Journal

WRITE IN APA FORMAT

A few times during the semester, you will write one paragraph (approx. 200 words) that reflects on your personal thoughts related to the week’s work. These reflections will be read by the instructor, but not by other students. Grammar and spelling of reflections will not be graded.

Include details from the course content that show you viewed and considered it in depth. Answer each of the following prompts.

· What are your scholarly thoughts about this week’s content?

· What, if anything, did you find difficult or puzzling?

· What, if anything, did you find useful, surprising or enjoyable?

· How does what you learned relate to your current life? How can you connect our study of the relationship of social issues and the arts to your major?

You do not need to summarize the content for me. Think of your journal as a personal conversation between you and me about the week’s material. This means that I will know by your ideas, questions, and connections that you have read the course content because all comments will relate to what you read, viewed and learned this week.

Early Musical Theatre History, Black Heritage and Contributions

Copyright © 2010

Much thanks, admiration and credit to Patricia Cohen who introduced me to the fascinating study of jazz dance history and its African American origins.

Pre-1900s

Early Performances

One black man and one white, in two different cities, performed their dances:

In Louisville, Kentucky, Man A entered the stage, his right shoulder “drawn high up, the left leg stiff and crooked at the knee, giving him…a limp” (Connor, cited in Stearns & Stearns, 1994, p. 40). He shuffled around the stage in a circle. “In windmill fashion, he rolled his body lazily from one side to the other, throwing his weight alternately on the heel of one foot and on the toes of the other” (Nathan, cited in Stearns & Stearns, 1994, p. 41). The man combined flat-footed shuffle steps with the quicker, rhythmic footwork and knee bends of the Jig, and he sang:

“Wheel about, turn about

Do jis so,

An, ebery time I wheel about,

I jump Jim Crow!”

As he sang the last phrase, “I jump Jim Crow,” the man jumped forward towards the audience with a syncopated hop.

In London, Man B performed for the Royal Family. Dressed in a finely-tailored suit with tails, he paraded around the stage for the Prince of Wales’ birthday. His head was held high, his shoulders back, and he presented his chest proudly. He displayed a gentlemanly air as he alternated a debonair strut with his right foot with a high flick kick on the left. His hands were carefully placed: one in a fist at his waist and the other with fingertips poised at the brim of his top hat. Between his strut-and-kick step, he improvised jaunty shuffles.

Man A finished his dance to uproarious applause. At the insistence of the audience, he returned to the stage several times to bow. Then he retired to the dressing room, where he took a piece of cloth and slowly wiped the burnt cork from his blackened face, revealing the whiteness of the skin beneath the makeup.

Man B returned home to New York City after his royal performance and an international tour. He was careful to avoid direct eye contact with white men walking on the street. When he arrived at his hotel, he followed hotel policy, taking the freight elevator up to his room. His black skin was a constant reminder of the racial boundaries he dared not cross.

Thomas Dartmouth Rice

(1808-1860)

George Walker

(1873-1911)

Thomas “Jim Crow” Rice (Man A) and George Walker (Man B) performed in different decades. However, their diverse experiences as performers clearly reflect some of the racial issues that played out in American musical theatre history. The black stereotyping forwarded by “Jim Crow” and the pride with which George Walker performed illuminate the societies in which they danced. Each man will be studied in this unit.

In order to understand American musical theatre and Broadway dance borne on the American musical theatre stage, it is important to understand the early history of American musical theatre and the contributions of both black and white artists. Throughout musical theatre history, the life of non-white performers on and off stage demonstrated a complex and emotionally charged relationship with whites. Black and white relations in the world of musical theatre reflected common societal prejudices. At the same time, many black artists were able to use careers in musical theater to further personal opportunities and push against the social and civil boundaries that restricted blacks for decades after slavery was abolished.

Musical theatre very much reflected American society’s values and moral codes.

There is a huge gap between America’s ideas of equality and the continued chronicle of “race-based injustice involving slavery, lynching, land seizures, wholesale internment, and, more generally, often scurrilous treatment of immigrant populations” (Knapp, 2005, p. 181).

Pride in European heritage and a belief in European superiority was carried to America first by Columbus and later by the first colonists. From the beginning, non-Europeans were established as inferior “others” and were treated accordingly.

Given the history of poor treatment and feeling towards blacks, it is particularly interesting that African-American music and dance has always held such fascination for whites. African-American music became “American” music through gospel, blues, ragtime and jazz, and it eventually evolved into rock ‘n roll. And African-American dance contributed to jazz dance and Broadway dance, but there was no simultaneous elevation of the population that contributed so greatly to these American art forms.

