Musicals have long been central to American theater, with Broadway as their most celebrated stage. This course surveys Broadway’s evolution across the 20th and 21st centuries—from Tin Pan Alley and the golden age of integrated musicals to the rock era and British mega-productions. We’ll explore book and concept musicals, highlight influential composers and directors, and study unforgettable shows including Show Boat, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, Guys and Dolls, Company, Hair, Cabaret, Rent, Wicked, and more.
Week 1: The Origins. Panorama of American Music and Entertainment. Migrations in America. Early musical theater. Minstrelsy. Yiddish Theater. Tin Pan Alley. Illustrated Song. Nickelodeons. Vaudeville. The Ziegfeld Follies. George M Cohan. Bert Williams. Fanny Brice. Marilyn Miller. Shubert theaters. Musical Comedy.
Week 2: George White Scandals. Eddie Cantor. W C Fields, Al Jolson. Sissle and Blake. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter. George and Ira Gershwin. Book Musicals. Jerome Kern. Showboat. 1928-1942. Walter Winchell. Rodgers and Hart. Harold Arlen. Yip Harburg. Ethel Merman. Ethel Waters. Kurt Weil.
Week 3: Rodgers and Hammerstein. Oklahoma. Carousell. South Pacific. The King and I. The Sound of Music. Frank Loesser. Frederick Loewe and Alan J Lerner. Betty Comden and Adolph Green. On the Town. Singing in the Rain. Leonard Bernstein. Jerome Robbins. West Side Story. Fiddler on the Roof. Funny Girl. Golden Era, Decay, Rebirth.
Week 4: Stephen Sondheim. Jule Stein. Hal Prince, David Merrick. Jerry Herman, La Cage aux Folles. Kander and Ebb, Cabaret, Chicago, Bob Fosse, Michael Bennet, A Chorus Line, Joseph Papp, Hair, The Producers, Rent, Wicked, Stephen Schwartz, Disney productions, the European invasion, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron MacKintosh, Hamilton. Broadway's present and future.
Promotional video: https://youtu.be/MxzHgMifHz8