Chapter 9: The American Musical Theatre
A timeline of the major turning points in American Musical Theatre from the 19th-21st century.
Sondheim ( 1970s – 1980s)
2000s – Present Day
Tin Pan Alley (Late 1800s – 1920s)
European Influence (1980s – 1990s)
Rodgers & Hammerstein (1940s – 1950s)
Opportunities for improvement
Contact points
Useractions
Userpersona
Write agreat headline
Interactivity and animation can be your best allies when creating tables, infographics, or charts that help provide context to the information and simplify the data for your audience. We are visual beings, and it is easier for us to 'read' images than to read written text.
Pain points
Emotions and motivations
Stagesof the journey
A great title
First name Last name
When giving a presentation, there are two objectives to pursue: convey information and avoid yawning. To achieve this, it may be a good practice to create an outline and use words that will stick in your audience's mind.
Contextualize your topic with a subtitle
A great title
A great title
If you want to provide additional information or develop the content in more detail, you can do so through your oral presentation. We recommend that you train your voice and practice: the best improvisation is always the most rehearsed!
Do you need more reasons to create dynamic content? Well: 90% of the information we absorb comes through sight, and we retain 42% more information when the content is moving.
Write a great headline
Show enthusiasm, flash a smile, and maintain eye contact with your audience: 'The eyes, chico. They never lie.' This will help you to make a 'match' with your audience. Leave them speechless!
You can develop the content in more detail through your oral presentation. We recommend that you train your voice and practice: the best improvisation is always the one that is most rehearsed!
You can create a outline to synthesize the content and use words that will stick in your audience's mind. Numbered ideas are much easier to remember than bullet points.
Write a great headline
Pose a dramatic question; it is the essential ingredient to keep the audience's attention. It is usually posed subtly at the beginning of the story to intrigue the audience and is resolved at the end.
Describe the problem you are going to solve and, above all, the reason why your idea is interesting
Step by step interactive visual communication:
- Plan the structure of your communication.
- Hierarchize it and give visual weight to the main points.
- Define secondary messages with interactivity.
- Establish a flow through the content.
- Measure the results.
'Your content is liked, but it engages much more if it is interactive'
Here you can put an important title, something that will captivate your audience
02
01
Measure results and experiment.
Generate experiences with your content.
04
03
Engage and surprise your audience.
It has WOW effect. Very WOW.
06
05
It is organized, hierarchical, and structured.
Make your audience remember the message.
Usegraphics
Use this space to briefly describe your chart and its evolution. Statistics convey professionalism and a greater sense of credibility. A plus: always try to include the source.
We are narrative beings:
- We tell a thousand stories
- We communicate
- And express our needs
- We conquer, we convince
We are visual beings:
- We understand images
- Illustrations, gifs, videos…
- They are resources that reinforce the content
- Especially with interactivity and animation
Down with boring content in your presentation: make it entertaining
Animate your content and take it to the next level
Write a great subtitlehere to provide context
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and share it anywhere. We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating as always is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates it.
When giving a presentation, there are two goals to pursue: to convey information and to avoid yawns. To achieve this, it can be good practice to create an outline and use words that will be etched into the minds of your audience. Our brain is biologically prepared to process visual content.
Pose a dramatic question; it is the essential ingredient for maintaining the audience's attention. It is often posed subtly at the beginning of the story to intrigue the audience and is resolved at the end.
Use videos
With Genially templates, you can include visual resources to leave your audience speechless. You can also highlight a phrase or specific fact that will be etched in your audience's memory and even embed external content that surprises: videos, photos, audios... Whatever you want!
Multimedia content is essential in a presentation to leave everyone speechless. Additionally, this will help you synthesize the content and entertain your audience.
Musical Theatre Today
- Today, musical theatre is very diverse in genre and source material. Songwriter and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton was especially revolutionary for using a diverse cast and musical genres like hip-hop, R&B, and popular music. This musical became a driving force and pushed musicals into the popular culture space again.
- Additionally, modern Broadway heavily relies on adaptations of popular films like The Lion King, and using the catalogues of famous musicians like in Mamma Mia!.
- Musicals still center around socially-conscious themes (Dear Even Hansen, Next to Normal).
- Disney theatre productions have instigated a shift from independently-produced unique musicals to a highly-commercialized corporate enterprise, taking advantage of their established brand and capitalizing on the sentimentality of their household name and childhood stories.
- Technological advances have changed musical theatre through automated scenery and advances in digital projections to create a more immersive theatrical experience.
European Influence in the 1980s-1990s
This period is characterized by the shift from character-focused sorylines and realistic settings back to flashy and dramatic spectacles.
"Mega-musicals" were controversial in the musical theatre world, with many critics stating that these musicals prioritized spectacle over substance.
