There were many factors that contributed to the changes made to the Broadway theaters in the 20th Century. Broadway faced many problems during the time period of 1945-1955, resolved by numerous different solutions. This included impacts of World War II and the Great Depression, the decline in audience interest and the loss of many actors and producers.
Broadway was immensely affected by the Great Depression and World War II. The economy of the depression banned lots of shows creating show decline in the 1940s. The number of Broadway people affected by the stock market crash was uncountable. Many different people, from ushers, whose theaters remained dark, and producers, such as Flo Ziegfeld, were affected by the crash. The previous seasons such as the 1929-1930 season produced 233 productions, which dropped down to only 95 productions in 1945. This was another reason many theater people lost their jobs. Many people also joined the communist party during the time of the Great Depression, they believed the American system was failing and the Soviet system seemed promising. The need of money was becoming greater and seemed more promising in Moscow where theater people were actually making a living. The mass shift to the communist party resulted in a change in dramas in many off-Broadway theaters, which now included social protest, using the slogan “Theater as a weapon”. Postwar, the cost of mounting all Broadway productions “spiraled out of control” faster then the cost of a ticket, which doubled in the following ten years. The new Theater League and the Theater Union produced passionate dramas in order to propagate the working class and left-wing productions became fashionable. Despite the negative impacts on Broadway, these po...
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...r Lady”, the Gershwin brothers returned to Broadway, and wrote more creative works that brought Broadway to higher success then ever before.
In conclusion, Broadway was severely impacted by numerous factors in the early 20th century, including aftermath of the great depression and war; whereby there was a huge show decline after which many people joined the communist party making the costs of all Broadway productions higher then ever before. Another problem at this time was the audience interest decline; the depression economics had banned most shows, and the shows that were left lacked in content, leaving the audience uninterested. Finally the loss of actors, writers and producers, many artists moved to Hollywood and many songwriters were under film contracts. Despite all the negative impact Broadway during this time, Broadway was able to return to its former glory
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 make their work widely available to ordinary Americans, thus democratizing high culture.” (www.answers.com) Furthermore the FTP tried to present theatre that was relevant socially, politically, and had popular prices, such as free shows. The majority of its famous productions, although not all of them, came out of New York City. New York had many units, such as, a classical unit, Negro unit, units performing vaudeville, children’s plays, puppet shows, caravan productions, and the new plays unit. The Federal Theatre Project was “the only fully government-sponsored theatre ever in the United States”. (Witham 16)
Popularity for live performances heightened exponentially during the late nineteenth century. The United States flourished with circuses, ballparks for sporting events, night clubs, world and state fairs, as well as theatrical road shows. Growing amusement parks, such as Coney Island, attracted customer attendance not just by supplying thrillingly-fun rides, but by also providing an array of the newly emerging vaudeville theatrical shows. Vaudeville was gaining much popularity because it strived to appeal to people of all socioeconomic classes and cultural background as well as offered low admission prices. It consisted of a diversity of individual performances which could range from comical skits, singing, acrobatic stunts to magic shows. “Variety theatre drew larger audiences than the ‘legitimate’ theater which presented classical performances” (Administrator). For this reason, vaudeville theatre was gaining much attraction because it was able to enthrall the population with a wide range of
Smith, Cecile Michener, and Glenn Litton. Musical Comedy in America. New York: Theater Arts Books, 1950. 627-8. Print.
The theatres in Chicago have a very vast and interesting history. Starting in the 1920’s, it has been around for a long time. Stephen Schwartz once said “I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return”(goodreads.com). Broadway can help teach people morales. Broadway is one of the most exciting parts of downtown Chicago. Broadway in Chicago is undoubtedly less recognized then what it should be due to its talent and national status.
These strong people have help not only with the growth of the Broadway musical, but also with the beginning of the modernization of musical theater during this period. Particularly the growth and change in the types of characters being used in Broadway musicals. Such as the Cinderella type characters are in the rag to riches stories, where they are struggling in the beginning of the act, yet at the final curtain they have a happy ending. Women and men during this period are beginning to show more personality in their acting and their struggles on stage. This was also the period where talking pictures, started to become a growing industry, it was no longer about just the Jazz period of the 1920’s. However, all good things must come to an end; it was the crash of the stock market during this period that brought an end to the feverish pitch of Broadway.
