The development of contemporary American musical theater is not straightforward. Edith Borroff, in her “Origin of Species: Conflicting View of American Musical Theater History” lists 28 different theories regarding the lineage of musical theater before contributing her own “antitheory”, as she calls it, to the mix. Among her list we find Curt Sachs at number 3, who claims that “musical comedy descended from eighteenth-century Italian operatic intermezzo, opera buffa, ballad opera, and--the proximate cause--American Negro folk music” (103), David Ewen at number 8 who believes that “The Black Crook may have been a preview of a musical, but as such it was hardly a first--its progenitor was Flora, or Hob in the Well... The first musical was The Brook (1879) by Nate Salsbury” (103), Daniel Blum at number 12 who insists that “Musical comedy derived from the minstrel shows, not from vaudeville shows which were ‘cheap, bawdy entertainment’” (103), and Martin Gottfried right after at number 13, who asks, “What is a Broadway musical if not an outgrowth of vaudeville’s basic song and dance?” (103). Miles Kreuger disagrees with Ewen with his theory that “Musical comedy derived from melodrama with interpolated dance and spectacle; The Black Crook was the first” (104), while Arnold Shaw gives his distinctly culture-based theory that “Musical comedy is a side growth on the essential lineage of pop music, which in the United States is an ethnic mixture: the musical comedy was musically ‘based on European harmony, the Negro ‘blue’ scale,... the sadness of the Jews, the tender nostalgia of the Irish, the Italian love of soaring melody, the Latin-American leaning towards contrapuntal rhythms’; the lineage is minstelsy, ragtime, Dixieland jazz, swing, rock” (104). The point to this display of contradictory ideas is that the American musical has never been easy to pin down, and it remains as troubling today with the introduction of contemporary pop and rock styles on the Broadway and Off-Broadway stage.
Rather than tracing the lineage of American musical theater as a genetic one, with show descending from show and form from form, I believe it is less problematic to trace it as a series of forms developed in succession, with definite influences from one form to the next, but no direct derivation. Edith Borroff suggests this same method when she writes that “metaphors of descent and derivation are false. A creative person is influenced by his or her predecessors, potentially by everything he or she has ever experienced; the process of selection remains mysterious, but certainly it is not genetic” (105). In light of this, I have decided to present a list, in chronological order, of the various forms of music theater that are variously considered to be the most direct influences on what we consider to be American Musical Theater today.
Early Influences on the American Musical:
• The Ballad Opera
This was one of the earliest forms of music theater in America, derived from a British form but immediately exported to the colonies of the New World. This form is distinguished by an introductory prologue in front of the curtain, an introductory mood-setting song, and scenes interspersed with songs. The songs in this form are not connected to the action, character, or setting of the scenes, but merely interrupt them. Notable examples include The Disappointment (1767) by Andrew Barton and Thomas Forrest and The Archers (1796) by Benjamin Carr and William Dunlap.
• Minstrel Shows
This uniquely American form is considered by many, including Emerson College’s own Professor Leonidas Nickole, to be one of the most important influences on the development of the American musical. Thomas “Daddy” Rice, an actor from the East Coast, would sow the seeds of what would become the minstrel show ten years later when he created the character of “Jim Crow” in 1832, now immortalized in the racist laws of the post-slavery South, after buying the hat, jacket, and shoes of a poor black livery man in Kentucky. The first minstrel troupe was known as Dan Emmett and the Virginia Minstrels, and they set the mold for what would become an instantly popular form of entertainment. The minstrel show is distinguished by the use of blackface and processional; the shows generally consisted of songs (played on banjo, fiddle, tambourine, and bones) and comic skits performed by white men dressed as gross caricatures of black men. One composer for minstrel shows whose music is still popular today was Stephen Foster, who wrote such lasting hits as “Oh! Susannah”, “Camptown Races”, and “My Old Kentucky Home”.
