For as long as there has been theatre–and there has always been theatre–music has often accompanied the performance in one form or another.
But the 1920s saw the emergence of a new kind of blending of theatre and music. Not the sugary frivolity of musical theatre nor the weighty drama of grand opera, but the musical: a play with popular songs, but one in which the music and the story are equal partners.
- Listen now:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
Overture di Ballo
Composed in 1870 by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
[it has been a while since I wrote this comment, so I hope this is the correct episode]
When you closed this episode by stating that Anything Goes was the song of the century, it put a smile on my face. I first heard that song as a teenager. My dad and I went to a theater to see the movie Sleuth with Lawrence Olivier and Michael Caine. During the movie, the song Anything Goes is played, which offers clues to one of the characters. Decades later, I got a chance to see live performances of the musical. The second was of a major national tour in the Twin Cities. It featured the talented Rachel York (I guess Sutton Foster didn’t do the tour). Anyway, in looking up Rachel York at the time, I realized I had seen her in an episode of Frazier perhaps 15 years before.
Parts of this episode, in which various groups—most ominously the fascists—harkened back to past, great times for Italy, gave me vibes of contemporary America. In essence, Make Italy Great Again.