A 16 Bar Cut: The History Of American Musical Theatrean Original Script And Monograph Document

Believing that a thesis should encompass all aspects of a conservatory training program, I will write and perform--in collaboration with my classmate Patrick John Moran--a new musical entitled A 16 Bar Cut: The History of American Musical Theatre as the capstone project for my Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre. A 16 Bar Cut will be a two-man show that tells the entire history of American musical theatre from the ancient Greeks to today in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The goal of the project is to pay homage to an original American art form in a night of zany silliness and hilarity. The show will feature an informative perspective on the rise and current status of American musical theatre, several new songs, complete irreverence, and grown men singing, dancing, and making utter fools of themselves. Creating my thesis show will test and stretch my knowledge base of the musical theatre art form and virtually every skill that I have developed in my course of study. Since A 16 Bar Cut centers on the historical journey of musical theatre, constructing the new work will demonstrate my understanding of musical theatre history and literature. Performing the show will also challenge my ability and craftsmanship as an actor, singer, and dancer. Not only will I create a through-line character--a heightened, silly, professorial version of myself, but I will also create approximately fifty additional characters used throughout the show. The vocal and dance requirements for my track will also be numerous and demanding. And since the show travels through the major movements of musical theatre history, I will have to dance, sing, and act in the various styles and qualities of each movement and time period. Other significant challenges will center on script development. The first obstacle will be synthesizing music theatre into a single evening while maintaining an arc, storyline, and Patrick and my specific point of view about the genre. Another complexity to the show will be accessibility to the audience--how to be respectful to and informative about musical theatre, while at the same time being entertaining and funny to a wide array of audience members who will vary in musical theatre knowledge. In addition, developing a two-man thesis will require a complete collaboration with Patrick Moran. Since musical theatre is rarely--if ever--a solo art, working as a team will expand and exercise my collaborative abilities. And producing the show with Patrick will test supplementary skills such as marketing, resourcefulness, design and technical elements, etc. The Research and Analysis portion of my monograph document will be structured according to the M.F.A. Thesis Guidelines as applicable to my specific project. The (A) Research section will consist of a biographical glossary on all of the composers and lyricists referenced in A 16 Bar Cut. Librettists\u27 information will be included when their work is pertinent. Additionally, each composer, lyricists, and librettists will be discussed in regards to their significance in musical theatre history. The (B) Structural Analysis section will describe the show\u27s organization and construction and how the structural problems mentioned above are solved. The (C) Role Analysis section will have three sub-sections focusing on my different roles in the production as a playwright, producer, and actor

Synchrony of the Sublime: A Performer\u27s Guide to Duke Ellington\u27s Wordless Melodies for Soprano

This monograph provides an in-depth examination of the background, musical, and performance issues related to Duke Ellington’s wordless melodies, as well as epigrammatic biographies of Ellington and three female vocalists whose voices he employed as instruments: Adelaide Hall, Kay Davis, and Alice Babs. As early as the twenties, Ellington innovatively used the voice as a wordless instrumental color—an idea he extended into both his secular and sacred works. His iconoclastic instrumentalization of the soprano voice in compositions such as “Creole Love Call”, “Minnehaha”, “Transblucency”, “On a Turquoise Cloud”, and “T.G.G.T.” merits consideration by scholars and performers alike; these artistically complex melodies offer valuable insights into Ellington’s organic and collaborative compositional process. Although Ellington’s wordless melodies for the soprano voice have fallen on the periphery of discussions on twentieth-century American music, perhaps out of sheer obscurity, the need for alternative teaching and performance materials gives rise to a host of topics for further study regarding these pieces. Assimilating Ellington’s programmatic and mood pieces for the instrumentalized soprano voice into the canon of chamber repertoire opens a new arena of scholarly and artistic endeavor for the trained singer. Therefore, central to this study are the following considerations: context, pedagogical challenges (range, tessitura, vowels, phrase length, etc.) nature of accompaniment and instrumentation, form, and the nature of Ellington’s vocal writing as it pertains to the wordless obbligato and concert works featuring the wordless voice including, “Minnehaha,” “Transblucency,” “On A Turquoise Cloud,” and “T.G.T.T.” aka “Too Good To Title.” This study evaluates Ellington’s technique of casting the wordless female voice in unique musical contexts via musical analysis, as well as pedagogical and interpretive assessments of selected Ellington pieces,. The resultant amalgam of musical identities, both instrumental and vocal, fostered creative polyphony and epitomized the coined “Ellington Effect.” The following analysis centers on a chronological survey of Ellington’s wordless melodies performed and recorded by Adelaide Hall, Kay Davis, and Alice Babs. The goal of this project is to present a study in historical context and significance, style, device, and pedagogical/performance considerations of those works that employ the flexibility, technique, and aural training of the studied singer with instrumental jazz idioms in a cross-genre context

