Examination of Popular Entertainment Exploitation in the Broadway Musicals - Essay Example

Examination of Popular Entertainment Exploitation in the Broadway Musicals: Oklahoma! And Carousel The 1940s created a unique vision for the American theatre because WWII brought a need for people to laugh. Up until this time there were play with a lot of drama but none were able to take Americans into a total fantasy of fun. It was during this time that the musical gained wide acceptance for its combination of drama and comedic style. The musicals created during this time were stories with singable lyrics that captivated audiences then and now. There were many ways that the musical changed the way that theatre was performed: 1. Recordings of the casts singing the most beloved tunes gave people the ability to sense the performing style of Broadway. 2. It was the first decade where a prolific amount of classics were created that are still performed today. 3. The musicals artistry changed because of the writing of Rodgers and Hammerstein. (Mordden 1999: 3). Another aspect of this time period was the choreography that was presented by Agnes de Mille. She was the first choreographer to create a combination of ballet and spoken drama in the musical. This display created another layer for people to indulge in and become a part of as they watched this very different style. A Short History Of The Musical By the 1940s the musicals of the 1920s had fallen on hard times. Because of the War and the economic times people were not able to pay to see theatre as often. The shows that were more unusual or daring fell by the wayside form lack of audience participation. The reviews that had been so popular because it was a place where new actors were show cased, evolved into vaudeville. Many performers from the old musicals were now doing motion pictures. Major composers were either dead, retired or doing something different. The musicals of the 1920s had crated a formula of fast and furious entertainment without a plot, realism or a good story (Mordden 1999:4). By the 1940s audiences were bored with the old musicals and they were looking for something fresh and different. It is important to note that all the musicals of the 1920s to the 1940s had different formulas that encouraged comedy with no real plot. An example, many of the Andy Hardy musicals with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney were examples of these. Babes on Broadway was to entertain people and make them happy. It had very little plot. Usually the musical started with a bit musical number that evolved the entire chorus. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and the team of Rodgers and Hart were producing singable tunes that also had elements of the music from the time -- ragtime, boogie-woogie, jazz and more (Mordden 24). Musicals progressed to include other forms of expression and many studios saw that people wanted more than people singing and dancing -- they wanted to see a good story. Musical Comedy As musicals began to have plots and tell interesting stories the musical comedy become popular. In 1943, the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II created a very strong hit in the Broadway musical Oklahoma! The music was based on a play by Lynn Riggs called, Green Grow the Lilacs that had been a flop. This was the first time that Alfred Drake, Joan Roberts and Celeste Holmes had opportunities for major roles on Broadway (Green, 1960: 265). This musical broke away from conventional musical comedy by opening on a simple scene with a solo instead of a large chorus number. It started simply and built the story from this main point. Oklahoma! Embraced dance as a major theme and Agnes de Mille provided the choreography. Much of the story was advanced by pantomime within the dance sequences. De Mille created the dream dance in which the major character of Laurey is taken through a sequence that shows what her life will be like with Curly (her intended) and Jud Fry (a drifter who is in love with Laurey). Through the use of pantomime that lasts about 15 minutes, the audience gets a glimpse into the character of Jud Frey and is shown that he is a very dangerous man. Oklahoma! was done two years into WWII and it gave people a way to escape from the headlines of the day, making it a very popular musical (Lamb, 2000: 269). Pantomime was often used to advance the story so they did not have to use dialogue. The use of melodrama and over accentuating the character was used within the pantomime so the audience could watch the action in the sequence instead of worrying about the dialogue. As an example, in Laureys dream she is taken to a saloon by Jud who is more interested in the saloon girls than he is in Laurey. He mistreats her and slaps her in the dream. She runs to the top of a staircase that goes no where to try and get away from him. The girls treat her with disrespect as Jud treats her with disrespect and abuse. Jud dances with the dancing girls as if they