The History of Musical Theatre Essay Example
The History of Musical Theatre
The recently released Les Misérables earned £8.1 million in its opening weekend, making it the largest opening weekend for a musical film in history, proving that the genre is still alive. But how exactly did this powerful art form originate? And from then on, how did it evolve to become the spectacularly vivacious being that it is today?
The oldest known forms of music theatre were the ancient Greek plays with music and lyrics, as well as music and dance being included within the Roman productions of comedies and tragedies. Despite their entertainment value at the time, the music of these eras stopped long ago, meaning they had little impact on the development of the modern musicals between the 18th and 21st centuries, both on-screen and on-stage.
The Middle Ages then followed with the pioneering of musical “morality play”, staged by the congregation and pastors of churches. This possibly stemmed from the combination of parables or the holy psalms, adding hymns as the musical element. However, these plays too had little influence on the development of fully integrated musicals as a medium of drama and storytelling.
Although there were an abundance of musical stage productions in the 18th century, only a few of them were referred to as ‘musicals’. The earliest known English work of this particular period was John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, an operatic satire piece, poking fun at upper-class, reputable citizens who were compared to being no better than a common thief. The music featured within the play, however, was not entirely original: a selection of popular songs of the time was used as accompaniment to originally written lyrics. Various other ballad operas, burlettas and early versions of pantomimes made up the majority of the musicals performed on stages through America, well into the early 19th century.
Now, the musical as we witness it nowadays, primarily based on themes of comedy, romance, satire and occasionally
The recently released Les Misérables earned £8.1 million in its opening weekend, making it the largest opening weekend for a musical film in history, proving that the genre is still alive. But how exactly did this powerful art form originate? And from then on, how did it evolve to become the spectacularly vivacious being that it is today?
The oldest known forms of music theatre were the ancient Greek plays with music and lyrics, as well as music and dance being included within the Roman productions of comedies and tragedies. Despite their entertainment value at the time, the music of these eras stopped long ago, meaning they had little impact on the development of the modern musicals between the 18th and 21st centuries, both on-screen and on-stage.
The Middle Ages then followed with the pioneering of musical “morality play”, staged by the congregation and pastors of churches. This possibly stemmed from the combination of parables or the holy psalms, adding hymns as the musical element. However, these plays too had little influence on the development of fully integrated musicals as a medium of drama and storytelling.
Although there were an abundance of musical stage productions in the 18th century, only a few of them were referred to as ‘musicals’. The earliest known English work of this particular period was John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, an operatic satire piece, poking fun at upper-class, reputable citizens who were compared to being no better than a common thief. The music featured within the play, however, was not entirely original: a selection of popular songs of the time was used as accompaniment to originally written lyrics. Various other ballad operas, burlettas and early versions of pantomimes made up the majority of the musicals performed on stages through America, well into the early 19th century.
Now, the musical as we witness it nowadays, primarily based on themes of comedy, romance, satire and occasionally