Musical Oklahoma - Essay Example

Musical Oklahoma Prior to the World War II, the majority of the musicals sought fame by means of lavishness. Agnes de Mille through the musical Oklahoma, firmly set up a new approach. No effort was being made for presenting a lavish spectacle; rather, the element of dance was closely assimilated with the remainder of the action (Knapp 15). This was extremely essential since the prominence was on organic growth instead of show stopping. As a result, its success is at the moment a matter of record. Musicals that followed later on continued this style while, in some instances, homage by replication has been credited to Oklahoma (Campell 20). Musical theatre is a form of play, which is responsible for telling a story by means of an amalgamation of spoken dialogue, dances and songs (Jones 31). They are in most cases referred to as musicals, and mostly have a light tone, while at the same time having some humor. Musicals tell diverse stories told ranging from love stories up to murder stories. In various ways, musical theatre are different from other forms of stage work. The premier of Oklahoma in 1943 started the contemporary musical era of musical theatre (Campell 26). As a result of Oklahoma rising into fame, both composer Richard Rodgers together with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein of Oklahoma turned out to be the most extensively known team within in musical theatre history. They showed extraordinary skill through their integration of the story, music, as well as dancing (Knapp 28). The main aspect in musical lies in choreography, idyllically; all the rhythmic and musical elements (not just the dances) get choreographed. This choreography requires close and extreme collaboration with colleagues within music and theatre (Jones 38). Choreographed sequences are in most cases meant for picking up the show’s pace. They are responsible for bringing emotional, as well as physical aspect of the audience, to the air of the show. While the conversation of a traditional play is responsible for setting its tone and action, a musical normally starts with a vast choreographed number meant to set up the plot, time and place (Knapp 41). Furthermore, choreography presents the chance for establishing a character and mood with the audience getting drawn in by what people do instead of what they say, using exaggeration or fantasy, using extensions of emotion, as well as movement of all sorts. The requirements of choreographic differ from show to show, for instance while choreographing Oklahoma, Agnes de Mille uses high quality choreography (Campell 33). A group has the opportunity of choosing as what its capable of handling. Choreography remains a problem till additional people become involved in developing themselves as choreographers; nonetheless, the problem is not as monumental as it has been feared (Knapp 49). Oklahoma happens to be the firstly musical written by the group of composer Richard Rodgers together with librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. This musical has its basis on a 1931 play by Lynn Riggs known as Green Grow the Lilacs (Campell 36). Having been set within Oklahoma Territory out of the town of Claremore in 1906, the play tells the tale of cowboy Curly McLain along with his romance Laurey Williams a farm girl. A secondary romance is about cowboy Will Parker together with Ado Annie, his flirtatious fiancee. The first Broadway production premiered on March 31, 1943 (Jones 39). This was a box-office smash, which ran for 2243 performances, later on enjoying award-winning revitalizations, national excursions, foreign productions, as well as an Academy Award-winning 1955 film adaptation. Since then, it turned out to be a famous choice for school productions, as well as for community productions. In not less than ten years, Oklahoma made it into the big screen. This led to Oklahoma taking home Oscars for sound, as well as musical scoring; this clearly indicates that the wait was worthwhile (Campell 40). Agnes De Mille gets credit for choreographing Oklahama by Rodgers and Hammerstein; although they were hoping to get freshness in musicals by using De Mille, they ended up getting genius (Knapp 55). Oklahoma’s dance sequences totally transformed the look of the American Broadway musical. In the past, dance numbers had extremely little or no link at all to a storyline of a musical, but were fastened on simply as a divertissement (Jones 44). However, in Oklahoma dance was incorporated to the plot and applied in furthering the action. The famed dream sequence within Oklahoma, which explored the primary character’s psychology, as well as inner mayhem, was extremely groundbreaking that, in a few months, each new musical on Broadway had the same dream scene (Knapp 62). On stage, Oklahoma was also bold in that it had a wide usage of ballet; this is something that was unprecedented for Broadway. It turned out to be the dream ballet of Laurie, which Agnes DeMille choreographed for Oklahoma (Campell 48). The Oklahama songs happen to be a segment of the national musical treasure. Both Rodgers and Hammerstein provided one state in the union possibly the best state song that has ever been written. In fact, the infectious, as well as optimistic Oklahoma is at the moment the state song used in the Sooner state. It is impossible for anyone to sit down quietly while listening and watching that number when it is playing (Jones 54). In the 1920s, academic, sociological and commercial interests drove the search for American music. As a result, in the 1930s opened, the majority of the poorest rural southerners were owners of phonographs. The rural blues had become popular on record and had an impact on music nationwide (Campell 53). A tremendous potential market of record buyers, as well as radio listeners, lived in areas far from New York and Chicago; these were the centers for not only music publishing, but also production industries. American popular music of the 1930s was a reflection of the cultural along with the social characteristics, which shaped the identity of Americans during the period (Jones 59). This music was extremely significant in an attempt of understanding the American people in a time of modern technology, an enormous population growth of cities, and a massive scale depression. Throughout the thirties, American experience in music transformed dramatically (Campell 62). Within the mainstream, it shifted from the bland and natural, sweet hum of Guy Lombardo together with the Jazz Age dance bands into the more rhythmically engaged horn arrays of the Swing Era like Benny Goodman together with Tommy Dorsey. Initial jazz plus blues in the thirties evidently demonstrate the appearance of outstanding musical forms through renowned artist such as Louis Armstrong together with Fletcher Henderson. The other set of songs from the mid of the decade up to the end symbolizes the emerging modern types of American popular music (Knapp 71). Dance within modern musical theatre is extremely significant since it tells the story. This happens to be one aspect on the manner in which musical theatre has been immensely influential when it comes to the dance styles (Campell 73). Folk dances from different countries got into North America by means of musical theatre. This clearly discloses the fact that dances is a particularly essential tool of storytelling. A person has to go to classes and workshops so as to pick up on these latest dance routines, which debuted at the modern stage musicals (Knapp 76). This is not just limited to North America; apparently, this trend inspired by musical theatre is present across the entire globe. Although dance has always been famous worldwide, the impact of American theater is experienced all over the globe since its capability of putting that dance to a medium, which audiences enjoy while imitating signified that the theater dancing of America was capable of going further in impacting other audiences and countries to the dance’s joy (Jones 67). Musical theatre will continue to influence dance trends. Ranging from the enormous musicals of the past into today’s modern ones, every one of them is capable of creating its own distinct interpretation of dance for the coming generations (Jones 78). In spite of props changing and the costumes differing from those stylish dresses of the Follies period, dance has been brought to date, although the idea that lingers is that no matter the style of musical, the exhibition is firmly grounded within the impacts gained by a past, which has strengths that people remember and love (Campell 82). Work Cited: Campbell, Michael. Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On. Rhode Island: Cengage Learning, 2011. Jones, John Bush, R. Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theater. Boston : UPNE, 2003. Knapp, Raymond. The American Musical: And The Formation of National Identity. Los Angeles: Princeton University Press, 2005. Read More