American Musical
                 From 1980s to 1990s

This is a poster that shows a scene in "The Black Crook".

American musical is a major form of musical theatre that combines with singing, dancing, and acting. It is a very famous and popular form of art that performs all over the world. Musical theatre has emerged and developed in the past 150 years in America. Some historian believes that "The Black Crook", written by an American playwright Charles Barras, is the first appearance of American Musical. 





A scene from Mariott Theatre's "Guys and Doll" in 2011.



Musical theatre is actually an offspring of Opera, and it's finally introduced in the western culture in the 19^th century. American Musical covers a wide range of stories, from humor to love and anger. Even though American musical is a descendant of Opera, they are not completely in common. American musical focuses on spoken dialogues, dancing, uses of popular music at that time, and acting. Whereas singers in Opera only focus on singing, rarely need to dance.

 

A scene from Les Misérables, performed at the Queen's Theatre in  London.

In the 1980s and 1990s, European “mega-musicals” has influenced the entire American musical. Most of the performance featured with large casts and pop music. Still, the stories were continuingly based on novels and literatures. Les Misérables, a French novel that written by Victor Hugo, considered as one of the greatest novels of the 19^th century. The show also became the longest-running international musical in the history.

Les Misérables 25th Anniversary, performing One Day More

A scene form Rent, a worldwide musical performance.

“Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes… How do you measure, measure a year?” You probably heard of this song, however, can not recall where it comes from. RENT, another popular Broadway show that appears in 1990s. Rent is based on La Bohème, an opera that based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The show is targeted to the younger audience and it is heavily involved with rock music. The story tells the life and struggles of a group of friends that living in New York. And because it is so inspiring and popular at that time, it turned into a worldwide musical show. The musical has been performed in 46 countries and in 24 different languages.

***Rent performing "Seasons of Love" on the Broadway.***

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Works Cited

Abarbanel, Jonathan. "Mr. Producer: Hang up Sondheim for a Weill." WBEZ. 11 Jan. 2012.
        Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.wbez.org/blog/onstagebackstage/2012-01-11/mr-
        producer-hang-sondheim-weill-95451>.


Barras, Charles M. "The Black Crook: Sample Scene." Musicals101.com. Musical 101.
        Web. 08 Mar. 2012. <http://www.musicals101.com/blackcrook.htm>.


Cohen, Robert. "The Musical Theatre." Theatre, Brief Version. 6th ed. New York:
        McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2002. Theatre, Brief
        Version. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 20 Jan. 2002. Web. 08
        Mar. 2012. <http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767430077/student_view0/chapter9/>.


Kenrick, John. "A History of the Musical What Is A Musical?" Web log post. Musical
        101.com. Muscial 101, 1996. Web. 8 Mar. 2012.
        <http://www.musicals101.com/musical.htm>.


One Day More - Les Miserables 25th Anniversary. By Victor Hugo. Perf. Alfie Boe and
       Jenny Galloway. YouTube. YouTube, 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2012.
       <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpGA_VRc1Ro>.


"Rent Musical â History." Rent Musical – History. Rent Musical. Web. 08 Mar. 2012.
       <http://www.rentmusical.net/history>.


Rent - Seasons of Love. By Jonathan Larson. Perf. Adam Pascal and Daphne Rubin-Vega.YouTube.
      YouTube, 03 Mar. 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2012.
      <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djWlhlkEOPQ>.


Rust, Jennifer. "Rent: An American Musical." Web log post. AngelFire. AngelFire. Web.
      8 Mar. 2012. <http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/42ndstreet/rentshow.html>.