• The Extravaganza
Considered by many to be the first incarnation of modern American Musical Theater, the extravaganza was just what it sounds like: all spectacle. The first, and most famous, extravaganza was The Black Crook (1866), widely considered to be the first musical. Clocking in at a staggering 6 hours, this show nonetheless amazed audiences, and lasted for an astonishing 475 performances. The extravaganza boasted actors, a singing chorus, and a dancing chorus. The Black Crook itself came about by happy accident; while performing in New York City, a ballet troupe from Paris lost their jobs when the theater in which they were booked burned down. Sensing an opportunity, William Wheatley, manager of Niblo’s Garden, a massive 3200-seat theater, booked the troupe to appear in his play. The show, and the extravaganzas that followed in its footsteps, utilized the latest technology to create magical transformations, titillated audiences with scantily-clad dancers, and boasted large choruses to distract audiences from what were frequently inane or incomprehensible plots.
• Burlesque
Today, burlesque is thought to be a show featuring sexy women wearing not-very-much-at-all while dancing and singing. Originally, however, burlesque was a British term that simply meant “to make fun of” and signaled comedic shows that utilized parody and satire. It was a woman named Lydia Thompson who, having seen the kind of amazing success enjoyed by The Black Crook, decided to take her burlesque show Ixion to America in 1868. Featuring scantily-clad young women in men’s roles, “Lydia Thompson and her British Blondes”, as they were known, changed the popular conception of burlesque in America to a sex show within the year. Other notable burlesques included Edward E. Rice and J.C. Goodwin’s Evangeline in 1874 and Edward E. Rice, William F. Gill, and Henry E. Dixey’s Adonis in 1884.
• Vaudeville
Still a popularly-known form of music theater today, vaudeville was originally popularized by a man named Tony Pastor when he opened his first “family” vaudeville theater in 1865. Vaudeville, derived from the minstrel show and the circus, was one of the first forms of theater to take advantage of the rapidly-growing train routes in America through its use of “combination shows”, or touring companies. Combination shows were so called because rather than having a book interspersed with music and dancing, they were composed of a combination of separate entertainments, or acts, with no plot, theme, or particular order. Thanks again to the railroads, a system of “circuits” was formed where a producer would own theaters in cities across a region and they would tour their contracted performers from theater to theater. Major vaudeville circuits were the Keith-Albee circuit, the Orpheum circuit, and the Pantages circuit. Vaudeville was eventually killed by the release of The Jazz Singer and the rise of movie musicals. A later form of vaudeville was the revue, which was essentially the same thing as vaudeville but with a thematic thread winding its way through the show and an established order to the acts. Notable revues included George Lederer’s The Passing Show in 1894, Ziegfeld’s Follies from 1907-1931, and even Irving Berlin’s This is the Army in 1942 and Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’ in 1978.
• Farce-Comedy
Created by Nate Salsbury in the 1870’s in Chicago. Salsbury was the producer, manager, and writer for a working-class acting troupe called “The Troubadours”, and they performed comedic shows with acting, singing, and dancing. The first farce comedy was a short play called The Brook, written by Nate Salsbury in 1879. Dealing primarily with working-class characters, The Brook became hugely popular with working-class audience in New York City after Salsbury and The Troubadours were asked to come perform. Another notable farce comedy was The Mulligan Guard Ball in 1879 by the Merry Partners, Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart, which was set in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City which was the home of such diverse ethnic groups as the Irish, Italians, Germans, Jews, and Black people.
• Comic Opera and Operetta
Exemplified by the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, comic opera continues to be popular today. Comic Operas are light, amusing shows with full librettos and underscoring that generally end happily and serve to satirize society and class. Operettas, as exemplified by the works of Rudolph Friml, Victor Herbert, and Sigmund Romberg, are also light, amusing shows, but rather than satirizing society, they focus on melodrama, romance, and exotic locations. Notable shows include Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878, which spawned more than 500 productions within 60 days of its introduction to America, Victor Herbert’s Babes In Toyland in 1903 and Naughty Marietta in 1910, Rudolf Friml’s Rose Marie in 1924 and The Vagabond King in 1925, and Sigmund Romberg’s The Student Prince in 1924 and The Desert Song in 1926.
*A great amount of the material for this page comes from lecture notes and a reference and study guide by Professor Leonidas A. Nickole at Emerson College