From West Side Story to Spring Awakening: the Evolution of the American Musical

23 September 2012 From West Side Story to Spring Awakening: The Evolution of the American Musical Broadway, also known as The Great White Way, no matter how you chose to describe it, they describe a place that for over one hundred years has put on the most spectacular musicals in the world. From Ancient Greece to the Globe Theatre and finally to Broadway, these places have all been known for being â€Å"the† place for plays and musicals. â€Å"Broadway is the street in New York that has come to symbolize live theater entertainment throughout the world† (Talkinbroadway. om). Over the last one hundred years many things have changed in the world of the musical. Producers, directors, and actors now have more freedom and liberty with their production and the portrayal of the characters. â€Å"While the contemporary Broadway musical took its form from operetta, it got its comic soul from the variety entertainments that delighted America from the mid-1800s onward. Crude Ameri can Variety and Minstrel Shows eventually gave way to the more refined pleasures of Vaudeville — and the rowdy spirit of Burlesque† (Musicals101. com). George M.Cohan was the first to really put his stamp on The Great White Way, and in turn he unknowingly started a change in how shows on Broadway were performed and produced. â€Å"American composers George M. Cohan and Victor Herbert gave the American musical comedy a distinctive sound and style† (Musicals101. com). With his performing past Cohan could only succeed. His biggest hit was Little Johnny Jones, wherein George Cohan would play an â€Å"American Jockey name Johnny Jones, who had returned to his hometown victoriously after being falsely accused of throwing a race at the London Derby† (Lewis 6). While the London stage was still living in another century with The Arcadians and The Quake Girl†¦.. outside a small section of Manhattan Island known as The Great White Way, one man was setting the Am erican musical stage on the course it was to take for the remainder of the twentieth century† (Jackson 22). George Cohan’s contribution to Broadway inspired others. The people he inspired would go on to put their own stamp on Broadway. One of the biggest he influenced was Jerome Kern. Jerome Kern â€Å"like most of his peers was the recipient of numerous rejections from music publishers† (Lewis 8).After numerous rejections, at the age of 17 Jerome Kern’s first tune â€Å"At the Casino† was published. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II would come together and create one of the biggest musicals of not only their time but of all time: Show Boat. The difference between Show Boat and the other plays was that â€Å"the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. With Show Boat came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity.Here, finally, was a musical with a consi stent and credible story line, authentic atmosphere and three-dimensional characters† (TheatreHistory. com). Their groundbreaking musical led to the beginning of the musical theatre revolution. Show Boat opened on December 37, 1927, and â€Å"doubtlessly stunned audiences with its atypical realism† (Lewis 18). Hammerstein’s score would have no doubt left an impact on the musical’s audience. He would become one of the greatest musical composers of all time. Show Boat â€Å"caused a tremor through show circles—but not an earthquake† (Lewis 22).While it didn’t have the impact that Cohan had, it still brought on change and gave the audience something they had yet to see. After Show Boat, Oscar Hammerstein tried to repeat his success with five more productions that ultimately failed. However, the tides were beginning to change; on March 31, 1943 Oklahoma was unveiled to the world. â€Å"Within ten minutes† ‘of its opening, wrot e Brooks Atkinson in his book Broadway’ â€Å"a Broadway audience was transported out of the ugly realities of wartime into a warm, languorous, shining time and place where the only problems were simple and wholesome, and people were uncomplicated and joyous† (Lewis 35).How many young girls aspiring to achieve a career on Broadway do not at some point in time do not recreate Laurie’s dream sequence? It was a pivotal moment in musical theatre history and a much needed success for Oscar Hammerstein. It was a modern version of Romeo and Juliet that left the most impact on the Broadway audience. â€Å"Jerome Robbins brought together composer Leonard Berstein and playwright Arthur Laurents to work a modern day version of Romeo and Juliet, called East Side Story (Green 175). East Side Story was never put on due to scheduling conflicts.However, six years later, East Side Story became West Side Story and the world was introduced to the story of Tony and Maria. A duo wh o fell in love despite all obstacles that surrounded them. The world was also shown the lyrical genius known as Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim and Laurents