What is the difference between British and American musicals?
The origin of Western musicals
Musicals are supported by attractive plots and based on the dramatic performances of actors, so that music and dance can fully unleash their potential. And the art of integrating these factors into an organic unity. The United Kingdom and the United States are the countries where musicals flourish. From the perspective of the development of musicals, London's West End and New York's Broadway can be called the birthplaces of musicals. However, musicals also have different historical backgrounds in the United Kingdom and the United States: in the United States, they are more influenced by jazz, tap dancing, dramatic dramas, and comedies with singing; in the United Kingdom, musicals are more closely related to operettas. , drama, especially the drama background of Shakespeare, Molière, and Ibsen, while dance is closer to ballet. However, British musicals have continued the tradition of operettas since Arthur Sullivan and William Gilbert, and have been difficult to compete with Broadway works. It was not until the 1970s that the situation began to turn around; in the United States, although initially Most of the performances were imported from Britain, but soon after, American artists created completely American musicals and continued to develop and improve them. Therefore, from a historical perspective, it was the United Kingdom that inspired the United States to create musicals, a new form of drama that combines popular drama, music, song and dance. Here this article will further explore how the United States integrated various musical entertainment traditions from Europe and developed them into musicals.
1. British musical comedy
The name "Musical Comedy" was first applied to Britain. At the end of the 19th century, the pace of social life and public psychology gradually accelerated. People gradually lost enthusiasm for the slow-paced light comedy style, resulting in theater box office revenue being dismal and theater owners losing money. In London, England, a theater manager George Edwardes tentatively launched a "musical revue" "The City" in the theater he ran in October 1892, which was full of gags and funny performances. Fresh and lively song and dance program. After the play was released, it was very popular. Overjoyed, Edwards launched another "A Gaiety Girl" the following year, which integrated drama, music, singing and dancing, and used "musical comedy" for the first time. (Musical Comedy) this title. The play was full of humor and drama, coupled with its easy-to-understand music, causing a sensation and achieving considerable box office results. Edwards' unprecedented success has attracted many theater owners in London to follow suit and launch a variety of musical comedies. Since then, musical comedies have become the most popular stage art in London and even the entire UK. Soon after, they appeared on the American stage.
2. American musical comedy
As early as the 1870s, the United States had a stage art form similar to British musical comedy that was popular among the middle and lower classes of New York society. It was just that the United States at that time was called It's called "Musical Farce-Comedy". The further development of musical farce was Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart, who worked together to create a series of musical farces on Broadway from 1879 to 1884, among which "Dance of the Guards" ( The Mulligan Guards Ball (1879) and Cordelia's Aspirations (1883) were extremely popular among the middle and lower classes. The performance not only retains some humorous forms of burlesque and vaudeville shows, but also develops in terms of plot and pays close attention to society, but it is always expressed in a humorous form. Here, it is more about sympathy for various life conditions rather than Harsh criticism. The songwriting also has a distinct American flavor, but the songs and plots are always difficult to correspond to. It is common to use old songs to fill in new words.
In 1896, "The Geisha" (The Geisha) produced by Edwards of England entered the United States as a "musical comedy" and caused a sensation. Americans began to use this term to refer to American songs and dances that were alienated from European opera traditions and had American characteristics. drama, which also includes the musical farce mentioned above.
During this period, American musical comedies already had a basic plot, not just episodic song, dance, and farce, but their plots and characters were not deep enough. In such works, "narrative" is not the purpose of singing and dancing, but just an excuse for singing and dancing. The formula of "boy meets girl" is used, and various elements of the American dream and Cinderella myth are interlaced and used in a simple way. The plot is interspersed with various singing and dancing gimmicks, forming a fixed model of the genre. In terms of content and form, it seems to be exactly the same as Edwards' "Merry Girl" on the surface. Even the name is a direct copy of the "musical comedy" invented by the British. In fact, in terms of its inner spirit, because it contains a large number of genes of native American culture in the artistic structure, it is more enthusiastic and energetic than American musical comedy, especially its music and dance, which are full of wildness and Vibrant and dynamic. The impact of this cultural spirit and the shocking power of the inner charm are the fundamental signs that American musical comedy is different from British musical comedy.
