Musical Comedy

Musical Comedy, or Musical, entertainment in which a story is told by a combination of spoken dialogue and musical numbers. Originally the plot was very slight, but with the importation of more serious themes the word ‘comedy’ was dropped, and the genre is now known simply as the ‘musical’. In the earlier examples the music was often irrelevant, but later it tended to become more integrated with the plot. Dancing too came to play a more important role.

Initially the better examples of the genre originated in England, with productions by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre and elsewhere. Osmond Carr's In Town (1892; NY, 1897) is often considered the first English musical comedy. It was followed by Sidney Jones's A Gaiety Girl (1893; NY, 1894), Ivan Caryll's The Shop Girl (1894; NY, 1895), and Lionel Monckton's A Country Girl (London and NY, 1902) and The Quaker Girl (1910; NY, 1911). As musical comedy became established, productions were increasingly exchanged across the Atlantic; Gustave Kerker's The Belle of New York (1897; London, 1898), though American in origin, achieved its major success in London, where it became the first American musical to run for over a year. On the other hand, Leslie Stuart's Florodora (1899; NY, 1900), which began its successful career in London, ran even longer in New York. Although the prestige of the American musical stage was materially enhanced by such entertainments as Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta (1910) and Rudolf Friml's The Firefly (1912), which, like the ‘Savoy operas’ of Gilbert and Sullivan in London, deserve perhaps to be classed as light operas rather than musical comedies, musical shows from Europe were still dominant in the early years of the 20th century. Monckton and Talbot's The Arcadians and Monckton and Caryll's Our Miss Gibbs, both seen in London in 1909, demonstrated the continuing strength of the English musical comedy. Viennese musicals, however, reigned supreme, Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow (Vienna, 1905) being seen in London and New York in 1907, and Oscar Straus's The Chocolate Soldier (Vienna, 1908)—based without permission on Shaw's Arms and the Man—appearing on the New York stage in 1909 (London, 1910).

Soon afterwards a number of talented American musicians, writing in a distinctively native idiom, made their appearance, among them Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter, the last two being their own lyricists. Kern's first outstanding success was Very Good, Eddie! (1915), which marked a trend towards everyday characters and realistic situations. One of the collaborators on the book was Guy Bolton (1884–1979), born in England of American parents, who was later to collaborate in many famous musicals, including Kissing Time (1919), She's My Baby (1927), The Fleet's Lit Up (1938), and Follow the Girls (1945). Emmerich Kalman's Miss Springtime (1916) had lyrics by one of Bolton's most eminent collaborators, P. G. Wodehouse[ Sir Pelham Grenville] Wodehouse (1881–1975), a famous English writer of humorous novels, who also worked with Kern and Bolton on Oh, Boy! (1917), known in England as Oh, Joy! (1919). The pre-war type of musical comedy still found an audience with the success of Maytime (1917) by the Hungarian-born Sigmund Romberg who had settled in America. He also wrote most of the music for Sinbad (1918), in which the great star of musical comedy and revue, Al Jolson, well known for his singing, in blackface, of coon songs, interpolated two of his best-known melodies, ‘My Mammy’ and ‘Swanee’. In 1919 Harry Tierney's Irene, with its hit song ‘Alice Blue Gown’, was the musical success of the season, being seen in London in 1920, in which year Broadway saw Always You, the first musical to have book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The same year also saw the production of Sally (London, 1921) by Kern and Bolton, which during its three-year run on Broadway starred Marilyn Miller [ Mary Ellen Reynolds] (1898–1936), who became one of Broadway's leading musical comedy stars.

A comparative dearth of musicals during the early 1920s was followed by a period of enormous activity during which the American musical achieved a lasting supremacy, even though the first outstanding success of the time, Friml's Rose-Marie (1924; London, 1925), seemed to mark a return to the Viennese tradition, as did Romberg's The Student Prince (1924; London, 1926), The Desert Song (1926; London, 1927), and The New Moon (1928; London, 1929). There were, however, distinct traces of American influence in the music of Rose-Marie, and the Gershwins' Lady, Be Good! (1924; London, 1926) employed jazz rhythms. In Sept. 1925 four outstanding musical shows opened on Broadway within a week. The first was Vincent Youmans's No! No! Nanette!, already seen in London in March, with its hit songs ‘I Want to be Happy’ and ‘Tea for Two’; then came Dearest Enemy, Lorenz Hart's first collaboration with Richard Rodgers on a full musical score; Friml's The Vagabond King followed, based on Justin McCarthy's play If I were King (London, 1927); and finally Jerome Kern's Sunny, which again starred Marilyn Miller (London, 1926). In the theatrical season of 1927–8 the number of musicals opening in New York reached a record total of over 50, among them Kern's Show Boat (London, 1928), based on a novel by Edna Ferber, which with its strong plot, believable characters, and integrated songs enlarged the boundaries of the musical.

