The First Fifty Years Of Broadway Shows
Broadway shows have been playing in New York City since the late 1800's. The biggest of these shows were the musicals, and those musicals have stayed in the hearts of Americans and people all over the country for the last hundred years. The real history of Broadway musicals and shows began in 1900, with The Wizard of Oz. Later turned into the feature film that you can still find on store shelves across the globe; this beginning of shows is still popular among young and olds.
The next Broadway musical that really caught the hearts of America and fans the world over was No, No, Nannette. In recent No, No, Nannette is not as popular as The Wizard of Oz, but during its reign this Broadway show has seen large number of performances in many theaters around the world than any other play in history. Likewise, The Three Musketeers, produced in the same decade, was the basis for many movies and plays over the last hundred years. The Gershwins debuted in several Broadway shows during the 1930's but their plays have not held the same timelessness as many others. Still, the music of the Gershwins has been quite popular and was featured in plays, revues, and movies.
Now let us talk about the Broadway shows of the 1940's. While there are many great Broadway musicals that could be mentioned during this period but only one really bears mentioning. Oklahoma! is one of the longest running musicals ever to hit the stage, and not just on Broadway. Oklahoma! was also important because it changed the way that shows would be written and produced from then on. Rather than working music into theater productions, the music became part of the drama and story. That is right-thanks to Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, we now enjoy Broadway musicals as we know them today. And, like other shows already mentioned, Oklahoma! continues to steal the hearts of thousands the world over; may it be young or old, everyone likes Broadway Shows.
The 1950's are often considered the Golden Age of shows in Broadway. During this decade many more producers and writers took the Rogers and Hammerstein approach and ran with it. The first great hit, which has spawned thousands of plays and movies, was The King and I, which is still among the best shows of all time. This was also the decade of the great Broadway shows, like The Sound of Music, later re-popularized by Julie Andrews in film. In the end we can say that the first half of the nineteenth century brought us laughter and tears through shows in New York City. Also worth mentioning are the composers and writers that produced the Broadway shows, shaped the way that we see them today. In fact, Broadway in and of itself would not be recognizable if not for the great shows and artists of the first fifty years of that great century in the history of Broadway.
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