Separate Worlds

Although African American dance forms are recognized by dance historians as significant in their contribution to American musical theatre, resources document black and white history in musical theatre separately, with black musical history usually mentioned second. This separation demonstrates yet another example of the not-so-invisible chasm of racial divide in America that continued well into the 20th century.

Forms of Variety Theatre

Following are excerpts from the Library of Congress (1966) listing the types of shows found in America in the 1800s and 1900s. Many of these musical show formats will be examined further in the course.

For larger view of a picture, right click and choose “View Image”

Minstrel Show:

The minstrel show was the most popular form of public amusement in the United States from the 1840s through the 1870s. It virtually ended, in its original form, by 1896… Much humor in later comedy forms originated in minstrelsy and adapted itself to new topics and circumstances.

Variety/Vaudeville:

What eventually became known as vaudeville had its origins in minstrel shows, concert-saloons, and beer gardens. Unlike the minstrel show, which appealed to broad audiences of both sexes, early variety or vaudeville was designed for men only. [The content and costumes were often sexually provocative.]

“Vaudeville” is an American term that dates from the 1840s…used, like “variety,” to describe brief, varied acts without a narrative plot, scenario, book, or connecting theme.

A typical vaudeville show offered the audience a little bit of everything in eight to fourteen acts or “turns.” The average show had about ten turns and included magic segments, musical numbers (especially solo and duet vocals), dance numbers, combination song-and-dance acts, acrobatics, juggling, comic routines, …animal acts, celebrity cameos, and appearances by criminals, pugilists, and others in the news.

The knowledge that each short act was just one offering in a smorgasbord of material explains much of vaudeville’s appeal. Because a bad act might be followed by a stunningly good one, [the audience’s] sense of anticipation tended to remain high

Burlesque:

The popular burlesque show of the 1870s through the 1920s referred to a raucous, somewhat bawdy style of variety theater. It was inspired by Lydia Thompson and her troupe, the British Blondes, who first appeared in the United States in the 1860s, and also by early “leg” shows such as “The Black Crook” (1866). Its form, humor, and aesthetic traditions were largely derived from the minstrel show.

Extravaganzas and Spectacles:

Especially popular before the turn of the century, typical extravaganzas were light entertainment in dramatic form and often featured improbable plots and spectacular presentations. Music was generally included.

Spectacular extravaganzas and spectacles can, essentially, be considered early musicals; they represented forms that had not yet fully developed.

Musical revue:

Initially, the musical revue was little more than glorified burlesque, but, when fully realized, it was a unique, dazzling, and popular form. It combined skits, songs, dance numbers, comic routines, and an ensemble of scantily-clad young women…[Costuming] tended to be coordinated with sumptuous, carefully executed set design.

…Thematic coherence and acts created specifically for a particular show made the revue different from other musical entertainments. Usually, variety theater strung together turns (or acts) of material that could be used independently of one another. Different players performed in each of these variety skits. A musical revue, in contrast, used a single cast to perform interconnected skits which incorporated dialogue, sketches (including blackouts), songs, and dance numbers. All these elements were written especially for the revue

Musical comedy:

This type of popular entertainment is composed of a play or narrative story with interpolated songs and dances. The integration of book or libretto with music and dance anticipates later American “musicals.” Like the revue, musical comedy employs the same cast throughout the show. Actors usually play the same, specific characters.

The American musical comedy was influenced by the light opera and European operetta popular in the 1890s and 1900s. Like opera and operetta, it tends towards sentimentality and is built around stock characters.

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History of Broadway Dance: Course Introduction

Copyright © 2010

In this course, we will explore the evolution of dance in musical theatre and on Broadway, viewing significant events and issues in American history from the vantage point of the Broadway stage. “Nothing in the American musical theater has been more inaccessible to its public than the record of its dance tradition” (Kislan, p. vii). Books documenting the history of musical theater often neglect to mention dance or to give dance its rightful credit for contributing to the success of the musical. Together, we will explore the ephemeral world of Broadway dance.

Rod McKuen, Mark Arvin, Elizabeth Parkinson and Scott Fowler in Movin’ Out

Photo: Joan Marcus (n.d.)

Dance is prominent in almost every musical currently on the Broadway stage. Its role varies. In some musicals, it provides a way of, literally, moving a plot along. In others, such as
In the Heights and the revival of
West Side Story, dance is used as a visual heartbeat, an outward expression of internal angst, joy and grief.

