Broadway: The American Musical

Musicals / Broadway 

 

"Broadway" may refer to a famous street that runs through Manhattan, New York City, the street which has been associated with the American theatrical activity since 1735, when the first theatre opened. "Broadway" could also mean Broadway Theatre (53rd Street). Broadway is a boulevard full of famous theatres where visitors from all over the world gather to watch the top musicals of the season and other plays. The story goes: The Dutch called it the Heeren Wegh or Heeren Straat, meaning "Gentlemen's Way" or "Gentlemen's Street" – echoing the name of a similar street in Amsterdam – or "High Street" or "the Highway"; it was renamed "Broadway" after the British took over the city, because of its unusual width.

New York City's Broadway theatre, along with London's West End theatre, have been host of a constantly changing variety of productions, including plays and musicals, most likely best in the world, and are usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

 

Broadway Musical is a theatrical performance that includes four major elements: songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance.  (Note: Sorry, where video of original Broadway show is unavailable, the film version has been substituted.) 

 

Timeline of the Golden Age of Broadway Musicals  (1943 to 1959)

1943

"Oklahoma!" Oh What a Beautiful Morning and More.  The first Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway collaboration, opens to rave reviews. It enchants wartime audiences and runs for 2,212 performances. Four memorable scenes from the 1955 Broadway Musical movie "Oklahoma" which starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones. Classic Rodgers and Hammerstein songs "Oh What a Beautiful Morning", "The Surrey With The Fringe on the Top", "People Will Say We're In Love", and "Oklahoma!"

1944

"On the Town" marks the Broadway debut of composer Leonard Bernstein, writers and performers Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and choreographer Jerome Robbins; songs include "New York, New York (It's a Helluva Town)."

The first ever original cast album to be released, with songs from "Oklahoma!" -- "People Will Say We're in Love," with Alfred Drake-Joan Roberts (“Oklahoma” cast album) and "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" -- tops the charts.

1945

"Carousel" reaffirms the success of the Rodgers and Hammerstein partnership; songs include "If I Loved You", "You'll Never Walk Alone", and "Soliloquy." 

1946 

Irving Berlin writes the songs for his first "situation show," "Annie Get Your Gun," starring Ethel Merman; it includes "There's No Business Like Show Business." Bernadette Peters sings "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun" in the 1999 Broadway.

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer write "St. Louis Woman," an all-black musical. It flops, but produces the hit song "Come Rain or Come Shine."

1947

The team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe have their first big success with "Brigadoon", uploaded by Conrad Askland, but without production info. (Here's a 1980 Broadway version of Brigadoon.)

"Finian's Rainbow," an unusually political musical fable from E. Y. Harburg and Burton Lane, debuts; songs include "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?". Finian's Rainbow is a musical with a book by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Burton Lane, produced by Lee Sabinson. The original 1947 Broadway production ran for 725 performances. A film version was released in 1968 and several revivals have followed.

The eagerly awaited original musical "Allegro" by Rodgers and Hammerstein opens; it receives mixed reviews and underwhelming box office revenues. 

1948

Cole Porter's witty look at Shakespeare onstage and backstage -- "Kiss Me, Kate" -- debuts; songs include "So in Love," "Too Darn Hot," and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."

Television programs are broadcast out of New York and lure away many Broadway comedians and dancers, including Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason.

First Tony Awards. 

1949

Carol Channing becomes a Broadway star as Lorelei Lee in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".

"South Pacific" speaks to an audience looking for tolerance and a new direction after the war; Rodgers and Hammerstein's show, directed and co-written by Joshua Logan, wins the Pulitzer Prize.

"Lost in the Stars," a sobering look at racial strife in South Africa, is Kurt Weill's last musical. 

1950

Frank Loesser's second Broadway score, "Guys and Dolls," is a huge hit; songs include "If I Were a Bell" and "Luck, Be a Lady."

Ethel Merman teams up with Irving Berlin again for a spoof on Washington social life, "Call Me Madam"; songs include "You're Just in Love."

