Musical Theatre 1960-Present

1. Musical Theatre 1960-Present By: David Longaker and Crystal Rawlins

2. Introduction • Musical theatre between 1960 and 2011 was very Diverse • Our Focus: • Different kinds of plays through the decades of time • Escapism plays beingpurely for diversion • Controversial plays to invoke thought/ controversy about what was/ is morally and socially accepted • And to see what was going on in the country at the time the play was debuted • We have chosen 2 plays from each decade to discuss

3. 1960 - 1970 • Things going on during the decade: • Civil Rights protests • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech • Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in 1968 • Beatlemania – “I Want to Hold Your Hand” U.S. Hit • Vietnam War

4. 1960 - 1970 • Escapism play: Hello Dolly 1964 • Playwright: Michael Stewart • Controversial play: Hair 1968 • Playwrights: James Rado and Gerome Ragni • First broadway musical with the entire score being rock music • The actors did exercises of being loving to each other in order to show love to the audience • The play contained frontal nudity, interacting with the audience, drug use, and obscene language. • The play ran on broadway for 4 sold out years • New York Times critic Clive Barnes gushed that Hair was "the first Broadway musical in some time to have the authentic voice of today rather than the day before yesterday."

5. 1960 – 1970 Playbills

6. 1970 - 1980 • Things going on during the decade: • Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal • President Nixon resigns due to Watergate scandal • Vietnam war ends with communist forces taking over South Vietnam • Broadway recession • 42nd street area was a sewer of prostitution, pornography, and crime

7. 1970 - 1980 • Escapism play: A Chorus Line 1975 • Playwright: Michael Bennett • Plot was about dancers auditioning for a new show and how everyone is on the line together to get a job and be on broadway • Stayed on broadway for 15 years, breaking all previous box office records • Changed musical theatre and saved the financial part of broadway and was a part for changing and improving the broadway area

8. 1970 - 1980 • Controversial play: Sweeney Todd 1979 • Playwright: Hugh Wheeler • Was a musical thriller and had an overall creepy and scary setting • Dealt with grisly murder, cannibalism, and dark humor

9. Sweeney Todd Clip

10. 1980 - 1990 • Things going on during the decade: • IBM introduced first personal computer cost $1,565 • Highest unemployment rate since 1940 • Challenger space shuttle blows up on take off • Stock market crashed • Berlin Wall came down

11. 1980 - 1990 • Escapism play: Cats 1982 • Playwright: Andrew Lloyd Weber • Derived from T.S. Eliot poems for children • Entirely unconventional and had almost no storyline, yet audiences could not resist the dancing felines • Was originally released in London before going to New York • The show reached across the generation barrier, allowing children, their parents, and grandparents could all get something from the show • Became the longest running show in broadway history

12. Cats Clip

13. 1980 - 1990 • Controversial Play: La Cage Aux Folles1983 • Playwright: Harvey Fierstein • Focused on a gay couple dealing with their son’s marriage into a bigoted politician’s family

14. 1990 - 2000 • Things going on during the decade: • Gulf War – “Operation Desert Storm” • Dolly the sheep became the first mammal to be cloned • Federal funding for human cloning was banned • Broadway more family friendly and a tourist attraction • AIDS scare

15. 1990 - 2000 • Escapism play: The Lion King 1997 • Playwrights: Roger Allers and Irene Meechi • The play was based on the Disney movie • Disney Corporation bought and restored the New Amsterdam Theater • Disney got 42nd street safe and clean for families • Was successful in having actors portray animals

16. Lion King Clip

17. 1990 - 2000 • Controversial play: Rent 1996 • Playwright: Jonathan Larson • Was written about Jonathan Larson dealing with his friends dying from AIDS • Was a rock musical • About measuring how much love you put out and how much love comes back

18. 2000 - Present • Things going on during the decade: • September 11, 2001 • US and UK War on Terror • Tiger Woods Sex Scandal • Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah • Space shuttle Columbia explodes of re-entry over Texas • Saddam Hussein captured • Southeast Asia tsunami • Hurricane Katrina • Billionth song downloaded from iTunes • $700 billion bailtout Emergency Economic Stabilization Act • Osama Bin Laden killed

19. 2000 - Present • Escapism play: Mamma Mia! 2001 • Playwright: Catherine Johnson • Based on the songs of ABBA • Later became adapted into a film

20. 2000 - Present • Controversial play: Wicked 2003 • Playwright: Gregory Maguire • A retelling of the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch’s point of view • Showed that history is often told (and distorted) by the so-called “winners.”

21. Works Cited • Broadway: The American Musical. Dir. Michael Kantor. Perf. Julie Andrews. PBS Home Video, 2004. DVD. • "Cats Musical - Memory- YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY>. • Kenrick, John. "History of Stage Musicals." Musicals101.com - The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musicals. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.musicals101.com/erastage.htm>. • "America's Best History - U.S. History Timeline." America's Best History - Home. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline.html>. • TonyAwards.com - The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards® - Official Website by IBM. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/news/galleries/2008-05-17/200805091210390684562.html>.