MUSICALS!!!

1. MUSICALS!!! A Brief Introduction to the Genre…

2. Why Musicals? • What makes musicals popular? • What makes a good musical? • Write a journal entry detailing your thoughts…

3. AFI’s Great Movie Musicals (Top 25) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdapEFiyTdY

4. Common Characteristics of Musicals

5. Definition • The musical film is a film genre in which several songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative. • The songs are used to advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but some musical films simply plop the songs in as unrelated "specialties" (also called "production numbers. • A subgenre of the musical film is the musical comedy, which includes a strong element of humor as well as the usual music, dancing and storyline. • The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of lavish background scenery which would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. In a sense, the viewer becomes the audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it.

6. History • The 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s are considered to be the golden age of the musical film, when the genre's popularity was at itspeak. • Musical short films were made by Lee De Forest in 1923-24. • After this, thousands of Vitaphoneshorts (1926–30) were made, many featuring bands, vocalists and dancers, in which a musical soundtrack played while the actors portrayed their characters just as they did in silent films: without dialogue.

8. History • The Jazz Singer, released in 1927 by Warner Brothers, was not only the first movie with synchronized dialogue, but the first feature film that was also a musical, featuring Al Jolson singing "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face;" “Toot Toot Tootsie", “Blue Skies" and “My Mammy". • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2K_JzuX4FI

9. History • The Broadway Melody (1929) had a show-biz plot about two sisters competing for a charming song and dance man. Advertised by MGM as the first "All-Talking, All-Singing, All-Dancing" feature film, it was a hit and won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1929. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxWVH28E1KY

10. History • Hollywood released more than 100 musical films in 1930, but only 14 in 1931.By late 1930, audiences had been oversaturated with musicals and studios were forced to cut the music from films that were then being released. • The taste in musicals revived again in 1933 when director Busby Berkeley began to enhance the traditional dance number with ideas drawn from the drill precision he had experienced as a soldier during the First World War. In films such as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Berkeley choreographed a number of films in his unique style.

11. History • Musical stars such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were among the most popular and highly respected personalities in Hollywood during the classical era. • The Fred and Ginger pairing was particularly successful, resulting in a number of classic films, such as Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936) and Shall We Dance (1937). • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl6FLfHTC68

12. History • Many dramatic actors gladly participated in musicals as a way to break away from their typecasting. For instance, the multi-talented James Cagney had originally risen to fame as a stage singer and dancer, but his repeated casting in "tough guy" roles and gangster films gave him few chances to display these talents. Cagney's Oscar-winning role in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) allowed him to sing and dance, and he considered it to be one of his finest moments. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StDpLge_ITM

13. History • During the late 1940s and into the 1950s, a production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer headed by Arthur Freed made the transition from old-fashioned musical films, whose formula had become repetitive, to something new. • Starting in 1944 with Meet Me in St. Louis, the Freed Unit worked somewhat independently of its own studio to produce some of the most popular and well-known examples of the genre. The products of this unit include Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The Band Wagon (1953). • This era saw musical stars become household names, including Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller, Donald O'Connor, CydClarisse, Mickey Rooney, Vera-Ellen, Jane Powell, Howard Keel, and Kathryn Grayson. Fred Astaire was also coaxed out of retirement for Easter Parade and made a permanent comeback. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvglHa_P9BA

14. History • In the 1960’s, 1970’s and continuing up to today the musical film became less of a bankable genre that could be relied upon for sure-fire hits. • Audiences for them lessened and fewer musical films were produced as the genre became less mainstream and more specialized. • In the 1960’s the success of the films West Side Story, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music and Funny Girl suggested that the traditional musical was in good health. • However popular musical tastes were being heavily affected by rock and roll and the freedom and youth associated with it, and indeed Elvis Presley made a few films that have been equated with the old musicals in terms of form. • The most successful musical of the 1960’s created specifically for film was Mary Poppins, one of Disney's biggest hits.

15. History • In the 1970s, film culture and the changing demographics of filmgoers placed greater emphasis on gritty realism, while the pure entertainment and theatricality of classical era Hollywood musicals was seen as old-fashioned. • The 1973 film of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar was met with some criticism by religious groups, but was well received. • By the mid-1970s filmmakers avoided the genre in favor of using music by popular rock or pop bands as background music, partly in hope of selling a soundtrack album to fans. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was originally released in 1975 and was a critical failure until it started midnight screenings in the 1980s where it achieved cult status. • The 1978 film version of Grease was a smash hit; its songs were original compositions done in a 1950s pop style. • Films about performers which incorporated gritty drama and musical numbers interwoven as a part of the storyline were produced, such as Lady Sings the Blues, All That Jazz, Saturday Night Fever, and New York, New York.

16. History • By the 1980s, financiers grew increasingly confident in the musical genre, partly buoyed by the relative health of the musical on Broadway and London's West End. • Productions of the 1980s and 1990s included Xanadu, The Blues Brothers, Annie, Monty Python's Meaning of Life, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Victor Victoria, Footloose. • However, Can't Stop the Music, starring The Village People, was a calamitous attempt to resurrect the old-style musical and was released to audience indifference in 1980. • Little Shop of Horrors was based on an off-Broadway musical adaptation of a 1960 Roger Corman film, a precursor of later film-to-stage-to-film adaptations, including The Producers. • Many animated films of the period - predominately from Disney - included traditional musical numbers. Howard Ashman, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz had previous musical theatre experience and wrote songs for animated films during this time • Starting with 1989's The Little Mermaid, the Disney Renaissance gave new life to the Film Musical. Other successful animated musicals included Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas from Disney proper, The Nightmare Before Christmas from Disney division Touchstone Pictures, The Prince of Egypt from DreamWorks, Anastasia from Fox and Don Bluth, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut from Paramount.

