American Musical

The first musical productions in the American colonies, a was a production of Flora. Flora was a ballad opera from England. The ballad opera stayed relevant in the colonies for many years. After the colonies were united their many genre of the musical, before we got to the American musical we know today. After the ballad opera's their was burlesque. At that time, burlesque consisted of travesties on or parodies of famous plays, performers or dancers done in song, dance, pantomime and dialogue. The accent on female in flimsy attire came later. Their were the  minstrel shows, first done in  1843 was a representation of a attempt through the exploitation of the humor, dance and song of the African American or Negro at the time. The minstrel shows had no plots, characterization or settings. The first American show to have a plot, characterization and setting, was the play The Brook in 1879. Their many versions of the musical, before the ones you may see on a Broadway stage today. 



A highlight of the Spoleto Festival USA is the opera “Flora” at the Dock Street Theater, where it played in 1736. Center, Andriana Chuchman with Tyler Duncan; seated in front, Robert McPherson.

Maurice Hines, left, joins his brother Gregory (now deceased) in the finale of the smash 1981 Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies

Seeing a musical today would be a lot different than Flora in the 1700's. Today musical theater has the elements of dance, acting, and music. The music usually written for the play by a composer; will usually come together with the dancing and acting. I have never seen musical theater live, but i think their would be great music, dance and dialogue; that would make you feel like you experienced something special. I have seen some popular plays on video and all the elements come together to make a great experience to watch.

This is a Phyllis Hyman in Duke Ellington Musical Sophisticated Ladies

Something i found interesting is that burlesque was originally used to poke fun at popular people and shows and that the first musical production in the us was performed in a courthouse.

Sources

http://www.theatrehistory.com/american/musical030.html
http://www.musicals101.com/
library.brown.edu/exhibits/archive/broadway/
The world of Theatre Mira Felner and Claudia Orenstein