MUSICAL THEATER HISTORY

REVIEW SHEET

VARIETY ENTERTAINMENT 1860 1930

Principal forms:
! Minstrel Shows
! Vaudeville
! Burlesque Shows
! Extravagant Revue (e.g., Ziegfeld Follies)
! Intimate Revue (e.g., Garrick Gaieties)

MINSTREL SHOWS

Popular starting in 1840's, black troupes appear after Civil War, popularity diminishes as Vaudeville
grows increasingly popular in 1880's

Distinguishing characteristics:
! White men in blackface makeup (eventually, black men in blackface)
! Exaggerated stereotypes of black characters (mostly rural)
! Nostalgia for plantation days
! Comedy: puns, riddles, making fun of ignorant behavior
! First Part Semicircle: Mr. Tambo, Mr. Bones, Mr. Interlocutor, company enter and sit in
horseshoe arrangement (Gentlemen, be seated!)
! The music
! Company played their own music (banjo, fiddle, the bones)
! Rhythmic banjo tunes: Oh Dem Golden Slippers, Blue Tail Fly
! Sentimental harmonizing: Jeannie With The Light Brown Hair, Old Folks at Home
! The dances: cakewalk, buck and wing

Prominent individuals:
! Songwriter Stephen Foster
! Songwriter and performer Dan Rice

VAUDEVILLE

As America became increasingly urbanized in the late 19
th
century, this popular variety entertainment
flourished in cities and towns. A growing railway network made it possible for artists to tour nationally,
and entrepreneurial managers organized circuits of theaters where performers were booked. Cities
were linked via telegraph and advances in printing technology made newspapers more prevalent,
fueling promotion and celebrity in the nascent entertainment industry. Vaudeville reflected the ethnic
diversity of the American melting-pot cities: Italian, Irish, German and Eastern European Jews, as
well as free blacks. The shows were clean and sufficiently decorous for a middle-class family audience.
Acts ran seven to twelve minutes, never more than twenty; performers honed their acts through daily
repetition, and a good song or act would serve a performer for years.

Terminology:
! vaudeville = voix de ville, the voice of the city
! the bill - sequence of seven to ten acts (most typically nine)
! the headliner - appeared in next to last spot on bill
! big time vaudeville: only two shows a day, multiple weeks, good pay, good theaters
! small time vaudeville: up to six shows a day, split weeks and one night stands, less attractive
pay and venues in small towns
! the circuit, the wheel, the syndicate - management grouped theaters in different towns
together

BURLESQUE

Another popular form of variety show from the same era, burlesque shows burlesqued (i.e., made fun
of) more serious entertainments and current events. In Oklahoma, Will Parker sings about his visit to
a burleycue show in Kansas City:

They got a big theayter they call a burleycue,
For fifty cents, you can see a dandy show!
One of the gals was fat and pink and pretty
As round above as she was round below
I could swear that she was padded from her shoulder to her heel
But later in the second act when she began to peel
she proved that everything she had was absolutely real!
She went about as far as she could go!

The top banana and other baggy-pants comics of a burlesque show delivered a racier, more adult
brand of comedy. A chorus of pretty girls, scantily clad, performed chorus and specialty numbers. By
the 1920's, the jokes grew bluer (more adult content) and the girls began to strip. Unlike vaudeville,
which relied entirely on touring, the burlesque theater in a town typically had a resident troupe of
comics and girls which was augmented by visiting headliners. Burlesque shows provided entry-level
experience for many vaudeville and variety entertainers.

EXTRAVAGANT REVUE

The Ziegfeld Follies, seen in New York City between 1907 and 1931, were the best known of the
extravagant revues. Impresario Florenz Ziegfeld was inspired by the shows at the Folies Bergere, a
popular Parisian music hall. These shows featured elements of vaudeville and burlesque, including
famous comics and entertainers and beautiful showgirls as well as lavish musical numbers, all
calibrated to appeal to affluent audiences. Extravagant dcor by designer Joseph Urban and costumer
Erte gave the shows an air of great luxury. Stars like Fanny Brice, Eddie Cantor, Bert Williams and
Will Rogers appeared in the Follies. Starting in 1913, the Follies appeared at the New Amsterdam
Theater, recently renovated by Disney. Other producers presented extravagant revues as well, notably
the George White Scandals (where George Gershwin was a rehearsal pianist and had his first songs
performed) and the Shubert's Passing Show series.

INTIMATE REVUE

Other producers, lacking Ziegfeld's enormous means and grandiose ambitions, mounted shows
featuring the same ingredients: great songs presented by great entertainers, with comedy and dancing,
in a variety format. A revue was a set program (unlike vaudeville and burlesque, which changed
weekly) that ran in a fixed location for an extended period. Typically, it had a unifying element: for
example, the taste of the impresario who presented it. Rodgers and Hart wrote their first song,
Manhattan, for the Garrick Gaieties, a revue presented by the Theatre Guild in Greenwich Village in
1925.