The Musical Replaced Broadway, By Oscar Rodgers

The very first theatre production credited with being the first Broadway musical impacted the theatre world in many ways. (The Black Crook, p.1) In the spring of 1866, the Academy of Music in New York City burned to the ground, leaving a troupe of Parisian ballerinas with nowhere to dance. (The Black Crook, p.1) William Wheatley, who was producing playwright Charles M. Barras’s melodrama The Black Crook, approached the dancers and offered them a spot in his show. (The Black Crook, p.1)

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

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.

The entire USA was called upon to volunteer to the war and Texas was not left behind. Before the commencement of the war, Texas was predominantly a quiet place with frontier traditions and rural life dominating the state. The life of the Texans was predominantly within their ranches and farms and never ventured far off their local ranches with farming being the predominate activity.

The technological advances of the 19th century played a big role in theatre. Since America was having an Industrial Revolution, many people from the country moved to the expanding cities in the east (“Nineteenth Century Theatre”). This migration made the growth of theatres possible. Theatre seats, balconies, and the basic structural support were made of wood (“Nineteenth Century Theatre”). During the 19th century, theatre lights were “upgraded” three times, the theatre went from candle lighting, to gas lighting,

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.

People loved Texas so much that they only would enlist for Texas war service (Doc D). Every texan enjoyed Texas’ beautiful sites and weather. Some say if they ever were to marry, it would only be in Texas (Doc D). Many people who lived in the Lone Star State owned slaves, and didn’t want to get rid of them (Doc D). So, many of the Texans fought in the war so they would be able to have to ability to continue to own slaves. Texans had such a meaningful place in their heart for Texas, that they thought they owed it to their state to fight for what they thought was

From Gonzales to San Jacinto many hard battles were fought. Many brave soldiers lost their lives in massacres such as Goliad and the Alamo. It is important to remember their sacrifice. If we did not it would be as if their purpose was pointless. Texas would be very different without their heroism. If we had not won our independence Texas would not be the great state we know

But first, let’s talk about how this happened, so the most important battles that affected this was The battle of The Alamo,Goliad Massacre, and The Battle of Gonzales. They were important because these battles and massacres

Although vaudeville seemed to be a long standing staple in our society, like all good things, it must come to an end. the decline and death of vaudeville appears certain, clear and inevitable. From the performers point of view, there was no perspective other than the "here and now" of their lives. Each day seemed to differ little from the previous, and speculation about the future was, as ever, informed by hear say and past experience. As an array of specialty acts, vaudeville was an enterprise without name that, over many years, could be found in the marketplaces of Asia and Europe. It eventually spread around the world to the farthest corners of Australia and Africa. Performers worked when and where they could, quite often in undesired locations. A certain cliché attached to performing in bed and breakfast's, saloons and public houses after their owners added stages and audience pits set apart from the tavern. It soon became quite taxing for performers to not only live the same shows everyday, but to move on and find other work after they were no longer needed in vaudeville shows. Still, this was not the only reason for the demise of vaudeville, although it played a large part. The largest contributing factor was the invention of the motion picture in the 1930's. There was no longer a need for people to be entertained by a comical, musical, circus style side show. Now they found a more intimate and fascinating way of enjoying a performance. The first

On a warm afternoon in the Pacific, an Admiral inspects the deck of his battleship from the bridge. Battleships play a large role in the Navy as long range artillery support, and as floating fortresses. The U.S.S. Oklahoma was one of these grand ships. After the U.S.S. Oklahoma was commissioned, she served her country for many years before falling victim to the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor.

They were able to revolutionize musicals by putting together such great works that are considered to be classics today. Some of their most famous works include Oklahoma!, Cinderella, Carousel, and The King and I. Rodgers and Hammerstein worked well together because Rodgers could take care of composing the music and Hammerstein writing the lyrics. Their strengths complemented each other's weaknesses and become the one of most influential duos in history. Not everyone believes in what Rodgers and Hammerstein do which is called the musical formula. Some people believe that it can be too predictable at times. They soon went from just being writers to becoming full time

There were many physical changes that took place with the theatres and the productions. Depression hit New York pretty hard, 1.6 million out of 7 million people were in some sort of welfare programs, as well as one third of the city’s factories were forced to be shutdown. Theatres were either closed down or were tuned into movie houses. Production output slowed down, before the depression there were 264 productions between 1927-28 and then during the depression, (1930-31) there was only 187 productions, because it was difficult to fundraise money. It was also very difficult to get a job in a theatrical field during the recession, there were about five thousand people that were jobless.

Dance was not a new element in the theatre realm. It had been used for years as a way of interpretation of feelings of a character that the writer or director wanted the audience to feel visually. Through movement, expression of those feelings was portrayed and helped the audience to somewhat

people had more money to spend. People started going to the movies more. Jazz music started