The Evolution of Broadway Musical Entertainment, 1850-2009: Interlingual and Intermedial Interference

Itamar Even-Zohar\u27s polysystem theory: 1978, revised 1990) postulates that translated literature occupies a central location in a young literature and serves an innovative function until the literature matures, at which time translated literature is pushed to the periphery and is conservative : approximating the native repertoire). Using a distant reading approach: Moretti 2005), this project explores the position of both translated and adapted literature in the evolution of Broadway musical entertainment. Using an original database of more than four thousand productions of musical entertainment from professional New York playhouses associated with the history of Broadway from 1850 through 2009, various waves of interlingual and intermedial interference are graphed and discussed. This project calls for a return to analyzing literary transfer between systems to compare and contrast interference between various cultural-linguistic systems and media systems

Cole Porter : the social significance of selected love lyrics of the 1930s

This dissertation examines selected love lyrics composed during the 1930s by Cole Porter, whose witty and urbane music epitomized the Golden era of American light music. These lyrics present an interesting paradox – a man who longed for his music to be accepted by the American public, yet remained indifferent to the social mores of the time. Porter offered trenchant social commentary aimed at a society restricted by social taboos and cultural conventions. The argument develops systematically through a chronological and contextual study of the influences of people and events on a man and his music. The prosodic intonation and imagistic texture of the lyrics demonstrate an intimate correlation between personality and composition which, in turn, is supported by the biographical content.M.A. (English)Englis

Will Marion Cook and the Tab Show, with particular emphasis on Hotsy Totsy and La revue nègre (1925)

This document is a supplement to Chronology and Itinerary of the Career of Will Marion Cook, a 2017 document which is mounted on-line at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/66/. It puts into some kind of order a number of research notes, principally drawing upon newspaper and genealogy databases, that amplify the earlier work in certain respects. This is not a finished, polished effort; it represents work in progress, complete with repetitions, missing data, and the occasional typographical error. I invite queries, amplifications, and corrections, which may be directed to [email protected]. The present document is a first draft of November 2018

South End Shout

South End Shout: Boston’s Forgotten Music Scene in the Jazz Age details the power of music in the city’s African American community, spotlighting the era of ragtime culture in the early 1900s to the rise of big band orchestras in the 1930s. This story is deeply embedded in the larger social condition of Black Bostonians and the account is brought to life by the addition of 20 illustrations of musicians, theaters, dance halls, phonographs, and radios used to enjoy the music. South End Shout is part of an emerging field of studies that examines jazz culture outside of the major centers of music production. In extensive detail, author Roger R. House covers the activities of jazz musicians, jazz bands, the places they played, the relationships between Black and white musicians, the segregated local branches of the American Federation of Musicians (AFL-CIO), and the economics of Boston’s music industry. Readers will be captivated by the inclusion of vintage local newspaper reports, classified advertisements, and details of hard-to-access oral history accounts by musicians and residents. These precious documentary materials help to understand how jazz culture evolved as a Boston art form and contributed to the national art form between the world wars. With this book, House makes an important contribution to American studies and jazz history. Scholars and general readers alike who are interested in jazz and jazz culture, the history of Boston and its Black culture, and 20th century American and urban studies will be enlightened and delighted by this book

Erich Korngold\u27s Discursive Practices: Musical Values in the Salon Community from Vienna to Hollywood

