Week One

I feel as if Jonathon was well received by the American audiences in the 18th century because of the type of character he portrayed. Jonathon possess the traits, ideas and beliefs that the audience during this time period would understand. He represented the typical New England Yankee; he was honest, patriotic and an unsophisticated country bumpkin. Johnathon was not a man of high society and neither were most of them. The audience of the 18th century understood Johnathon because he represented them, they knew what he was feeling and understood his course of actions, but most of all Johnathon was the New England Yankee.

There are many theme in The Contrast especially when it comes to the characters of Dimple and Manly. First simply being that they are the complete opposite of each other. There are the terms that Colonel Manly is seen as a Hero, a man of great stature as he has both wealth and power. Yet, we see dimple as a dim with fop, who is attempting to manage a relationship with three women at the same time and in desperate need of money. He is the villain of the story to evil to Manly’s good. The themes of this musical is the hero versus villain, the persona of America versus the persona of the British, and being a flirt verse being a gentleman.

After viewing the entire episode of Give My Regards to Broadway, I have learned a lot about the development of the American musical, especially when it includes George M.Cohan, Bert Williams and the 1919 Actor’s strike. These important people and event are what makes the American musical as great as it can be, but also help with the theater industry in general. A lot has happen in during the end of the 19th century and the 20th century in concern to American musical. Many o...

... middle of paper ...

... and performing other shows. Further, more there was a huge differences between members of the actors equity in terms of status and salary that did not exist in other unions.

In conclusion, when it comes to the development of American musical industry there is not one single action that did not have an effect on the development and growth. Although some had large effects than others, as they also helped with other part of the theater industry. Whereas there are some events that if they did not happen a lot of problems would still be current in the theater industry. Without the 1919 Actor’s strike, the conditions in which actor and theater people worked under would not have improved nor would them have been able to identify themselves as a work group. These major people helped to break new ground not only for themselves, but also for the people that came after them.