AoS C: Musical Theatre (Revision Notes PDF)

Musical Theatre
Background + context 'Oklahoma!' (1943)
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Musical theatre is a diverse art form as it encompasses O

‘Oklahoma!’ was the first musical written by Rogers +
many different genres + styles of music Hammerstein + ran for a then record run of 2,212
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All musicals contain spectacle, drama + music, performances on Broadway
including integrated musical numbers which propel the ↳
It was later adapted into an academy award winning
action of the story forwards film in 1955, + the writers also won a Pulitzer prize a
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The 1950s + early 1960s were considered the golden age year later
of musical theatre, with book musicals establishing the &

The show is an example of a book musical
importance of music + story as an integrated art form ↳
It contains leitmotif + recurring themes which help
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Throughout the 1970s the rock musical grew in develop characters + integrate the story into the
popularity music
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Often, composers worked in partnership with the same ↳
As well as dialogue + song, the musical also contains a
lyricist over many years, for example Rogers + 15 minute ballet sequence depicting Laurey’s
Hammerstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber + Tim Rice dream-like state
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This highlights the importance of the relationship O

A brief plot synopsis:
between lyrics + music ↳
Set in the Oklahoma territory in the early 1900s, the
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Other composers sometimes wrote both lyrics + music musical tells the story of 2 pairs of lovers
for their works ↳
2 cowboys, Curly + Will, try to capture the hearts of
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Stephen Sondheim + Stephen Schwartz both fall into Laurey + Ado Annie
this category ↳
Both Laurey + Ado Annie have attention from other
men, Jud (a farm hand) + Ali Hakim (a street pedlar)
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During Curly + Laurey’s wedding, a drunken Jud tries
Richard rodgers (1902 - 1979) ↳
to attack Curly with a knife
During the fight, Jud falls onto his own knife + dies
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Rodgers was an American composer who wrote music for ↳
A judge finds Curly ‘not guilty’ of any wrongdoing +
43 Broadway shows + more than 900 songs Laurey + Curly depart for their honeymoon
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His gift as a composer of melody has made many of his g

Orchestration:
songs some of the most popular songs ever written for ↳
The orchestration of the show is for a traditional
musical theatre orchestral setup
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Many of them have become popular jazz standards, ↳
As this show is not at all jazz-influenced, there are no
such as ‘My Funny Valentine’ + ‘The Lady is a Tramp’ saxophones included
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Rodgers’ work can largely be split into 2 sections ↳
There are parts for:
according to which of 2 lyricists he worked with Flute (doubling piccolo)
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Lorenz Hart + Oscar Hammerstein II Oboe (with optional English horn)
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Richard Rogers’ musicals were written as book musicals, Clarinets I-II (clarinet I doubles as bass clarinet)
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integrating dialogue + songs together + many of them Bassoon
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had successful film adaptations, such as ‘Pal Joey’, ‘The Horns I-II
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Sound of Music’, ‘South Pacific’ Trumpets I-II
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Work with Lorenz Hart: Trombone
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‘A Conneticut Yankee’ (1927) Percussion
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‘On Your Toes’ (1936) Violins, A-B (divisi)
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‘Babes in Arms’ (1937) Viola (divisi)
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‘Pal Joey’ (1940-1941) Cello
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‘By Jupiter’ (1942) Double bass
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Work with Oscar Hammerstein II: Guitar (doubling banjo)
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‘Oklahoma!’ (1943) Harp
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↳
‘Carousel’ (1945)
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‘State Pacific’ (1949)
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‘Cinderella’ (1957)
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‘The Sound of Music’ (1959)