17. The Libretto (Book) • The book (also called the libretto) is the least appreciated and yet most dramatically important element of a musical. It is the narrative structure that keeps the score from being nothing more than a disjointed medley of songs. • For many years, the main point of most shows was to showcase a score and/or a major star. As a result, the books of most Broadway musicals were a series of scenes, jokes and sight gags designed to get from song to song • More than one expert has observed that musicals with great scores and weak books tend to fail, while those with mediocre scores and solid books have a better chance of succeeding. After all, the first job of every play or film – musical or not – is to tell a good story.

18. Act 1 • The modern musical libretto is almost always written in a two-act format. The first act does not have to end with a cliff-hanger, but we should be curious to see what happens next. • Examples of memorable Act One endings: • Fiddler On the Roof– A horrific pogrom ruins Tzeitel's wedding. How will Tevye's family carry on? • My Fair Lady – As Liza dances off with the scheming linguist ZoltanKarparthy, will her secret be exposed and Professor Higgins' work ruined? • Annie – Will an orphan find her long lost parents? • Les Miserables – How will the many characters we've met in Act One get through the imminent revolution?

19. Act 2 • The end of Act Two is even more important. It is what audiences walk out with, and a powerful final scene can make up for a lot of shortcomings earlier in the show. Having a great song helps – many shows reprise their strongest ballad – but the book writer must structure the play so that the last scene packs a genuine wallop. • The Sound of Music has the Von Trapps escape to freedom over the Alps as a chorus of nuns sing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain." • A Chorus Line brings all the dancers back for the socko dance number, "One." Although this illogically contradicts everything that occurs beforehand  (when most of these dancers were eliminated), no audience really cares. Its a sensational coup de theatre. • Annie has the orphan girl's long-lost pooch Sandy pop out of a gift box on Christmas morning, winning a guaranteed cheer from the audience. • Secret Garden has Uncle Archie embrace his niece Mary as the ghosts of the past depart to the strains of "Come To The Garden." • The Producers has Bialystok & Bloom surrounded by the marquees for their future tasteless (and hilarious) hits – like "Death of a Salesman - On Ice." • Check a dozen of your favorite musicals, and you will find that most offer a solid dramatic or comic kick as part of the finale.

20. Key Elements • Keep the story line clear and easy to follow. • Create characters that are easy to relate to, without resorting to stereotypes. (Good luck!) • Create situations that call characters into song. • Move in and out of songs as smoothly as possible. • Hand over much (and sometimes all) of the plot and character development to the songs and choreography. • Make the audience care at all times. (If the action gets dull, nothing guarantees an audience will stay to learn the ending!)

21. Showtune Structure : AABA • ~A is the main melody- repeated twice in part so that it can easily be remembered. • ~B is the release or bridge, and should contrast as much as possible with A. • ~Then A is repeated a third time usually with a melodic twist.

22. Song Types • Some people think that it is enough for a showtune to be melodic and generally entertaining. That may have been true in the days of Ziegfeld revues and screwball musical comedies, when any song could be inserted into most any show regardless of its connection to the action. Ever since Oklahoma, expectations have changed. Now, each showtune must serve as a dramatic element in a play or film by helping to develop character and/or move the story forward. As much as everyone loves a showstopper, it has to work as a cohesive part of the storytelling process – otherwise the only thing it really stops is audience interest. The most memorable show songs tend to gel around three kinds of character experiences – • Transition - a moment of change or conversion. • Realization - reaching an insight or new level of understanding. • Decision - after long wrangling, a character finally makes up his or her mind.

23. Song Types • Traditional musicals carefully varied the placement of song types, while musicals of the late 20th Century showed an increasing reliance on placing ballad after ballad after ballad  . . . yaaaawn! The types of songs commonly required in modern musicals can be illustrated with these examples from Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady – • Ballads - usually love songs ("On the Street Where You Live"),but they can also philosophize about any strong emotion ("Accustomed to Her Face"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0udu4KYv1zI • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPhsR0T_cjA • Charm Songs - let a character beguile an audience ("Wouldn't It Be Loverly"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5fW7sERw7I • Comedy Numbers - aim for laughs ("A Little Bit of Luck"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Sj9o7DWJU • Musical Scenes - seamlessly blend dialogue and song, usually with two or more characters ("You Did It"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RT3cx1b9ZM

24. Song Types • There are typically three types of show songs: • I Am Songs- any song that explains a character, a group of characters, or a situation. • I Want Songs- these tell what a character desires or what motivates them. These are typically love songs. • New Songs- includes any song that does not fit into the other two categories, usually because they serve specific dramatic needs.

25. Song Placement • The Opening Number sets the tone for the rest of the show. It is not unusual for this song to be written after the rest of a show is in place. • The Main "I Want" Song comes early in the first act, with one or more of the main characters singing about the key motivating desire that will propel everyone (including the audience) through the remainder of the show. In many cases, these songs literally include the words "I want," "I wish" or "I've got to." • The Eleven O'clock Number takes place about midway through Act Two. It can be a ballad ("This Nearly Was Mine" in South Pacific, "Memory" in Cats), charm song ("Hello, Dolly!") or comedy showpiece ("Brush Up Your Shakespeare" in Kiss Me Kate, "Betrayed" in The Producers). It does not necessarily have to mark a climactic moment in the plot, but it must be strong enough to energize the audience for the final scenes. • The Finale should carry an emotional wallop, leaving audiences with a powerful last impression. This is usually done by reprising one of score's most emotion-packed numbers.