have more status with him than she does. This creates the tension for the audience, gives a foreshadowing of Juds character and lets the audience know that Laurey is afraid of Jud. The scene also sets the potential conflict between the characters of Jud and Curly as they fight over Laureys hand. Operetta was also a part of Oklahoma! to move the story forward and tell about the character of the individuals. The audience gets a sense of who they are in terms of their emotions. One of the most fun and comedic numbers in the play is, "I Caint Say Now" in which the character of Ado Annie sings about her penchant for sweet talking men. She says that shes fine until they start to say "pretty things" to her and at that point she has no will but to do whatever they want. Later a reprise of this song is done with her intended Will and the song becomes, Al Er Nuthin sung by Will to Ado Annie. Although the song is now about how much he loves her, the music is still "I Caint Say No." He tells her that all the kids "better look like me." This clearly shows the audience the risqué nature of Ado Annie and the fact that her boyfriend understands exactly what type of woman he has in Annie. This was a character that in any other play would have been risky for the time period of 1897 but when the thought was put into comedy, audiences accepted it as funny. According to Lamb (2000) Oklahoma! was: "The luxuriant trappings of European operetta are wedded to a story of credible everyday characters living ordinary lives and speaking everyday language" (257). The play further combined drama, song and dance for the very first time. Another reason Oklahoma! was popular was because the audience could relate to the characters and it had catchy, singable tunes. Audiences were swept away by the drama and although it became dark comedy at one point, it brings the audience full circle from happy to sad to joyous in the end. The title song has people singing it every time they watch the movie or see the stage play. We can imagine the people of 1945 coming out of the theatre humming or singing the title song as they talked about the play and what they liked most about it. As stated before Oklahoma! uses musical numbers to advance the plot but it also uses dance for the same purpose. This musical was the first time that dance was used this way instead of just using it as a plot device. Miller (1964) states: Oklahoma! was the first hit show in which dance was used to explore character and plot, as a language instead of merely a plot device…dance in Oklahoma! was used the same way as music and words were, as language that told the story, that conveyed important information (33). Many critics of Oklahoma! were surprised at its success because it broke all the rules that other hit musicals had created. Examples of this rule breaking are numerous. The play is about cowmen and farmers instead of glamorous show people. The setting is the Oklahoma territory before it becomes a state when most musicals were set in New York and they had a comedic triangle (Jud, Laurey, and Curly) instead of a secondary comedic couple (Miller, 1964: 33-34). Actors Of The Time Period When discussing this time period it is also important to look at the fact that actors had to over emphasize their parts and their singing because they were only taught to project their voices. This was an era before microphones so they had to sing well and project their voices above the orchestra for the audience to hear. This meant that some acting appeared superficial and some audiences wanted more (Miller 36). The Use of Music By virtue of the fact that musicals contain music it is important to look at how music was a benefit to the theatre during the 1940s. Rodgers and Hammerstein II were the most prolific team during this period. They set the stage for very important musical numbers that were catchy, singable tunes and ones that people loved then and love to this day. They made classic numbers that people could relate to because the characters sung them in such away that it brought the audience into the story. Part of the reason their music and lyrics worked was because they left convention. Instead of stopping dialogue to introduce a song which was the customary way to use music, Hammerstein II allowed the lyrics to evolve from the dialogue: Hammerstein approached lyric writing as a serious dramatist, not as an Entertainer. His lyrics grew organically out of the dialogue, continuing Seamlessly from spoken word to song (Miller 36). Hammerstein II also wrote the lyrics first and then Rodgers gave these lyrics what seemed to audiences the "right" sound. Before the 1940s lyricists received the music first and then were supposed to fit the music into the lyrics. Hammerstein II had worked in that way before and was unsatisfied with the outcomes. He wanted to try something different with Oklahoma! and Rodgers wanted to see what would happen. By creating the lyrics first, Hammerstein II allowed Rodgers to find music