Music of Broadway 1950's to 1990's

Music of Broadway 1950's to 1990's

The Rise of Broadway

• 1950's: In the 1950s, Broadway musicals were a major part of American popular culture. Musicals of this era followed the "Rodgers & Hammerstein formula"; examples include The Sound of Music and Oklahoma!.
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• 1960's and 1970's: The late 1960's marked a time of cultural upheaval. There was a shift in how musicals were composed and produced. Famous examples include Bye Bye Birdie and Jesus Christ Superstar. This time period also saw a decline in the amount of people viewing Broadway musicals because of the rise of television.
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• 1980's: The 80's introduced the "Save the Theatre" campaign which aimed to protect Broadway. Famous musicals from this 80's include Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. ​​​​​​​
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• 1990's: There was a huge revival of Broadway in the 1990's. Some of the most famous musicals in the world came from this era, including Rent, The Lion King, Chicago, Grease and Into The Woods.

Popular Musicals

• Little Shop of Horrors - Alan Menken
• West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein
• Grease - Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey
• The Lion King - Elton John & Tim Rice
• The following slides show examples of broadway musicals, listen to the songs and try to pick out features like dynamics, instrumentation, and style.
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Little Shop of Horrors - Alan Menken

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• Bildunterschrift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7SkrYF8lCU
• Little Shop of Horrors premiered in 1982 and was based on rock-style music. The musical is about a florist who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh.
• The timbre of the music in this musical is known as the "wall of sound" which was created by the very large ensemble of musicians.
• The up-tempo songs at the beginning of the musical convey a happy mood while also giving warnings to the audience about what is in store for the characters. The darker, minor songs throughout the rest of the musical help to create a sense of fear and dread in the audience.

West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein

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• Bildunterschrift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy6wo2wpT2k
• Bernstein's 1957 musical West Side Story is about two rival gangs in the West Side of New York and was heavily inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
• The musical is famous for its memorable melodic lines, variety of rhythms, and choreography. Two of the most famous songs from West Side Story are Somewhere and America.
• West Side Story features various musical styles, for example, classical, jazz and Latin. Latin American music in particular had a large influence on the score.

Grease - Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey

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• Bildunterschrift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oKPYe53h78
• Grease was written in 1971 by Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey. The story follows a bunch of working-class teenagers in the 1950's.
• The music in Grease was heavily influenced by the Rock'n'Roll of the 60's and 70's.
• The special effect that music had in Grease was that much of the dialogue and the music was intertwined and fit perfectly with the action and drama of each scene.

The Lion King - Elton John & Tim Rice

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• Bildunterschrift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pgZtzDj_7o
• This musical is based on the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. The musical incorporates several changes and additions to the storyline as compared to the film.
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• The Lion King has a large instrumentation to capture the tone of African music and popular music together.