would later recall that â€Å"although production ran for nearly two years and managed to turn a profit, business was never outstanding† (Lewis 84). Hard to imagine considering West Side Story is to this day still an iconic and popular musical.It was in the late twentieth century that the audience was treated to a musical that had yet to be seen, a story yet to be told during the course of Broadway’s illustrious history. â€Å"In the world of Rent, the alluring young protagonists, plagued by a host of contemporary ills from drug addiction to STDs, believes that society owes them free rent† (Lewis 167). It was an idea that was fresh and new; an idea that was very much needed in this new day and age. How many people shed a tear when Angel died?It was something that the audience needed, considering that every day mo re and more people were falling ill to these same illnesses. Rent provided a relatable aspect towards its audience. Many stars were created from the cast of Rent, but one would leave the show and captivate the audience by playing a wicked witch. Wicked is the story of the witches of Oz before the invasion of Dorothy. Idina Menzel left Rent to portray Elphaba, â€Å"The Wicked Witch of the East†. She constantly clashed with Glinda, â€Å"The Good Witch of the North† and Wicked became a story within a story.While it described the witches before the invasion of Dorothy and her loveable dog Toto, it also told the story of the events that led up to Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. Wicked gives the audience the story of The Wicked Witch of the East before Dorothy dropped a house on her. It also allows the audience to see that Glinda wasn’t as perfect as everyone thought. While Elphaba was her own person, Glinda on many occasions would try to get Elphaba to conform to wha t her peers were. This would lead to her striking out on her own. In 2006, audiences were treated to a new musical.A story that while written in the nineteenth century had contemporary lyrics and a young cast that gave the story life and showed tragedies that had yet to be seen before. Spring Awakening showed the fallout of being young and uninformed, it showed abuse at home, mistreatment from your teachers, and what being desperate can do to a young person. The audience was shown the story of Wendla Bergman who despite being a teenager was woefully uninformed of the things she desperately needed to know, Melchior Gabbor, a self-proclaimed atheist and all around golden boy despites his religious iews, and Moritz Steifel, who above all else just wanted to make his father proud and who became victim to his professors who decided to play God with his life. Wendla being woefully uninformed led to her unknowingly getting pregnant by Melchior, as her mother informed her that essentially y ou could only get pregnant once married. Once her pregnancy was discovered her mother took her to a shady doctor who performed a botched abortion that ultimately led to Wendla’s death. Moritz Steifel needed to pass his exams to continue on in school, and he did.However, his professors failed him and expelled him from school. After being shunned by his father and failing as an apprentice, Moritz ends up committing suicide. Melchior doesn’t even know about the creation of his child with Wendla or their demise until he escapes from reform school and sees the graves of both Wendla nd Moritz. The productions ends with a haunting scene in which Melchior is about to commit suicide when the ghosts of Wendla and Moritz stop him. The American Musical has changed vastly over the last one hundred years. The audience and the landscape have changed over the years.From West Side Story where Maria threatens to kill herself to Spring Awakening where Wendla actually dies a tragic death that could have been prevented if she had only been informed of the ways of the world. Works Cited Lewis, David H.. Broadway Musicals: A Hundred Year History. Jefferson, N. C. : McFarland, 2002. Pgs. 6-8, 18-22, 84, 167. Print. Jackson, Arthur. The Best Musicals from Show boat to Sweeney Todd: Broadway, Off Broadway, London. New York: Crown Publishers, 1977. Page 22. Print. Green, Stanley. Broadway Musicals, Show by Show. Seventh ed. Milwaukee, WI: H. Leonard Books, 1985. 175. Print. Talkin' Broadway – Broadway 101 â€Å"The Great White Way†. † Talkin' Broadway – Broadway & Off-Broadway theatre discussion, cast recording news, reviews of musicals and drama. N. p. , n. d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www. talkinbroadway. com/bway101/1. html>. Birdie, e Bye. â€Å"American Musical Theatre: An Introduction. † TheatreHistory. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www. theatrehistory. com/american/musical030. html>. 1990s, The. â €Å"Musicals On Stage: A Capsule History. † Musicals101. com – The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musicals. N. p. , n. d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <http://www. musicals101. com/stagecap. htm>.