Musical Theater

Musical Theater

Musical Theater has a main goal of adding an additional complexity in the way in which entertainment is delivered to an audience. That is, comedy, music, and dancing will oftentimes be incorporated in addition to the dialogue that is included in a production so that the audience is further entertained. The deliverance of musical theater can be traced back to the 18th century where entertainment such as the music hall, comic opera, pantomime and the minstrel show we’re all huge attractions of production. The first musical comedy is documented to the “The Black Crook” that was showcases in New York in 1866. The musical was described to have resemblance to that of French Romantic ballet and German melodramas. The musical attracted audiences from operas, serious dramas, as well as those from burlesque shows. It was most common for ragtime music and jazz were incorporated into musical comedy; that was up until the late 1960’s that marked the decline of the genre as it began taking different directions in rock and roll and other genres. The most popular example highlighting the shift, is the 1967 film “Hair”. At the time that musical theater began to establish itself, African Americans were still enslaved and not allowed to participate in such productions. However, after the emancipation proclamation, actors such as Juanita Hall, Flournoy Miller, and Virgina Capers can be highlighted for their contributions to the musical theatre genre of entertainment.

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