The risk taking and ingenuity Sondheim brought to the art of the musical gave others permission to experiment with non-traditional plot structures, more serious topics, the use of ambiguity, or anything else they could think of in musical format. One writer in particular, Jonathan Larson, was influenced by Sondheim. Larson was personally mentored by Sondheim, and Larson’s hit musical Rent, which featured a group of poor, AIDS stricken artists, may have never been possible if Sondheim had not brought similar, grave topics to the Broadway stage first. The same can be said for many more recent musicals, such as Wicked, Parade, and The Last Five Years (“The
Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
...ts have been brought to millions of American citizens of the economic system generally described as underprivileged'" (Burg, 296). Though it was very short-lived, the Federal Theatre Project was helpful to thousands of Americans during the 1930s. To those involved in theatre, it was able to give the unemployed jobs and for those who were not involved in theatre, it was a wonderful form of public entertainment that helped boost American morale during the Great Depression. The Negro Theatre Project gave black Americans an equal opportunity in theatre as well. Though Living Newspapers caused conflicts, they were still a good way to combine the powers of entertainment and enlightenment for the public. Even if it was a very controversial project, the Federal Theatre Project had a large impact on society in the 1930s and was the most important of the Federal Arts Projects.
“You know some guys just can’t hold their arsenic” (Chicago). Theater in the 1920’s was greatly influenced by prohibition, mobsters and large murder cases as shown in the musical Chicago. Prohibition fueled many of the social issues of the day and also influenced theater. 1920’s theater was in turmoil as American society struggled to establish a new moral code. The musical Chicago gives examples of corruption in the legal system and the changing roles of women in society.
Broadway in America and theatre abroad was greatly influenced by the works of Florenz Ziegfeld and his new look on entertainment in theatre. Flo was a great proponent of the “glorification of the american girl” setting the “standard of the time for female sexuality”. (Kantor) In the nearly two dozen variations on the theme between 1907 and 1931 he set forth refined ideas of what makes a female beautiful, and how to make them as beautiful as they could be. This era of middle-class american entertainment was what made the Ziegfeld Follies a memorable history and influence on theatre abroad that is still present in theatre today.
It is human nature to tell stories and to appreciate and participate in theatre traditions in every society. Every culture expresses theatre and may have their own traditions that have helped pave the way for how they are today. The involvement of African-Americans has increased tremendously in theatre since the nineteenth century and continues to increase as time goes on. African-Americans have overcome many obstacles with getting their rights and the participation and involvement of Theatre was something also worth fighting for. American history has played an important role with the participation of African-Americans in theatre. Slavery occurrence in America made it difficult for blacks in America to be taken seriously and to take on the characters of more serious roles. With many obstacles in the way African-Americans fought for their rights and also for the freedom that they deserved in America. As the participation of African-Americans involvement within the theatre increase so do the movements in which help make this possible. It is the determination of these leaders, groups, and Theaters that helped increase the participation and created the success that African-Americans received throughout history in American Theatre.
The period between the early 1940s to mid-1960s or so, alternatively, the period between when the musical Oklahoma! (1943) was produced till the time when Hair (1968) was produced, is usually referred to as the Golden Age of the American musical (Kantor, 2010). It is during this period, that most of the noted titles such as “Carousel”, “South Pacific” etc. were produced by the. The 1940s and early 1950s were dominated thoroughly by MGM musicals, while the late 1950s and 1960s belonged to Broadway. Initially, the musicals of this era had simple plots, unchallenging themes, with romantic or comedic characters and lots of singing and dancing.
“He’d look out from under his eyebrows, his cigarette a smoke screen between him and the rest of the world, and nobody knew what he was thinking” (Beddow xi). This is how Margery Beddow describes Bob Fosse in her book, Bob Fosse's Broadway. There is no question about whether or not Fosse was extremely innovative in the world of theatrical dance. His technique, style, personality, and achievements throughout his career speak for themselves. You may have seen him in movies such as Kiss Me Kate, My Sister Eileen, Damn Yankees, The Little Prince, and Thieves, however, he also helped direct and choreograph several of other films such as Sweet Charity, Lenny, All That Jazz, Star 80, and more. Although Fosse did contribute a lot to the film industry,
Miller, D. A. Place for Us: Essay on the Broadway Musical. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1998. Print.
Theatre has heavily evolved over the past 100 years, particularly Musical Theatre- a subgenre of theatre in which the storyline is conveyed relying on songs and lyrics rather than dialogue. From its origination in Athens, musical theatre has spread across the world and is a popular form of entertainment today. This essay will discuss the evolution and change of musical theatre from 1980-2016, primarily focusing on Broadway (New York) and the West End (London). It will consider in depth, the time periods of: The 1980s: “Brit Hits”- the influence of European mega musicals, the 1990s: “The downfall of musicals”- what failed and what redeemed, and the 2000s/2010s: “The Resurgence of musicals”- including the rise of pop and movie musicals. Concluding