was a mark of new things to come about in different countries, these new things were music, theater, and other forms of entertainment. Because of the many wars fought during this time there was much depression and people needed a relief. We all know theater has been around for many decades, but it really started to scatter during this time, people needed entertainment and something to look forward to. Of course, music halls and minstrel shows were present but there was nothing that contained both of the features that these theaters had, and then came about vaudeville. Vaudeville highlighted many famous people’s careers and even helped started many of these stars’ careers. It grew as years progressed and became a loved entertainment for many years to come. Vaudevilles’ creation was the start of our current forms of entertainment and is the heart of the American entertainment industry in the 19th century.

The musical Showboat acted as hammer in 1927 because of its ability to revolutionize musical theatre by presenting topics such as racism, interracial romance, and marital heartbreak as well as changing the course of musical theatre.

Sexuality and personal growth has and always will be a topic of conversation in real life and even in fiction short stories. The idea of sexuality has just recently not only became an open idea to discuss but one to also write and publish about. Both Alice Munro and John Updike both illustrate the idea of sexuality and personal growth in very different ways. “The Found Boat” by Alice Munro, deals with sexuality in an aggressive manner while “A&P” by John Updike, deals more with the idea of sexuality rather than sexuality itself. They also have very similar elements of fiction that include (but is not limited to) characters, theme and conflict. The characters relate in both

In 1963, Jule Styne, Arthur Laurents, and Isobel Lennart premiered a new musical called Funny Girl, based on the life of Fanny Brice. This American Musical was about one of the most famous female vaudevillian comediennes that was famous for her character “Baby Snooks”, a naughty mischievous little girl in a forty each old woman’s body. “Baby Snooks” made tons of appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1910, 1921 and the radio. She not only was able to make people laugh but her songs such as “My Man” and “I’d Rather Be Blue” could make a person cry. Brice was such a well-rounded performer yet suffered a lot of heartbreak in her life with three failed marriages. Ray Stark, the producer supervisor of the Broadway musical, happened to start this biopic project because he was married to Frances Brice, Fanny Brice’s daughter. Fanny’s story of going from rags to riches was inspiring to not only Stark but to the future of musical theatre lovers. She changed the face of beauty that the Follies were known for and instead brought these characters and skits to make people adore her and her looks. Brice also invented a new form of Jewish female comedy which had never been seen in vaudeville before giving the show more ways to showcase her as a Jewish girl who was never a type before. The Broadway musical soon turned into a Hollywood motion picture and in both showed how the evolution

The Open Boat by Stephen Crane is a story describing four men that are trapped together in a small boat or dingy. The men aboard the boat are a captain, a correspondent, an oiler, and a cook. The men were aboard a larger boat that crashed off the coast of Florida and are now searching for the safety of a light house they remember. After making a homemade sail and some brisk paddling they finally get near the coast. They spot some people and begin to signal for help but the people only respond with friendly waves. The tide is much too strong to swim to shore so they paddle back out to sea a ways and wait for it to calm. While waiting they get approached by a shark. The large fish circles in such a way that death searches for the

This book really grabbed me right from the beginning of the story. The story begins with the birth of fraternal twins, with the grandfather patiently awaiting the birth of the son. Right away I felt sadness when the mother and one of the twins die. The boy dies and the girl survives. The grandpa seems to not care about the girl who survived . He was longing for his grandson because he is from the Maori tribe and the tribe is waiting for the sign of a new chief to be born . The chief would lead the village and its community to greatness. Many elders have been born but none with the strength to be the next chief. The little girl was named Pai. The grandma of Pai took her home to raise her along with the grandfather. The grandfather showed

"The Open Boat," by Stephen Crane, has been critiqued and deconstructed by many thinkers. One such critique is "The Dialogic Narrative of `The Open Boat'." This critique on Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat," was written by two authors: Sura P. Rath and Mary Neff Shaw. The authors focused on a five main points in the duration of this Critique. First Mikail Baktin's theory of the "Five basic types of discourses," are discussed and used in the deconstruction of "The Open Boat." The critique then delves into the use of first-person actor-character to third person spectator-narrator. Shaw and Rath then annotate the tonal quality of "The Open Boat." Fourthly the critique characterizes and analyzes the key figures of the Novel. Lastly