3. Cohan’s American Style
When musical comedy develops to the point where George M. Cohan no longer focuses too much on laughing and dreamy plots, but With more serious themes. He chose a more dramatic and civilian exploration route, emphasizing the integrity and coherence of the drama's development clues, emphasizing that the story has a beginning and an end, abandoning the plot of fairy tales in terms of content, and positioning the protagonists of the drama as ordinary civilians and little people in daily life. , to be closer to the life interests of ordinary people. At the same time, his plays have strong patriotism and insist on using American music to express Americans, American life and American society. In 1904, Cohan wrote, directed and starred in "Little Johnny Jones" on Broadway, and became famous with this play, which then swept the entire New York. In the next twenty years, he wrote 21 plays, Nearly 500 songs. The form of Cohan's work is a bridge between 19th-century vaudeville and real American musicals, and is an important link in the modernization process of musicals. In his works, he removed the elegant sentiments based on the old British and German models, and successfully created modern forms that conformed to the rapid changes in New York life. Although not many of Cohan's songs are sung today, he At that time, he inspired a generation of musical theater writers, and his artistic interpretation and praise of the American spirit also infected a generation of audiences. More and more artists are realizing that the American spirit has matured and are eagerly seeking its own unique way of expression.
5. The formation of musicals
In the first quarter of the 20th century, through the efforts of a group of artists, American musicals have gradually gotten rid of the influence of British musical comedies. Complete the transition from vaudeville to a true American musical. On the one hand, American musicals were influenced by European light comedy operas of different styles, and even vaudevilles performed in cabaret and dance halls; on the other hand, they also absorbed the emerging pop music of the time, ragtime, blues and other factors. After decades of exploration and local practice, both positive and negative experiences have been accumulated to a considerable extent. Whether it is the public, cultural businessmen, artists, or musicals themselves, they are all waiting and calling for the emergence of musical masters and works. .
In 1927, "Show Boat", written and composed by Oscar Hammerstein II and composed by Jerome Kern, premiered on Broadway in New York. Considered the first milestone in the history of American musicals. From a musical perspective, "Showboat" is a fusion of the various musical stage forms mentioned above.
The story of "Show Boat" takes place on the Mississippi River, which is full of mystery and romance. It is far away from the life experience of Broadway audiences and has the flavor of an operetta. The participation of the singing and dancing king Siegfeld in the production of the whole drama also makes the drama reveal a gorgeous show. The use of ragtime and jazz shows that black music is an indispensable component of outstanding dramas; finally, it is not difficult to find the influence of musical comedy in plots such as the heroine becoming a star and reuniting with the hero. Various music stage forms and various musical elements board the "Performance Boat" together, which means that the past road has come to an end and heralds that a new voyage is about to begin.
The above review of the development of early musicals is a period of ambiguous identity. Various musical traditions, entertainment dramas and some song and dance elements from Europe influenced, intertwined and integrated with each other. But generally speaking, these entertainment traditions can be divided into two categories: one focuses on plot, and the other focuses on singing and dancing. Those that focus on plot are musical comedies that originated from the European opera tradition and are widely popular in Europe and the United States. The opera tradition brought a solemn, elegant and romantic element to later musicals, most of which expressed classical mythology or exotic flavors. Musical comedy, on the other hand, allowed musicals to design plots based on current events, or to be satirical or make jokes. Musicals that focus on song and dance performances are influenced by vaudeville shows, variety shows, current affairs shows, and glamorous shows that are popular in Europe and the United States, and they continue to innovate in performance forms. Either focusing on plot or focusing on singing and dancing, these two tendencies can always be seen in the later development of musicals. Of course, the integration of the two is natural. Starting from "Show Boat", the production of musicals has gradually adopted the aesthetic standard of integrating dramatic text and music, trying to propose the continuous development of creative techniques that seamlessly integrate the lines, melody, drama and background music of musicals. It is a serious music At the beginning of the play, it marks that "musical drama" will replace the gag-based "musical comedy". Therefore, Cohen became the first real American musical composer, and "Showboat" is considered a monumental work. From here on, American musicals as an art genre began to get on the right track.
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