Broadway MusicalRevueWeek 4

段馨君 Iris Hsin-chun TuanAssociate Professor

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

NCTU

Revue• The word is French. Revue: a

satirical entertainment of fashionable Parisian life that features music, specialty acts, and pretty grils.

• In American theater, the word applies to a similar form with American character and energy, show with musical numbers, comedy, sketches, and specialty routines.

The Admiral Broadway Revue starring Sid Caesar and imogene coca (1949)

• In a revue, a single unifying force organizes the variety of elements into a cumulative sequence of ascending theatrical peaks designed to service the concept of the show.

• The revue brings the unity to variety where before there was only variety.

• It stress vital interrelationships among parts, the cumulative development of the program and the overall effect of the production.

CLASSIC TELEVISION SHOWBIZhttp://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2010/03/admiral-broadway-revue-starring-sid.html

• The revue borrowed its name from the Franch, but indigenous American musical theater forms gave it life, sustenance, and personality.

• The American revue is the child of four parents: (1)minstrelsy (2)vaudeville (3)burlesque (4)spectacle/extravaganza The Ziegfeld Follies were a

series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931.

• Intimate revue identified the alternative personality, for the shows are of modest means, yet rich in charm, satire, and performance energy like the grand street follies, the Garrick Gaieties, and pins and Needles.

• Both personalities thrived in the receptive theatrical climate of the early decades of the twentieth century.

The grand street follies made audience laugh from 1922 to 1927

The spectacular revue

• The earliest revue relied on the spectacle, beautiful girls, and wonderful stage effects that attracted an affluent public eager for glamour and excitement. The “spectacular” tradition originated with The Passing Show(1894).

The Passing Show: the life and music of Ronnie Lanehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s2cj6xMZSE

• The show started the trend for spectacular entertainment of constant change but with just sufficient coherency that came to be called revue.

By the time the Avon Comedy Four opened in The Passing Show of 1919, Kaufm and goldwin where no longer in the group.

• Ziegfeld’s formula for the revue called for(1)glamour (2) pace (3)decency (4)spectacle. A band of girl musicians called the girl .

The photographs of lovely anonymous Ziegfeld’s girls by Alfred Cheney Johnston.

• We’ve got to give them something out of the ordinary ---something on a little higher plane than formerly, but with enough snap and go to it to prevent the suspicion of high-brow.

• The typical Follies--- colorful, tuneful, dazzing, alternately excruciatingly funny and satisfyingly beautiful.

• Ziegfeld engaged the most outstanding musical theater writers, composer, designers, and performers to execute his follies.

Ziegfeld girls photoshttp://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Ziegfeld%20Girls/Ziegfeld%20Girls.htm

• “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody”. Ziegfeld accepted only the most magnificent sets, painted often in pointillist style.

• Marilyn Miller, a beautiful dancer whom Ziegfeld groomed into the “most dazzling musical shoe personality of Broadway.” Marilyn Miller was one of the most

popular Broadway musical stars of the 1920s and early 1930s. She was an accomplished tap dancer, singer and actress, but it was the combination of these talents that endeared her to audiences. 

All I Want To Do Do Do Is Dance - 1929http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaEA1V3OTVA

• Ziegfeld’s main interest turned to book shows like Show Boat .

• When Ziegfeld died in 1932, the spectacular revue as a consistent and self-generating form died with him.

On this day in 1928 – “Ol’ Man River” was recorded by Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. Bing Crosby was the song’s featured vocalist. The song is from the Broadway musical, “Showboat”.

Show Boat (1936) - Can't Help Lovin' Dat Manhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5owzfuvE2k

• Theater specifically for opera comique, musical comedies, and revue. The auditorium was construct in the from of true ellipse.

• In the best tradition of the Ameriacan musical theater, Ziegfeld glorified America and the beauty of the American girl. Seldom in live theater entertainment have so many beautiful girls been assembled under one roof.

"I Wanta Be A Ziegfeld Girl"~ By Absolutely*Kate

The intimate revue

• Not all revues aspired to the spectacular. The Grand Street Follies(1924) succeeded Off-Broadway, it instituted a new approach to the revue that rejected glamour and splendor for simplicity, wit, satire, and sophistication.

• In order to succeed, an intimate revue requires clever sketches of comic impersonation, lively music, bright lyrics, and refreshing performances.

• What people were responding to was an irresistible combination of innocence and smartness.

• “Manhattan” become a hit song, launched the career of Rodgers and Hart, and opened another avenue for the development of the theater song.

• Althous.gh the spectacular revues fades alng with American affluence during the Depression, the intimate revue survived, especially as an effective forum for musical theater entertainments on serious ubjest

 The Loft in Dallas, Texas on 8/8/08 performing 'Manhattan Avenue'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMjux8lWHQA

• Another revolutionary success: Oklahoma!

• The revue neither disappeared, adapted, or degenerated; it survives in cabaret, varsity shows, community theater, and an occasional New York production.

OKLAHOMA! OK! - Hugh Jackman 1998http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrDVzbeDzRk