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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Musical
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INFOTEXT
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1992-09-01
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47 lines
20th-century form of dramatic musical
performance, combining elements of song,
dance, and the spoken word, often
characterized by lavish staging and large
casts. It developed from the operettas and
musical comedies of the 19th century. The
operetta is a light-hearted entertainment
with extensive musical content: Jaques
Offenbach, Johann Strauss, Franz Lehar, and
Gilbert and Sullivan all composed operettas.
The musical comedy is an anglicization of the
French opera bouffe, of which the first was A
Gaiety Girl 1893, mounted by George Edwardes
(1852-1915) at the Gaiety Theatre, London.
Typical musical comedies of the 1920s were
Rose Marie 1924 by Rudolf Friml (1879-1972);
The Student Prince 1924 and The Desert Song
1926, both by Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951);
and No, No, Nanette 1925 by Vincent Youmans
(1898-1946). The 1930s and 1940s were an era
of sophisticated musical comedies with many
filmed examples and a strong US presence
(Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and
George Gershwin). In England Noel Coward and
Ivor Novello also wrote musicals. In 1943
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!
introduced an integration of plot and music,
which was developed in Lerner and Loewe's My
Fair Lady 1956 and Bernstein's West Side
Story 1957. Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend
1953 revived the British musical and was
followed by hits such as Lionel Bart's
Oliver! 1960. Musicals began to branch into
religious and political themes with Oh What a
Lovely War! 1963, produced by Joan Littlewood
and Charles Chiltern, and the Andrew Lloyd
Webber musicals Jesus Christ Superstar 1970
and Evita 1978. Another category of musical,
substituting a theme for conventional
plotting, includes Stephen Sondheim's Company
1970, Hamlisch and Kleban's A Chorus Line
1975, and Lloyd Webber's Cats 1981, using
verses by T S Eliot. In the 1980s
19th-century melodrama was popular, for
example Phantom of the Opera 1986 and Les
Miserables 1987.