African American Musical Theatre Analysis

Prior to what we believe to be the “Golden Era” of American Musical Theatre, one must first delve into the dark past modern musical theatre tries to bury beneath today’s jazz hands and glitter covered performers. The era of the Virginia Minstrel shows not only is derogatory towards African American slaves and recently freed slaves with the use of stock characters, but it uses exaggerated stereotypes and costuming to create the illusion that the African American race is inferior to Caucasians. These characters use exaggerated stereotypes of the African American slaves in the southern part of the country. Stereotypes include: a form of physical handicap, lack of common sense, laziness, alcoholism, and pure stupidity. While many of the northern
Because these characters were so predictable, that the composer could easily write a basic plot. The setting might be different and the other characters may be different, but so long as the stock characters are present, the main story line that clearly accentuates all of the poorer stereotypes of the African American population. The character of Jim Crow would always be written so he was crippled whereas Mr. Tambo/Sambo would be written to be lazy and/or drunk. The character of Zip Coon is depicted as a well off free slave that has an ego a little too large for being the uneducated, easily manipulated man that he is. In the shows, the writers can easily tell a short skit where his character is flirting with a white woman who needs to be rescued from his character. If one were part of the production staff, Zip Coon would be dressed in very gaudy, poorly designed suits that would easily stand out amongst others. His easy at mixed with his sheer stupidity helps create a simple story line that while everyone will have a general idea as to what’s to come, they also have a good idea what to expect when viewing the show.This process of writing for the characters was made easy and helped create an oral tradition for the minstrel