11/21/24, 12:12 AM The History of Musicals | The Curious Times
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The History of Musicals
By Ines, Age , Scotland 16
Have you heard of The Lion King, West Side Story, The Sound Of Music? What about The Phantom Of The Opera? We all love a good
musical, but we don’t normally think about where they come from. Normally you would just sit back and enjoy then show, right? Not
this time… It's going to be a bumpy ride.
Musicals began in the 19th century in England. They combined comedy, operas and dancing together to make what we know now as a
musical. The first person to put on a musical is still not known because one person did not wake up one day and say: I am going to put
on a musical! It was the whole world that made it happen by putting lots of things together, first drama or theatre, then singing, and in
the end dance came too. It was in the Broadway theatre district of New York City in the early 20th century that musicals developed into
their modern form: a highly entertaining music and dance show. But the first form of musical theatre traced way back to ancient Greece,
about 2500 years ago.
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11/21/24, 12:12 AM The History of Musicals | The Curious Times
The Greeks staged comedies and tragedies, some involving music. A priest of Dionysus, by the name of Thespis, introduced a new
element which can be seen as the birth of theatre. The Greeks thought that Dionysus was a god. They believed that he was the one that
brought theatre to the world. The Dionysus believers put on shows for the Greeks and it was one of their many forms of entertainment.
Soon after, all of Greece was doing it and, in the 12th - 13th century, churches began to use musical theatre too. For religious purposes.
After this, clowns would use masks to tell a story and operas began to tell stories too. Operas could be either funny, tragic or romantic,
and soon after that Britain, Germany and France began to put on musicals as well!! The musical theatre revolution was happening!!
The first musical theatre to come to America was The Black Crook in 1866, but the first show on Broadway was said to be the Broadway
adaptation of a Disney musical animation! Broadway nowadays has become very famous. Musicals evolved even more in 1920s,
America, when the shows became more cabaret style. Meaning it was more about the show-stopping numbers and less about the
interesting plot. The end of the golden age is a subject much debated by experts. Some say the end came after A Chorus Line, a musical
directed by Michael Bennett, in which a group of dancers performed synchronised routines in musical theatre, but some say it ended
with the controversial musical, Hair, with its completely different ending to the happy endings that musicals have always had before.
Nowadays, all musicals are very different and are a very creative thing. I love how you can tell a story while singing, acting and even
dancing. As you can see musicals have evolved amazingly through time and we are very lucky to have them to this day…
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