Cameron Mackintosh created globally franchised "mega-musicals" (Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, Cats) that were created by European teams. These musicals had big budgets and spectacles (the falling chandelier in Phantom of the Opera and the helicopter in Miss Saigon). Dialogue was mostly sung, and these musicals were highly commercialized, moving away from substantial plots and unique themes.
"The dumbing down of the country reflects itself on Broadway. The shows get dumber, and the public gets used to them." — Stephen Sondheim
Sondheim
Sondheim spearheaded the "Concept Musical" (a musical centered around a thematic idea rather than a linear plot). His works were typically centered around serious and often dark themes with complex lyrics (Sweeney Todd, Company, Follies).
This period was the peak of the choreographer-director position. Notable choreographer/directors include Bob Fosse, whose unique style stood out in Chicago and Pippin.
Musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar were influenced by rock music.
The Golden Age
This era is characterized by the emergence of the "Book Musical".
"What few people understand is that Oscar's big contribution to the theater was as a theoretician, as a Peter Brook, as an innovator. People don't understand how experimental Show Boat and Oklahoma! felt at the time they were done." — Stephen Sondheim (Hammerstein's protégé)
- Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein perfected the book musical format initially created by Kern and Hammerstein, creators of Show Boat.
- The character-focused opening in Oklahoma (1943) was groundbreaking for this period as it was a shift from the typically flashy and dramatic openings associated with operetta and Vaudeville.
- During this era, choreography in musicals became increasingly important for character expression.
- Musicals explore socially conscious themes including racial prejudice (South Pacific), domestic abuse (Carousel), and war (The King and I).
Tin Pan Alley
The late 1800s-1920s were characterized by emerging forms of American revues and an expanding music publishing industry.
Tin Pan Alley (28th street, Manhattan) was the hub for publishing popular music during this era, with songwriters producing thousands of songs eventually creating the "Great American Songbook". During this time, many songwriters creating songs for Operetta (a European form of theater) and Vaudeville (an American form of theater that included acrobatic performances). In this way, music became commercialized. European and African American music like jazz and ragtime heavily influenced music during this time despite racial discrimination in the industry. Later, in 1927, Kern and Hammerstein II's Show Boat (1927) is the first book musical to emerge, laying the groundwork for the rise in book musicals later. Show Boat was the first to portray serious themes like racial prejudice.
Jerome H. Remick & Company (pictured above) was one of the most successful music publishing industries during this era.
Works Cited
Cohen, Sherman. Theatre Brief. McGraw-Hill Education. Disney Theatrical Productions: Producing Broadway Musicals The Disney Way.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330971223_Disney_Theatrical_Productions_Producing_Broadway_Musicals_The_Disney_Way#:~:text=Abstract%20INTRODUCTION:%20DANGEROUS%20TO%20DREAM%2019%20family%2D,Artistic%20innovation%20is%20pushing%20the%20form%20forward., Mar. 2019. Wood, Mara. “Megamusicals Over the Last 50 Years.” Wenger | J.R. Clancy, 12 Sept. 2025, performance.wengercorp.com/megamusicals-over-the-last-50-years/#:~:text=Today%2C%20both%20Broadway%20and%20the,online%20visibility%2C%20and%20merchandise%20sales.
Chapter 9: The American Musical Theatre
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Transcript
Chapter 9: The American Musical Theatre
A timeline of the major turning points in American Musical Theatre from the 19th-21st century.
Sondheim ( 1970s – 1980s)
2000s – Present Day
Tin Pan Alley (Late 1800s – 1920s)
European Influence (1980s – 1990s)
Rodgers & Hammerstein (1940s – 1950s)
Opportunities for improvement
Contact points
Useractions
Userpersona
Write agreat headline
Interactivity and animation can be your best allies when creating tables, infographics, or charts that help provide context to the information and simplify the data for your audience. We are visual beings, and it is easier for us to 'read' images than to read written text.
Pain points
Emotions and motivations
Stagesof the journey
A great title
First name Last name
When giving a presentation, there are two objectives to pursue: convey information and avoid yawning. To achieve this, it may be a good practice to create an outline and use words that will stick in your audience's mind.
Contextualize your topic with a subtitle
A great title
A great title
If you want to provide additional information or develop the content in more detail, you can do so through your oral presentation. We recommend that you train your voice and practice: the best improvisation is always the most rehearsed!
Do you need more reasons to create dynamic content? Well: 90% of the information we absorb comes through sight, and we retain 42% more information when the content is moving.
Write a great headline
Show enthusiasm, flash a smile, and maintain eye contact with your audience: 'The eyes, chico. They never lie.' This will help you to make a 'match' with your audience. Leave them speechless!
You can develop the content in more detail through your oral presentation. We recommend that you train your voice and practice: the best improvisation is always the one that is most rehearsed!
You can create a outline to synthesize the content and use words that will stick in your audience's mind. Numbered ideas are much easier to remember than bullet points.
Write a great headline
Pose a dramatic question; it is the essential ingredient to keep the audience's attention. It is usually posed subtly at the beginning of the story to intrigue the audience and is resolved at the end.
