20 Things I Learned In The History of Musical Theatre December 4, 2009

1) People really do use words like “Pastiche”

2)”Porgy and Bess” is an opera, who knew?

3) Bernadette Peters is much more entertaining on stage than in movies like “Pink Cadillac”

4)The passion of music: Explains Dr. Armstrong’s IPod fetish while doing yard work.

5) I can now use words like legato and syncopation properly in a sentence 🙂

6) There is A LOT more going on in Oz than Frank Baum led us to believe, a-l-o-t!

7) Mega musicals almost always involve epic plots and are completely sung through.

8) Opera had the same tainted sexism as literature prior to the 20th century.

9) I still LOVE “Cats”

10) There are serious links between culture, history, social status, and music!!

One of my Favorite Musicals 🙂

11) Musical Theory is very complicated.

12) Sex is predominant in music as in literature.

13) Audrey Hepburn DID NOT sing her parts in “My Fair Lady.”

14) Andrew Llyond Webber had an affair with one of his leading ladies.

15) Scott Joplin would never see “Treemonisha” have an impact on audiences due to racial barriers.

16) The history of musical theatre is much more exilerating than the history of American Standard English.

17) Sir Webber is making a weird sequel of sorts of Phantom which takes place in Coney Island : Phantom of Sauerkraut

18) There are a multitude of ways to study musical theatre.

19) J.S. Bach has composed a few snoozzzzzers.

20) Alberta Hunter sung well into her 80’s and on top of that she sung about sex 🙂

“The Color Purple”

Jessica Black

History of Musical Theatre

“Shug Avery Comin’ to Town”

This song is one of the most enjoyable jazz pieces of the show that I have heard so far. Although I have not seen the musical, I have listened to most of the music and really loved “Shug Avery Comin’ to Town.” The song’s pace is set by a drummer on the top hat that introduces the male vocals that bend and slide giving the song an authentic jazzy feel. Down below there sounds like someone is playing the bass in pitzacato form on the higher notes of the strings. Before the entrance of the piano there are lower string instruments using the bow to make legatto sounds. In the beginning of the song there are not a large range of dynamics. Then enters a piano rift in chordal form in what appears to begin on a high note scaling down to a lower jazzy chordal pattern below the singers. More singers enter and are accompanied by full instrumental including the piano, strings, high hat, and what sounds like horns. After the chorus section, the female singer reenters alone and the bass plucking resumes and the broken chords return. There sounds like someone snapping their fingers or an instrument imitating the steady paced snap. The group of women returns with full intstrumental. Then there is some call and response between the male and female vocals with low tones underneath. The electric piano plays patterns in a some type of twangy jazz instrument setting. Horns enter as the song grows grander, voices are back and forth. Lots of voices enter for the end of the song as the full jazz intstrumental reappears with orchestra like grandness, the dynamics have an extreme range of volume and pitch. The music definitely communicates the arrival of this sultry character and the jazzy beats portrays the type of singer that Shug is.

I could not find a clip of my song, but here is “I’m Here” from the musical “The Color Purple” accompanied by a variety of still shots:

Shug is one of my all time favorite female characters throughout the novels I have read. The new-found strength that is portrayed through a woman that would normally be the bad seed in literary characters, but here she is the angel that helps others in the book transform. Her passion for life and music spills out of her character and her songs. I also enjoyed her musical numbers in the movie especially “Sista (Miss Celie’s Blues) and “God is Trying to Tell you Something.” Those who know the history behind Shug and her father often shed a tear for this scene, as I do. This is my favorite part of the movie where as my favorite part of the book is Celie’s reunion with her sister Nettie and her two children Adam & Olivia.