that would fit. The lyrics that Hammerstein II created had more depth than other musicals up to that time. The music also allowed the audience to see what the character saw or was feeling. A good example of this is in the song, Oh What a Beautiful Morning. The audience finds out that Curly loves the morning and he loves riding through the cornstalks with his horse because they corn is as high as an elephants eye (Rogers and Hammerstein 1955) which gave an audience who might not have seen corn before, a nice visual. The song itself invokes joy in the audience and sets the scene nicely for other members of the cast to join in. This number worked for the beginning of the play and it broke away from the convention of having an overture and then a large chorus number. This clearly made the audience look at something different and embrace it as their own. Rodgers was able to set another first in his music. Most lyricists during this time had to prolifically write music for sale. This was how they were able to have money at all. When Rodgers began to do plays with Hammerstein II he was able to move the music he wrote into a more dramatic place. As Miller writes: Rodgers music was no longer about toe tapping and sheet music sales… it was about telling the story, about establishing the cultural context, about allowing the characters emotions to soar when they needed to do that (Miller 37). Rodgers and Hammerstein II also used the music to creatively work the reprise, another change they made to the musical. Prior to this time the reprise was only a way to repeat a song. They used this device as a way to bring actors together. Two examples that were given were the reprise by Laurey of Oh What A Beautiful Morning in the beginning of the movie. She takes the reprise from Curly and it is a chance for her to tease him a little bit. It sets the stage for their romance and the audience can see that these two are interested in each other. Another example is Ado Annies reprise of I Caint Say No with Will later in the play. She lets the audience know that she is just a girl who caint say no and the character reinforces this throughout the entire play at different times. In both examples, the songs gave the audience the idea that the couples belonged together and that they know each other well (Miller 43-44). Laureys Dream Although mentioned before, Laureys dream is significant to the drama of Oklahoma! because although the audience knows she will end up with Curly (as it should be in their minds) Jud is still a threat and very dangerous. He is always shown as someone who is about to explode if he doesnt get his way. Jud is the rogue who has over the top testosterone. He is overtly sexual and masculine in his demeanour and there is a direct delineation between the good man and the bad man. Laurey is a girl of 18 and very innocent. She hasnt been anywhere other than where she lives so she doesnt understand the worldliness of Jud. However, just like many women, she is drawn to him and scared of him at the same time. Laurey is also just beginning to explore her own sexuality so this also makes her attractive to Jud. In the dream sequence the audience is able to see Laureys fears and her attraction to Jud is played out in the pantomime of the dance. There is no mistaking what is going on. Jud takes her to a saloon that is only represented by sparse furniture, a bar and a staircase that goes nowhere. The audience sees her dream for her point of view so she only sees emptiness in the saloon because she has no idea what goes on in this environment. When she gets to the top of the staircase there is no where to go because she would not know what happens at the top of the stairs in a saloon. She is not worldly enough to know anything of this nature which also endears her to the audience. The dream dance is also used to show the contrast between purity and innocence versus the raw sexuality and danger of Jud and the saloon women. The climax to the dream is Curly coming to save Laurey but not before she has to face Jud and her own sexuality. Another technique that was used in this sequence is the music that played during the sequence. As the dancing girls dance, we get the sense of the type of women they are because the theme of I Caint Say Know is playing as they dance. At another point the song, Po Jud Is Daid is played in the background which is the second time that the audience gets a foreshadowing of Juds fate later in the lay. A final technique that is used in this sequence is the advancement of the plot out of the dream. Instead of ending the dream dance and then moving to another aspect of the story, the dream ends as Jud approaches Laurey out of the dream to tell her it is time to go. She is startled by his presence but the audience has now been privy to her deepest thoughts about him. Should she stay home, go with Jud or go with Curly? All of these thoughts are explored on her face at the moment that she looks up at Jud. Although the audience knows that