Describe the problem you are going to solve and, above all, the reason why your idea is interesting
Step by step interactive visual communication:
'Your content is liked, but it engages much more if it is interactive'
Here you can put an important title, something that will captivate your audience
02
01
Measure results and experiment.
Generate experiences with your content.
04
03
Engage and surprise your audience.
It has WOW effect. Very WOW.
06
05
It is organized, hierarchical, and structured.
Make your audience remember the message.
Usegraphics
Use this space to briefly describe your chart and its evolution. Statistics convey professionalism and a greater sense of credibility. A plus: always try to include the source.
We are narrative beings:
We are visual beings:
Down with boring content in your presentation: make it entertaining
Animate your content and take it to the next level
Write a great subtitlehere to provide context
Did you know that Genially allows you to share your creation directly, without the need for downloads? Ready for your audience to view it on any device and share it anywhere. We don't like to bore. We don't want to be repetitive. Communicating as always is boring and doesn't engage. We do it differently. We sabotage boredom. We create what the brain likes to consume because it stimulates it.
When giving a presentation, there are two goals to pursue: to convey information and to avoid yawns. To achieve this, it can be good practice to create an outline and use words that will be etched into the minds of your audience. Our brain is biologically prepared to process visual content.
Pose a dramatic question; it is the essential ingredient for maintaining the audience's attention. It is often posed subtly at the beginning of the story to intrigue the audience and is resolved at the end.
Use videos
With Genially templates, you can include visual resources to leave your audience speechless. You can also highlight a phrase or specific fact that will be etched in your audience's memory and even embed external content that surprises: videos, photos, audios... Whatever you want!
Multimedia content is essential in a presentation to leave everyone speechless. Additionally, this will help you synthesize the content and entertain your audience.
Musical Theatre Today
European Influence in the 1980s-1990s
This period is characterized by the shift from character-focused sorylines and realistic settings back to flashy and dramatic spectacles.
"Mega-musicals" were controversial in the musical theatre world, with many critics stating that these musicals prioritized spectacle over substance.
Cameron Mackintosh created globally franchised "mega-musicals" (Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, Cats) that were created by European teams. These musicals had big budgets and spectacles (the falling chandelier in Phantom of the Opera and the helicopter in Miss Saigon). Dialogue was mostly sung, and these musicals were highly commercialized, moving away from substantial plots and unique themes.
"The dumbing down of the country reflects itself on Broadway. The shows get dumber, and the public gets used to them." — Stephen Sondheim
Sondheim
Sondheim spearheaded the "Concept Musical" (a musical centered around a thematic idea rather than a linear plot). His works were typically centered around serious and often dark themes with complex lyrics (Sweeney Todd, Company, Follies).
This period was the peak of the choreographer-director position. Notable choreographer/directors include Bob Fosse, whose unique style stood out in Chicago and Pippin.
Musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar were influenced by rock music.
The Golden Age
This era is characterized by the emergence of the "Book Musical".
"What few people understand is that Oscar's big contribution to the theater was as a theoretician, as a Peter Brook, as an innovator. People don't understand how experimental Show Boat and Oklahoma! felt at the time they were done." — Stephen Sondheim (Hammerstein's protégé)
Tin Pan Alley
The late 1800s-1920s were characterized by emerging forms of American revues and an expanding music publishing industry.
Tin Pan Alley (28th street, Manhattan) was the hub for publishing popular music during this era, with songwriters producing thousands of songs eventually creating the "Great American Songbook". During this time, many songwriters creating songs for Operetta (a European form of theater) and Vaudeville (an American form of theater that included acrobatic performances). In this way, music became commercialized. European and African American music like jazz and ragtime heavily influenced music during this time despite racial discrimination in the industry. Later, in 1927, Kern and Hammerstein II's Show Boat (1927) is the first book musical to emerge, laying the groundwork for the rise in book musicals later. Show Boat was the first to portray serious themes like racial prejudice.
Jerome H. Remick & Company (pictured above) was one of the most successful music publishing industries during this era.
Works Cited
Cohen, Sherman. Theatre Brief. McGraw-Hill Education. Disney Theatrical Productions: Producing Broadway Musicals The Disney Way.” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330971223_Disney_Theatrical_Productions_Producing_Broadway_Musicals_The_Disney_Way#:~:text=Abstract%20INTRODUCTION:%20DANGEROUS%20TO%20DREAM%2019%20family%2D,Artistic%20innovation%20is%20pushing%20the%20form%20forward., Mar. 2019. Wood, Mara. “Megamusicals Over the Last 50 Years.” Wenger | J.R. Clancy, 12 Sept. 2025, performance.wengercorp.com/megamusicals-over-the-last-50-years/#:~:text=Today%2C%20both%20Broadway%20and%20the,online%20visibility%2C%20and%20merchandise%20sales.