Why Was Theatre So Popular In American Theatre

People were looking for a kind of variety entertainment. Furthermore, Tony Pastor’s idea floated around, managers quickly noticed the potential of the situation at hand and started to follow his footsteps. Thus, resulting in higher standards for vaudevillians and vaudeville theatres in the United States. Acts included but were not limited to magicians, acrobats, comedians, trained animals, jugglers, singers, dancers, plate-spinners, ventriloquists are more. Talented performers starting in the vaudeville region more than likely moved on to bigger things such as motion pictures and radio related things (singing, speaking, etc). Throughout the years, vaudeville was one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Consequently, it took a nail on the road and ended up with a flat tire. Notably, television was not a thing until 1927, near the time of vaudevilles downfall. Truly, technology changes who we are because after motion pictures came into light, vaudevillians either moved there or quit their job. Another reason for the collapse of vaudeville was the financial crisis and World War II. Vaudeville unfortunately completely disappeared after World War II

Today's effects of television on the theatre are big in good and bad ways. The good thing television can do for the theatre is advertise and show clips from the play. People also like to hear what other people think and there are shows on television that will do that. Television can also show the plays in full, which can be good and or bad. The way it could be good is seeing the play on television could make someone want to see it live, than again once someone sees it they may never want to see it again. Another thing that goes along with television is a VCR if someone wants to see something bad enough they can go rent it or tape it for every time they want to see it in the future. Now there are even channels that are dedicated to showing only stuff from the stage.

“Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” – William Shakespeare

Imagine if it only cost you one penny to get tickets to a Broadway production. It would almost seem too good to be true! Well, back in the 1600s, in London, you could buy your way into a theater for as little as one penny. This price made it easy for anyone of any class to be able to partake in the festivities. Hence, the reason the theaters became so popular from 1562 to 1642. The theatres were very profitable based on the fact they were so popular in the community. The Elizabethan theatres were viewed as popular entertainment because of their fanciful attributes, their various events, and their several venues.

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.

Compare and contrast the American musical theatre in the 1920s with that of the 1930s. How did each reflect and absorb its era? What forms & styles were dominant, what was the same, what was different and why? Do we see elements from these decades in shows today? Use examples from specific musicals.

After the golden years known as, The Roaring Twenties,the U.S experienced the greatest economic crisis in human history known as the Great Depression.People struggled just to get by,actors especially .The Federal Theater Project (FTP), was a government funded program to help struggling performers find work.Though the idea of such a program was revolutionary,it failed, and ended a few years after its creation. The FTP ultimately didn’t establish what it set out to do.

How did Elizabethan theater affect popular entertainment? It affected popular entertainment massively at the time because it was very different than anything that had been popular entertainment before it and because even though it was popular it attracted a lot of criticism from the English Society. It came about in a time when drama shifted from religious to a secular function in society. The Elizabethan Theater lasted from the end of the 16th century and well into the 17th century. And it set out the stage for some actors very well-known even today.

With resounding consistency, every reference to The Theatrical Syndicate begins with the same anecdotal tale: “One day in 1896, six theatre businessmen met for lunch at the Holland House Hotel.” The gentlemen gathered that day where in a consensus about a few things, but the greatest of which being the state of the American theatre and its institutional need for centralization. (Mroczka) The aim of the following discussion is to contextualize this organization within American theatre history while illustrating the positive and negative impacts of The Theatrical Syndicate on the theatre community.

. Broadway which was the king of entertainment for such along time became replaced by the musical once the country became settled and well appointed after the war. Musicals became part of the American culture and also increased its boundary lines past the Theatre District. Technology also had a major impact on the musical, because it made it easier for folks to see their favorite Broadway performers right from their own living rooms. One of the reasons why I think the musical replaced Broadway is because shows before were focused on the musical comedy, but then all of a sudden musical comedy was dropped which then allowed for their to be a focus on the character development.

1920’s Broadway was booming! Due to the changes in song formatting, the modernization of plot line, and with a variety of dance style, The Jazz Age catapulted Broadway to a higher dimension than ever before. Like most hits, the Jazz Age fizzled out due to unforeseen circumstances. The Jazz Age ended with the 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. The country suffered, investments dropped, banks failed, and crashing companies caused massive unemployment rates. Along with the rest of the country, Broadway was negatively impacted by The Great Depression. However, despite the loss of jobs and struggling venues, the decade of the thirties proved to be an enlightening and rich experience for Broadway. Through research, we will open the curtain with the negative effects that The Great Depression had on Broadway during the 1930’s, then venture into the rising action where we will be begin to see the turning point, and finally end the show in the final act with the light at the end of the tunnel.

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

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.

Throughout the late 1920's an important theatrical movement developed: The Workers' Theatre Movement. In the end, it diminished around the middle of the 1930's, and one of the developments aiding the decline of the Workers' Theatre Movement, was the creation of the Federal Theatre Project. The Federal Theatre Project was the largest and most motivated effort mounted by the Federal Government to organize and produce theater events. Once the government took on the duty of putting people to work, it was able to consider the movement. The Federal Theatre Project’s purpose was “to provide relief work for theatrical artists that utilized their talents and to

Next, the performance at The Globe Theater help separate it’s self from the other theaters. “The plays at The Globe” article articulate, “As soon as a play had been written it was immediately produced and printed followed productions”(Alchin). Rival theaters would send out some of their workers to go to the plays to produce unauthorized copies, plays and they were copied quickly as possible. The fact that, other theaters copied The Globe Theater’s plays shows that the plays performed there had the other companies scared of losing their audience so they had to do something similar to The Globe Theater. It proves the plays performed were a huge success and very profitable. The plays and overall Theater had a tremendous influence on the people of England in several ways.