The best musicals of the 1930s came mainly from familiar sources. But in 1941 Lady in the Dark had music by Kurt Weill, who with his Austrian-born wife, the singer and actress Lotte Lenya [ Karoline Blamauer], had emigrated to America from Germany; both are known best for their association with Bertolt Brecht. On the Town (1944; London, 1963) was the first venture into the theatre of the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein; and Brigadoon (1947; London, 1949) was the work of a new team, Alan Jay Lerner (1918–86) as author of the book and lyrics, and Frederick Loewe as composer. Jule Styne's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), based on Anita Loos's novel, made a star of Carol Channing (1921– ), her part of Lorelei being played in London in 1962 by Dora Bryan. Guys and Dolls (1950; London, 1953) had music and lyrics by Frank Loesser (1910–69) and a book based on the stories and characters of Damon Runyon. After their Paint Your Wagon (1951; London, 1953), Lerner and Loewe wrote My Fair Lady (1956; London, 1958), based on Shaw's Pygmalion, in which Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews [ Julia Elizabeth Wells] (1935– ) starred both in New York and in London. Bernstein composed Wonderful Town (1953; London, 1955), based on the play My Sister Eileen by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov; Candide (1956; London, 1959), based on Voltaire's satire; and West Side Story (1957; London, 1958), a retelling of the story of Romeo and Juliet in terms of gang warfare in contemporary New York. The lyrics for the last marked the début on the musical comedy scene of Stephen Sondheim, who also wrote the lyrics of Styne's Gypsy (1959; London, 1973). Loesser contributed the book and music of The Most Happy Fella (1956; London, 1960), based on Sidney Howard's play They Knew What They Wanted; and Meredith Willson's The Music Man (1957; London, 1961), with its popular his ‘76 Trombones’, was a big success.

The years between the wars had produced little of note in London, apart from the musical plays of Noël Coward and Ivor Novello, who continued the old tradition of European operetta. The English musical had however been showing signs of revival with a gentle parody of the 1920s musical in Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend (1953; NY, 1954, with Julie Andrews) and with Julian Slade's Salad Days (1954). Neither composer, however, was to achieve such a success again, and it was not until 1960 that Lionel Bart raised the English musical from the doldrums with Oliver! (NY, 1963), an adaptation of Dickens's Oliver Twist. David Heneker's Half a Sixpence (1963; NY, 1965). based on H. G. Wells's novel Kipps, provided a lively vehicle, in both London and New York, for Tommy Steele [ Tommy Hicks] (1936– ), a former pop star who became an all-round entertainer, even appearing at the Old Vic in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer in 1960.

In New York, Loewe collaborated again with Lerner in the Arthurian Camelot (1960; London, 1964), based on T. H. White's The Once and Future King, starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews in New York. Loesser's How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1961; London, 1963) was his last work to reach New York. Styne's Funny Girl (1964; London, 1966) was based on the career of revue star Fanny Brice, and made a star of Barbra Streisand. Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! (1964; London, 1965), based on Wilder's play The Matchmaker, owed much of its success to its title song, elaborate staging, and the appeal of Carol Channing. In London the part was first played by Mary Martin and then by Dora Bryan. The greatest success of the 1960s, however, was Jerry Bock's Fiddler on the Roof (1964; London, 1967). Based on Sholom Aleichem's Tevye the Milkman, it ran in New York for almost eight years, at that time the longest run ever achieved by a Broadway musical. Perhaps the most satisfying musical of the decade artistically was John Kander's Cabaret (1966; London, 1968), based on Van Druten's play I am a Camera. Some of its songs showed the influence of Kurt Weill, whose widow Lotte Lenya was in the American production. Cabaret was directed by Hal Prince [ Harold ] Prince (1928– ), a producer who became a well-known director, especially of musicals, including most of Sondheim's. The most unorthodox success of the decade was probably Galt MacDermot's Hair (NY and London, 1968), which brought rock music and total nudity to the stage.

By the late 1960s the American musical had lost much of its former appeal. Though the cinema had long been a serious competitor for talent, creators of successful stage musicals could normally assume that a film version, providing extra earnings and a much larger audience, would follow. Hollywood's financial troubles, however, reduced the number of film musicals. In any case the music of stage musicals which had once provided many of the popular songs of the day, no longer held any appeal for film audiences addicted to the fashionable rock and beat music; while the latter was not much liked by theatre audiences. Theatre music almost disappeared from the hit parade, and musical shows therefore received less publicity. New talent was in any case scarce, and as production costs rose profitable shows became increasingly rare. The desperate need to fill empty theatres on Broadway led to bizarre choices of subject, and musicals were made from films, plays, novels, and even comic strips.

Fortunately there was still Stephen Sondheim, the only major American composer still writing regularly for the musical stage. Probably the best non-Sondheim American musical of the 1970s was Marvin Hamlisch's A Chorus Line (1975; London, 1976), which in 1989 became the longest running Broadway musical of all time (but see RUN). The outstanding new talent of the decade was that of the English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote Jesus Christ Superstar (NY, 1971; London, 1972) and Evita (1978; NY, 1979).

A big hit of the 1980s was an adaptation of the 1933 film musical 42nd Street (NY, 1980; London, 1984). Another long-runner was Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil's Les Misérables (London, 1985; NY, 1987), based on Hugo's novel. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote Cats (1981; NY, 1982), based on T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats; Song and Dance (1982; NY, 1985); Starlight Express (1984; NY, 1987); The Phantom of the Opera (1986; NY, 1988), directed by Hal Prince; and Aspects of Love (1989; NY, 1990). Sondheim also was still active, but otherwise the musical by the 1990s was at a low ebb.