100 Years of Broadway - Assignment Example

100 Years of Broadway Broadway is an important cultural in America due to a number of reasons. First, majority of Americans have enjoyed watching acted out ‘stories’ for many generations, a fact that does not seem to change even in the coming years. Broadway dates as ancient as Sophocles and Shakespeare eras, which translates to about three millennia. It forms the foundation of all drama. As a result, this American history can hardly be forgotten, despite the technological revolution in the film and television industries.

When one mentions ‘Broadway’ in America, what comes to mind is not just the location, the history coupled with dreams and ideas. It represents a place where many great Americans had gathered and performed before, and still do to date. Because of this, many people identify with it as it saw the dreams of great Americans in theater and musicals come true (Everett & Laird, 2009: 200). To elaborate the cultural importance of Broadway, the best Broadway shows over the last one hundred years are recreated to honor this show.

In his event, shows acted by great American personalities like Dreamgirls, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera are redone. In musicals, ‘standard’ refers to those musicals that are older and more established compared to the rest. Just like contemporary musicals, standard musicals also help in propelling the story or action in theatrical performances. They assist the audience in understanding the flow of the performance. Examples are All that Jazz by Bob Fosse, and Oklahoma by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

‘World Blues’ refer to the celebration of the global influence of America’s blues (Spurrier, 1979). Standard musicals help the audience in understanding the flow of a performance. World blues on the other hand are just songs redone by a variety of musicians from different parts of the world. They do not necessarily need to be older or more established. Furthermore, not most of them are musicals. However, both musicals and world blues are performed live, accompanied by instruments and other effects.

The live performance of ‘The Lion King’ was very different from the movie version of the play. First, the performance was ‘live’ which provides the intimacy longed for by theater lovers. In live performance, there was a whole set of theatrical events, ranging from lights, costumes, props and sounds from the performance that make it interesting. This is engages the crowd more as opposed to the movie version where one only needs sit with a remote control. Live performances exhibit a unique relationship between the performer and the audience that is not well elaborated in movies (Chach & Archive, 2001:42).

The audience gets the pleasure and thrill of being near the performers. For most theater lovers, this is the best part of the whole performance, and they would do anything to experience it. In addition to that, live performances cannot be repeated the way movies can. In live performances, the audience comes with uncertainty of what to expect from the performance. A movie on the other hand portrays a great deal of technological development. Techniques like surround music, computer generated images and sound trucks go a long way in placing the audience in the right mood for watching (Chach & Archive, 2001:45).

However, there are certain similarities between live performances and movies. Both the two genres require performers, are written with the difference coming from their presentation modes. The show portrayed Broadway very well, bringing together many people from all lifestyles. It went a long way in maintaining the history and culture of Americans. It also fulfilled the deep need for the audience to experience the thrill of live performance. Work Cited Chach, M. & Archive, S. (2001) Shubert Present One Hundred Years of Great American Theater.

Shubert Organization Inc. Everett, W. & Laird, P. (2009) The A to Z of the Broadway Musical Scarecrow Press Spurrier, J. (1979) The Integration of Music and Lyrics with the Book in the American Musical. Ph.D. Dissertation, Southern Illinois U