1951

Barbara Cook makes her Broadway debut as the ingénue in "Flahooley."

Burlesque and movie comedian Phil Silvers spoofs TV star Milton Berle in "Top Banana", a musical with music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer and book by Hy Kraft. The show was written as a star vehicle for comedian Phil Silvers, who played the host of a television variety show program. Silvers won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical in 1952.

"The King and I" makes Yul Brynner a star and is another success for Rodgers and Hammerstein. 

1952

Gertrude Lawrence, star of "The King and I," dies of cancer; she asks that Yul Brynner get star billing in the show.

A revival of "Pal Joey," produced by composer Jule Styne, is the first revival to run longer than the original show, which confirms its reputation.

1953

Rosalind Russell is one of the first non-singers to play the lead in a musical, "Wonderful Town", a musical with book written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Leonard Bernstein.

Dancer/singer/actress Gwen Verdon steals the show in "Can-Can" and wins her first of four Tonys.

Perry Como makes "No Other Love" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Me and Juliet" into a number-one hit single.

1954

David Merrick produces his first musical, "Fanny", a musical with a book by S. N. Behrman and Joshua Logan and music and lyrics by Harold Rome. A tale of love, secrets, and passion set in and around the old French port of Marseille, it is based on Marcel Pagnol's trilogy of works titled Marius, Fanny, and César.

Nineteen-year-old Julie Andrews makes her Broadway debut in "The Boyfriend."

"The Threepenny Opera" opens Off Broadway for a successful run of more than seven years.

"The Pajama Game," the first musical produced by Harold Prince, opens. It is directed by George Abbott and Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Bob Fosse; songs include "Hey There." 

1955

Cole Porter teams up with George S. Kaufman for the Cold War satire "Silk Stockings"; songs include "All of You."

"Damn Yankees" is the second big hit for the songwriting team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross ("The Pajama Game"). Ross dies of tuberculosis two months after the opening. 

1956

"My Fair Lady," Lerner and Loewe's unlikely adaptation of Shaw's social critique "Pygmalion," opens and is Broadway's biggest hit to date: 2,717 performances. It makes Julie Andrews' career, turns Rex Harrison into an international star, and grosses more than $800 million over the next 20 years.

Frank Loesser writes the music, lyrics, and book for the operatic "The Most Happy Fella."

Judy Holliday conquers Broadway as the gamine lead of "Bells Are Ringing." 

1957

"West Side Story," directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, opens, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, in his Broadway debut.

"The Music Man," a piece of charming Americana, stars Robert Preston in his first musical. He wins the Tony and the show defeats "West Side Story" for Best Musical. 

1958

Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical comedy about cultural conflict in San Francisco's Chinatown, "Flower Drum Song," opens, with Gene Kelly directing (his only Broadway musical). (About the video: This production, starring Tony Award® winner Lea Salonga, was the first major revival since its original Broadway run in 1958.)

British writer Kenneth Tynan becomes The New Yorker's drama critic. He calls "Flower Drum Song" "the world of woozy song" -- a pun on a current play, "The World of Suzie Wong." 

1959

Moss Hart's memoir of the theater, Act One, is a New York Times bestseller.

"The Sound of Music" and "Fiorello!" win the first and only tie vote as Best Musical at the Tonys.

"Gypsy," with a score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, gives Ethel Merman the dramatic role of her career as Gypsy Rose Lee's mother, Rose. Both the show and Merman lose Tonys to "The Sound of Music" and Mary Martin. 

 

Suggested Link:

The Most Popular Musicals of All Time. www.ranker.com. Accessed February 21, 2021.

Resources:

Broadway: en.wikipedia.aorg.

Broadway: The American Musical. www.pbs.org

Broadway Theatre. en.wikipedia.org.

Broadway Theatre (53rd Street). en.wikipedia.org

George M. Cohan. en.wikipedia.org. Known as "the man who owned Broadway" and "the man who created Broadway". 

(c) September 2011. Updated February 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All right reserved.