Music 2701A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling, Burton Lane
11 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 7
Vaudeville- unrelated acts thrown together to have comedy show
The Golden Age of Broadway
Musical Theatre in the 40s and 50s
Did the Musical play spell the end of musical comedy?
o Ne ogai style of usial oedy
o Songs and book no longer patched together
o Music, dialogue and dance fit the story and setting better than in the 20s and 30s
o Songs from musical comedy became popular music on the radio – stadad
Examples of new musical comedy:
o Annie Get Your Gun (1946) music and lyrics by Irving Berlin
o Fiia’s Raio 1947 usi y Buto Lae, lyis y E. Y. Haug
o Kiss Me, Kate (1948) music and lyrics by Cole Porter
o The music man (1957)
Guys and Dolls
Frank Loesser (1910-1969)
o Composer for Guys and Dolls
o Born in New York Worked as a sog-plugge (work on main floor play and sing the
new songs for everyone to hear, so that the publishing house would sell a lot of sheet
music) in Tin Pan Alley (where the music publishing houses were located) as a young
man
o Moved to Hollywood in the 1930s to write for movie musicals
o Joined the army in WWII, wrote patriotic songs for war movies
o Wote lue plate speials sogs ad shos set out to a fo the soldies ould ut
shows on
o Hit songs: “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” “I
Don’t Want to Walk Without You”
o Broadway shows: Where’s Charley? (opened 1948) Guys and Dolls (opened 1950) The
Most Happy Fella (opened 1956) How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
(opened 1961)
Guys and Dolls
o Opened on Broadway November 24, 1950
o Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
o Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
o Based on stories from Damon Runyon
o Writing about bootleggers, gamblers, booze runners
o Ruyoesue- name became a thing because he had a very distinctive writing pattern
o Best known for Prohibition-era stories celebrating Broadway demimonde
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Vaudeville- unrelated acts thrown together to have comedy show. Don"t want to walk without you : broadway shows: where"s charley? (opened 1948) guys and dolls (opened 1950) the. Most happy fella (opened 1956) how to succeed in business without really trying (opened 1961) Unique speech patterns, no contractions: distinctive speech pattern for the characters, no contractions, sense that they are the good and noble people, formality about them. I"ll k(cid:374)o(cid:449: sung: sky masterson and sarah brown, classic operetta style (cid:862)de(cid:374)ial(cid:863) lo(cid:448)e so(cid:374)g, happens as he is meeting her; tries to get his flirt going, can see the chemistry, tenor and soprano. Adelaide"s la(cid:373)ents: sung: miss adelaide, character song, big showstopper number for miss adelaide, been engaged for 14 years and has lied to her mother about being married and having 6 children, shows development of musical comedy drama. Instruments: brass (trumpet: little blurts), drum kit, bass (walking down the scale throughout whole song)