she is putting herself in danger, she is also obligated to go with Jud since she said that she would. This heightens the drama for the play and has the audience sitting on the edge of its seat to see what will happen to her. The dream dance created a psychological thriller inside an otherwise musical comedy. As Miller states, With the dream, Rodgers and Hammerstein--and de Mille--raised the stakes and, in the process, elevated the show from a mere slice of life to a dark, psychological drama. Just as the untamed prairie of the Oklahoma territory has its dangers, so does the territory of unbridled human sexuality. And just as the territory must be tamed by becoming a state and joining the union, so too must Jud be conquered by Curly before the show can end. The social context of the story serves as a macrocosm of the personal drama… (46-47). This is another reason why the title song fit so well into the play because the play itself has a rich sophistication that draws the reader into the idea that there could be a revolutionary process to help these people as they become a state. In most of the literature that talks about Oklahoma! the musical Carousel is also talked about because they both were written by the Rodgers and Hammerstein team and they were both in production at the same time. They usually were billed across the street from one another and they were the first two musicals that started the trend in this new style. This writer thought it would be a good idea to compare the two musicals because they are so similar and because they both broke with the traditions during the time. This is classic musical theatre that is still loved today. Carousel Carousel was done in 1946 to a sell out crowd. Much like Oklahoma! it broke from all the traditions of theatre. Carousel was another love story but it was more bittersweet than Oklahoma! It was the story of a carnival Barker, Billie Bigalow and his relationship with the main character, Julie. Julie was again a wide eyed innocent 18 year old who watched the barker and was very attracted to him. Again, the bad boy versus the good girl plays out and audiences were brought into the story very quickly. Rodgers and Hammerstein broke with tradition again and much like Oklahoma! they started the play very differently. The audience comes in to a micro view of a man sitting on a ladder doing something. We find out that this is Billie, the main character, who is polishing stars. It seems that he is in the way station between heaven and hell waiting to find out his fate. The audience has no idea how long he has been there or why he is polishing stars but it is intriguing and it sets the mood for the audience to continue to watch. As Billie polishes stars, the audience sees silhouettes of a few other star polishers and the office of the Star Keeper. Billie finds out that he can go back to Earth for one day if he can figure out something good he could do for Julie or her daughter. It is clear to the audience that Billie didnt know that he had a daughter, nor that he could go back to Earth. Of course, the Star Keeper informs him that he waived his right to go when he first came to the way station, but eventually it works out for him to go back. The play takes off form this point as Billie and the Star Keeper talk about what happened and the audience sees it through flash backs. For musicals at this time, the use of flash backs seemed as though it would be a disaster but for Rodgers and Hammerstein and the directors and actors, this was a technique that worked. An interesting trivia point to mention is that Carousel was originally based upon a very dark play called, Liliom. This was a play done by the Hungarian director Ferenc Molnàr and it was about the brutality that the main character (the role that later became Billie Bigelow) acted out on the female character. When Rodgers and Hammerstein were approached with the play they at first rejected it because it was so dark and Liliom never is redeemed in the play. For Rodgers this was too harsh to imagine because he felt he could not allow a character not to be redeemed (King 1956). The setting of Bulgaria was also too much of a leap for audiences so they changed the setting. First, Billie would have a way to redeem himself and the audience will believe he gets a chance to go to heaven. The setting is changed from Bulgaria to Boothbay Harbour Maine to give it a more New England flair. The also changed the name from Liliom to Carousel which gave the play a lighter tone. The Use of Dance in Carousel Agnes de Mille was again asked to do the choreography for Carousel and she expanded the use of dance for different songs. As an example, there are several places where choreographed ballet is used. The song, June is Bustin Out All Over, starts out with ballet but also uses an Irish Jig, an exaggerated swagger by the sailors and tap here and here. The sequence is also full of pantomime between the sailors and the fisherman (a bit like the cowmen and the farmers