Richard Barrios
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199973842
- eISBN:
- 9780199370115
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199973842.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter provides a frequently digressory capsule history of the musical, noting especially the history and heritage that it variously heeds and forgets. It puts emphasis on the overstated ...
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This chapter provides a frequently digressory capsule history of the musical, noting especially the history and heritage that it variously heeds and forgets. It puts emphasis on the overstated importance of The Jazz Singer (NOT the first musical) and the genuine importance of The Broadway Melody (the first real musical). It stresses the importance, in the musical’s history, of dance director Busby Berkeley and producer Arthur Freed. The chapter then looks at the 1950s decline due to television, the 1960s resurgence (roadshow film and The Sound of Music), and the long moratorium that extended from the early 1970s onward. Chicago, in 2002, marked a resurgence that, ultimately, did not last.Less
This chapter provides a frequently digressory capsule history of the musical, noting especially the history and heritage that it variously heeds and forgets. It puts emphasis on the overstated importance of The Jazz Singer (NOT the first musical) and the genuine importance of The Broadway Melody (the first real musical). It stresses the importance, in the musical’s history, of dance director Busby Berkeley and producer Arthur Freed. The chapter then looks at the 1950s decline due to television, the 1960s resurgence (roadshow film and The Sound of Music), and the long moratorium that extended from the early 1970s onward. Chicago, in 2002, marked a resurgence that, ultimately, did not last.
