At one of my Brandeis study groups I recently saw the documentary, The Broadway Musical: A Jewish Legacy. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes, listening to Joel Grey narrate, and seeing clips of musicals and interviews with many composers, lyricists and songwriters.
Yiddish theatre was the precursor to the Broadway musical. If you listen to the melodies of the Yiddish theatre, you will find great similarities in Broadway musicals. George Gershwin wrote Swanee in 1919, and also tried to write for the Yiddish theatre, but was rejected as too American. We all recall the song "Let's Call the whole thing off," with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. He used American slang (tomatoe/tomahato, potato/potahto) in this song, but Yiddish theatre thought this was all "too American." George Gershwin was commissioned to write Rhapsody in Blue as an experimental piece. It has a Yiddish, old world sound at the beginning, then he moves to jazz. The composition is a melting pot of the American experience.
Jews and suffering are often thought of together, and many early Broadway musicals use the minor keys to create a bluesy feeling. (It's Ain't Necessarily So). There were a group of Jewish composers and songwriters in the early years of Broadway that wrote almost all of the musicals. (Cole Porter shows were the only exception). Jerome Kern, Harold Harlin, Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart, George and Ira Gershwin were the immigrant composers and songwriters that contributed so much to the birth of the uniquely American musical form, musical theatre. Jews rarely told Jewish stories, but wrote about other outsiders, other immigrant groups or minorities. Porgy and Bess, Funny Girl, Westside Story and South Pacific are just some examples of how Jews used other groups struggles to tell a story. The Broadway musical has made unaccepted groups more accepted.
Summer camps were the training grounds for composers and songwriters. Often composers would meet like minded creative types and establish life long friendships or working relationships from their teen age summer days. Camp Androscoggin was one of the most famous camps where creative types were first discovered. Stephen Sondheim was a camper at Androscoggin, and began his musical career by putting on shows for the campers.
In 1964 the Jews who had created the Broadway musical, finally told a Jewish story. Fiddler on the Roof was a huge success, although at the time of it's opening there was great skepticism on Broadway as to whether the rest of the world would be interested in a Jewish story. They were.
David Hyde Pierce sings a song at the beginning and end of the documentary. What it says is that if you're going to make a Broadway musical, you better have some Jews involved. Otherwise, expect a flop. I don't know how true this is today, but in the early years of musical theatre, it was mandatory to have Jews involved in the story and the songs and lyrics. The Broadway musical is just one of the many creative areas that Jews have made a significant contribution to in America. Who would have thought that a Jewish immigrant would become so assimilated that he could write the most famous Christmas song ever (White Christmas), the most famous Easter song ever (Easter Parade), and the song that came close to replacing the national anthem (God Bless America)?
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