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a Viennese musician of the early twentieth century, composed western art music and film scores. Some scholars suggest his musical values and success in film music related entirely to his experiences composing operas. Indeed, Korngold’s adherence to tonality and his reputation as a European high art composer contributed to his success both in Vienna and Hollywood. However, much research has failed to address his time spent arranging and composing operettas. Few scholars have discussed that his lifelong style, including his operas, also reflected the Viennese light and popular music of his youth. Korngold’s background in Viennese music set the stage for Korngold’s discursive practices and negotiation between European high art music and popular music. Based on the work of Simon Frith, I use discursive practice to discuss ongoing discourses between high art and lighter or popular forms, along with social presentations and interaction with mass media. I apply Frith’s ideas to my research through the examples of Korngold’s works and social connections in Vienna and Hollywood. Additionally, through the identity theories of Turino, I demonstrate how Korngold’s Viennese upbringing influenced his musical tastes toward popular styles, such as the waltz, while his father’s influence contributed to his self-perception as a high art composer. Korngold grew up in a close-knit Viennese community of high art musicians, which impacted his music and personal identity. The salon communities in Vienna and Hollywood also contributed to the formation of his group identity. Korngold’s musical style is consistent throughout his life, but the presentation and reception of his music varied based on particular cultural and compositional contexts

Race and Gender in the Broadway Chorus

Throughout the history of the American musical, the chorus, has remained a key component in the foundation of the form. The anonymous men and women who sing and dance help create the spectacle that is an intrinsic part of the musical. While the chorus line of fifty that characterized the revues in the early part of the twentieth century has dwindled, for economic and aesthetic reasons, it has not disappeared. The role of the chorus has changed from a titillating backdrop for headlining stars to an accomplished ensemble of dancer/singers who may be the featured performers in their own right. This dissertation creates a cultural history of the chorus as it has evolved from the The Black Crook in 1866 to the beginning of the twenty first-century. Specifically, how have the issues of sexuality, gender, race and class affected the development of the chorus? Chapter one is an overview of the history of the Broadway chorus, beginning with a brief look at the origins of the chorus in Greek drama, through various dance trends, the popularity of the revue, and the emergence of director/choreographers and their influence on the form. Chapter two investigates how gender informed the construction of the image of chorus girls and boys, and how that image was manipulated through the years to reflect social concerns and anxieties around the issue of changing gender roles. Along with the schism created by the performance of gender in the chorus, the performance of race also marks a serious divide in the American musical theatre world. Chapter three examines the history of African-American performers in the chorus. The chorus is one small, but significant, component of a musical. Yet, this usually anonymous group of performers has often figured as the subject of the story in a medium that admittedly, enjoys talking, singing and dancing about itself. The final chapter of this study looks at how the chorus as a subject functions in the musical by focusing on four examples that span fifty-two years: Allegro (1947), A Chorus Line (1975), and 42nd Street (1981), and Contact (1999)

(Musical) Sales Pitches from the "Salesman of Americanism:" The Comic Operas of John Philip Sousa

When Americans hear the name John Phillip Sousa, they likely equate him with brass band music and the Fourth of July holiday. Neither theatre scholars nor audiences generally link Sousa with musical theatre; however Sousa saw nine of his comic operas and one musical comedy produced between 1879 and 1913. This dissertation is primarily a work of musical theatre history; however, it argues that Sousa's comic operas were constructed to play a role in how American identity was manufactured and disseminated at the turn of the twentieth-century by reflecting new definitions of the "American" from the stage and circulating these new definitions nationally and internationally. Sousa constructed himself into an American cultural icon, a "Salesman of Americanism," during an era renegotiating national identity. His works, therefore, carry the weight of his iconic stature, casting their messages as an `American' point of view. In addition to a comprehensive discussion of each operetta's form and production history, I argue that Sousa's comic operas can be cast as cultural ambassadors for social and political ideas; as musical theatre works attempting to re-define American identity in the eyes of audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. While situating Sousa's comic operas within the framework of musical theatre history, I argue that these cultural ambassadors were powerful agents advocating political and social change, intervening in the major social debates of the period, specifically in dialogues on race, foreign policy, copyright, labor, and suffrage. Because of his status as a great `American,' and as a musical theatre composer rivaling Victor Herbert and George M. Cohan, the use of Sousa's operettas to sell ideology taught those watching that propaganda could be effectively integrated into musical theatre offerings. The musical theatre production - particularly on tour - served as one of the first forms of mass popular entertainment that could be used for political and social advantage. Sousa's comic operas, therefore, were a small part of the redefinition of the American musical, pushing its form toward integration, and shifting it from diversion and spectacle to ideological tool