In the past fifteen years, many musicals have been produced that feature dance as the central star of the show. The prominence of dance marks a high point in the evolution of the role of dance on Broadway, reflecting the values of the audience. America’s fitness obsession is reflected in the lithe, athletic dancers who inhabit the stage. Broadway dance today certainly reflects America’s push towards greater appreciation of cultural diversity.

Throughout history, dance has enabled the creative artists of the Broadway community to push the boundaries of social mores. On stage, performers are able to embody extremes–extreme sexuality, extreme emotional expression and extreme comments on the social order–all while being extremely entertaining! Audiences to not attend musicals to see that which is common or average. They expect to be moved in some way by the time the final curtain has closed. Dance fulfills this expectation through the universal language of movement. The success or failure of this endeavor can be immediately assessed by ticket sales.

Behind the pulse of the music and the shimmer of the costume is the Broadway dancer, a living being like no other. Dancing on Broadway requires prowess, athleticism, sweat, tears, and often physical and mental therapy.

In an interview, Tommy Tune–a Broadway dancer who later went on to direct and choreograph musicals–talked about the life of the Broadway dancer:

Broadway dancers are different from any other kind of dancer in that they have to amalgamate character, vocal prowess, and dance and they have to do it eight times a week. Broadway is blue-collar work from the star to the least working chorus member, who dances in the back. We sweat for a living. That’s just the truth of it. We put on our uniforms, we get out on that stage, and we work as a team to win every night. To get the ball in the basket every night, because it’s no good that we got one in last night–we have to do it tonight. That’s tough, because in any sport, if you pull a muscle or something then you sit that game out. That doesn’t work on Broadway. You have to show up; it’s a life commitment. It’s something that either you have inside of you or maybe you should go sell hamburgers instead, because it’s not for sissies–contrary to popular belief. It’s hard, hard work, but you do it because you have to do it otherwise you’ll implode. (Kantor, 2004, p. 370)

As we move through the course, we will study many dance videos, searching for clues to tie the dance to its current society and answer questions such as…

Why was this dance called “revolutionary”?

The Dream Ballet! -James Mitchell, Shirley Jones, Bambi Lynn

(2011)

How is this dance connected to U.S. history?

Whiteys Lindy Hoppers .. Hellzapoppin.

(2010)

And what the heck were these two doing?

Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon in Damn Yankees – Who’s Got the Pain

(2009)

How did cultural, political and economic issues influence Broadway dance? How did Broadway dance impact society?

We will begin our studies with a short synopsis of the theatrical elements that contributed to the beginning of Broadway musical theatre. Each week, we will investigate a decade in American history. Readings, lectures, media and assignments will follow a path from significant historical events and issues to their impact on Broadway musicals and Broadway dance. We will also examine the changes in dance styles and steps and the role that dance played in musicals for each decade.

Contributions of notable Broadway dancers and choreographers will be explored, and each week, we will take a close look at the work of the Broadway dancer through history.

Course Limits

The world of American musical theater is a complex combination of art, finance, music, history, storytelling and dance. This course, in an effort to provide deep and complex connections within that world, will focus on the pathways and the contributions of Broadway dance also called “theatrical jazz” or “musical theatre dance.”) There is much to be said about music, lyrics, directors, producers and physical stage elements, and there are many resources available for those with an interest. However, the focus of our course will necessitate the omission of much history and touch upon these areas only in their service to our learning about Broadway dance, Broadway choreographers and Broadway dancers. Also, you may have noticed that the dance clips above are all from movies! Oy! Don’t get me started! Broadway shows are filmed for archival purposes only. They are stored (lucky for us) at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. You may go view them there (under heavy restrictions), but no one can take them out or share them. So, we make do with film versions (as long as the original choreographer restaged the Broadway dances for the movie) and Tony Award performances–an awards show that celebrates Broadway. Each year the biggest shows perform numbers, and musicals almost always feature their big song-and-dance numbers to hopefully bring in audiences for their show.

Course Format

Weeks are organized in Topics for easy reference throughout the semester. Students should follow each week, reading all numbered tabs, in order, from top to bottom. Each assignment should be completed as it appears chronologically in the content, before moving on to additional weekly content. LECTURE CONTENT WILL NOT SUMMARIZE THE READINGS. SKIPPING OR SKIMMING ANY PART OF THE COURSE MAY CAUSE CONFUSION AND LOSS OF COMPREHENSION!

You should take careful notes each week, to document significant course knowledge.

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