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Overview of Musical Theatre History

Musical theatre combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance to tell a story through music, movement and technical elements. It emerged in the 19th century with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and Harrigan and Hart, and has developed into a major theatrical form with iconic musicals from the 20th century like West Side Story, Les Misérables and Wicked. Musicals are performed professionally in large venues as well as amateur productions, and there are thriving musical theatre scenes around the world.

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115 views2 pages

Overview of Musical Theatre History

Musical theatre combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance to tell a story through music, movement and technical elements. It emerged in the 19th century with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and Harrigan and Hart, and has developed into a major theatrical form with iconic musicals from the 20th century like West Side Story, Les Misérables and Wicked. Musicals are performed professionally in large venues as well as amateur productions, and there are thriving musical theatre scenes around the world.

Uploaded by

B Hughes
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Musical theatre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Black Crook (1866), which some historians consider the first musical[1]

Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs,


spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a
musical humor, pathos, love, anger are communicated through the words,
music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated
whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms
like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to
the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements.
Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been
called, simply, musicals.
Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times,
modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many
structural elements established by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain
and those of Harrigan and Hart in America. These were followed by the
numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the musical theatre works of
American creators like George M. Cohan. The Princess Theatre musicals and
other smart shows like Of Thee I Sing(1931) were artistic steps forward
beyond revues and other frothy entertainments of the early 20th century and
led to such groundbreaking works as Show Boat (1927) and Oklahoma! (1943).

Some of the most famous and iconic musicals through the decades that
followed include West Side Story (1957), The Fantasticks (1960), Hair (1967), A

Chorus Line (1975), Les Misrables (1985), The Phantom of the


Opera (1986), Rent (1996), The Producers (2001) and Wicked (2003).
Musicals are performed around the world. They may be presented in large
venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City
or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, OffBroadway or regional theatre productions, or on tour. Musicals are often
presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other
performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are
vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada
and Latin America.

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