After reading the “Introduction- A Sketch of the History of the US Musical Theater” I was amused by the West Side History of 1957. This musical interested me because of the way it targets dancing as one of the parts of its concept. This made me develop a relationship with the music since dancing is one of the key things I like doing most and also seeing other people dance. Despite the musical depicting romance in New York which is my origin, conspired me more. Of the three musical styles, am interested mostly in comedy since it delivers a balance between drama and comedy. The moment I attended Broadway shows, I frequently watched random moments of laughter during the serious time of the storyline. Also, it was interesting to me the way musical theatre was in the late 1800s and the early 1900s when racial segregation was problematic. The Minstrel show included dancing by the white actors in black faces, illustrating how musical theatre has been influenced by racism and social issues in history.
Furthermore, I researched musical theatre in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and I became motivated by how writers at this time of history created their storylines. Then, I ended up asking myself what kind of message the popular musical was attempting to pass to the audience. Thus, we may hypothesize that musical shows in the late 1800s and 1900s were mainly inspired by the segregation and racism that existed in America at the time.
Racism and segregation played a key role in most musical shows in the early 19th century and late 18th century since they were social issues that affected every individual. This also illustrates that the people involved in the creation of musical shows and theatres were racist, e.g., the white actors who performed with black faces in the minstrel show.
Therefore, Katherine Richardson’s article on Hamilton wasn’t a research paper since no specific study was stated. Richardson, came up with a nice review since she described how she interpreted a different musical aspect. This also provides a conclusion that her review was a proper example of the flow of guidelines for the successful critique play in Elinor Ruchs’s Article through the breakdown of Hamilton’s words and their meaning.
Works Cited
- Fuchs, Elinor. “EF’s visit to a small planet: some question to ask a player.” (1985): 5-9.
- Katherine, R. “Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hamilton: Changing the Face of Broadway – EP.” EP-a magazine of exemplary freshman writing (2017): 1-5.
- Mast, Gerald. Before the Ball, American Musical Theater Before American Musicals. New York: Overlook Press, 1991.
- Mast, Gerald. The Tin-Pan-Thesis of Melody, American Song, American Sound. New York: Overlook Press, 1991.
- Toll, Robert C. “Minstrels/Minstrelsy.” Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, edited by Colin A. Palmer, 2nd ed, vol. 4, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, 1456-1459. US History in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3444700847/UHIC?u=penn63709&xid=defef55f. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.