in Oklahoma!). These techniques within the dance sequences lets the audience know that this is a high sexual time for everyone. The men are vying for the attention of the women, the women are flirting with the men and the audience knows this is just nature taking its course. The audience is ensconced in the sexual innuendo between the males and the females as they play together in this song. De Mille was able to advance dance within Carousel to create beautiful sequences of modern dance combined with ballet. As Sennett suggests (1981): …the musicals with ballet had a radiance, an optimism and a whistle clean innocence about them that brought entire families back to the theatre (1981:279). According to Kantor and Mason (2004), Agnes de Mille created the "narrative dance." She began this in Oklahoma! and continued it to Carousel. This gave way to the "dream ballet" that she used in these and other musicals (p. 204). The narrative dance also was taken into movies and would include dialogue with song and dance -- this had never been done before in other musicals. When the music was combined with dance it brought newness to theatre that had not been seen before. Stephen Sondheim states: What Oscar [Hammerstein] did was to marry European operetta and American musical comedy tradition (Stephen Sondheim as quoted in Kantor and Mason 112). The Use of Pantomime Pantomime plays heavily in Carousel to advance the storey with the songs. The play doesnt start with an Overture like other musicals of the time nor a musical number. Instead there is the Carousel Waltz that explodes onto the stage (and out of the movie) after the introduction of Billie. The audience is thrust into the middle of a live circus with a bear being led by its trainer (with appropriately lumbering music), the Carousel Barker (in pantomime acting as though he is calling people to the carousel) and several other activities that one would expect along a circus midway. The audience is immersed in the sights and sounds of the circus as their attention is brought to the interaction between Billie, Julie and Mrs. Mullen, the owner of the carousel. The Carousel Waltz is used again towards the end of the play as Louise, daughter of Billie and Julie sees a new younger version of Billie who she is attracted to in a similar way that her mother was attracted to Billie. We know by this time that Louise has some of the sass of Billie and the compassion of Julie. In this sequence of the waltz is being done with women dressed up as circus performers and hobby horse costumes that increase the glitter of the circus. The dream dance also figures prominently in Carousel." In this dance the audience observes what has happened to Louise since Billie died 15 years ago. We see that Carrie is finally married to Mr. Snow and they have several children. One of the older boys is attracted to Louise, but we find out later that the family thinks she is "below" their station. Louise hands out with the common boys which is shown in the dream sequence who treat her like one of the boys. She is taunted by the Snow children though Carrie is still Julies best friend. It is clear that Louise and Julie do not have the wealth of the Snows but Julie has done the best for her daughter that she could. We also see that Louise has the roughness of Billie so it is the combination of the two parents almost equally. The audience gets all of this information form a pantomime sequence that lasts about 15 minutes and it advances the plot. It also gives all the information necessary for the audience to understand Louise and what Billie left behind. The use of Operetta The musicals in the 1920s and 1930s were full of musical extravaganzas and were mostly for entertainment. When the 1940s brought the operetta sound it was not known whether it would work with audiences. The audience loved it in Oklahoma! so Rodgers and Hammerstein used it again in Carousel. The first song that was written for Carousel was Soliloquy a very poignant story that broke away from the standard musical score. A soliloquy is usually a spoken aside that an actor does and it is often used in Shakespeare plays. This number appears after the audience has seen how Julie has been treated by Billie and just before the audience writes him off as an abusive cad. The song happens after Julie tells him she is pregnant. Although Billie is older than Julie, he appears to be developmentally very younger. He is not sure what to do with his life let alone a child. Although Julie thinks he will hate it, he loves the idea. The Soliloquy is sung by Billie about the experience of having a child. At firs the thinks about having a boy and what his "boy Bill" will be like. Towards the middle of the song Billie realizes that although he can be a pal to a boy, you gotta be a father to a girl (King 1956). The song changes from a brisk and forceful macho expression to a very tender almost love story as he describes what a girl would be like. Billie also realizes that he will