Broadway: The American Musical

Episode 1

Give My Regards to Broadway

Tue, Oct 19, 200460 mins

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Broadway was dominated by two names: George M. Cohan and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.. Cohan wrote and starred in his own shows. Ziegfeld pioneered the revue show, most notably The Follies fashioned after the Follies Bergere of Paris. His shows were an amalgam of American life at the time, most notably what was happening in New York. The show also borrowed from musical theater of the period, namely vaudeville and minstrel shows. From these came many of Ziegfeld's biggest acts, such as Fanny Brice and Bert Williams, who broke the color barrier. But what the Ziegfeld Follies did more than anything was glorify the American girl by featuring them in exotic and flamboyant costumes. Two major composers emerged from this era of Broadway: Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern, who were based in an area of New York called Tin Pan Alley, the center of popular music. Kern in particular, with production by Ziegfeld and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, would lead Broadway into a new era with the 1927 stage production of 'Show Boat', the first Broadway story musical. But the advent of talking movies would usher in the new era of musicals to the American public.