need money to take care of his family and the only way he knows to get it is to steal it -- which sets up the sequences to come later in the play. The audience also sees the roller coaster ride of emotions that Billie goes through as he thinks about having a child. At the end of the song, he is resolved that he will be a better father and husband. The relationships between men and women are explored through operetta and dance within Carousel more so than it was in Oklahoma! Through operetta the audience explores the relationship between Carrie and Mr. Snow when she tells Julie about him towards the beginning of the play. Later, the angst of women about men is explored in Blow High, Blow Low and Whats the Use of Wondrin. As always the lyrics of the Rodgers and Hammerstein collaboration brought another hit to Broadway. As Mordden suggests, Carousel dealt with the more universal issues of gender conflict--why men and women dont understand each other, or even why women understand and men dont." (85) This play was actually seen as an operetta by critics because the singers acquired very strong vices. In fact, Carousel was the first musical to get the crossover treatment in a recording by opera singers. (Mordden 85). This play evolved out of the musical comedy but created another genre once again in the musical play. The definition of the musical play said that the music was done so that the audience could understand the feelings of the characters (Mordden 88). Towards the end of the play Billy must go back to earth to find a way to help his family. Julie has never remarried because of her love for Billy and Louise has become an outcast much like he was in his childhood. This has created a very insecure and lonely child. Billy gets a chance to fix this though the Star Keeper feels this may not work out. Billy goes back to earth with another angel to keep him out of trouble. As this ending continues, Billy makes a mistake but in the end he does get redeemed because he finds away to fix the hearts of the two women who would have been in his life. The last song in this musical is "Youll Never Walk Alone" and although it starts out as a solo, it is sung by the entire cast. Again, a large number but instead of being put in the beginning, it is made as the last song and is the tear jerker for the movie. Billie walks over to Louise while the principle of the school is giving his address to the students (he looks suspiciously like the Star Keeper) and says, listen to him. The audience sees that Louise finally seems to have a little more sense of her self as she listens and the sings the song. He walks over to Julie and says, Never doubt that I loved you. This registers on her face and the audience now knows that Louise and Julie will be okay. This is actually a reprise of the song, Youll Never Walk Alone because the first time we hear it started is when Billy dies and Nettie begins to sing it to Julie. The team of Rodgers and Hammerstein were also noted for making statements about the ills of society and how it could change if only by one person at a time. Some of the literature points out that Youll Never Walk Alone is also one of these statements. Stephen Citron states, Hammerstein the librettist seems to be telling us to embrace others, while Hammerstein the lyricist tells us in song that we must keep the faith (1995 175). It is interesting to note that the plays could not be made into movies until the last company of players was completed on stage. The Rogers and Hammerstein collaboration would go on to create The King And I, Show Boat and many others with similar themes. Oklahoma had a run of 2,200 weeks and Carousel had a first run of 890 weeks (Jones 2003 147). This gives an idea of how popular these two plays were and how it made people happy. References Citron, S. 1995. The Wordsmiths: Oscar Hammerstein 2nd and Alan Jay Lerner. NYL Oxford University Press. Everett, W.A. and Laird, P.R. 2002. The Cambridge Companion to the Musical. UK: Cambridge University Press. Green, S. 1960. The World of Musical Comedy: Enlarged and Revised Edition. NJ: AS Baines &Co., Inc. Jones, J.B. 2003. Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History Of the American Musical Theatre, NH: Brandeis University Press. Kantor, M. and Mason, L. 2004. Broadway: The American Musical. NY: Bulfinch Press. King, Henry. (1956). Rodgers and Hammersteins Carousel. On 50th Anniversary Edition Carousel [DVD] 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, [2006]. Lamb, A. 2000. 150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre. MI: Sheridan Books. Miller, S. 1964. Rebels With Applause: Broadways Groundbreaking Musicals. NH: Heinemann. Mordden, E. 1999. Beautiful Mornin: The Broadway Musical in the 1940s. NY: Oxford University Press. Sennett, T. 1981. Hollywood Musicals. NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Zinneman, F. 1955. Oklahoma! 50th Anniversary Edition. [DVD] 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, [2005]. Read More