#broadwaytrivia

[musicaltheatretrivia]

Show highlight: Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! is a musical that was originally developed around ABBA’s smash hit songs. British playwright Catherine Johnson worked with original composers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, from the beginning, to develop the musical. The show ran on Broadway from 2001 - 2015, along with the original West End production running 1999 - 2012. The show was a “Smash Hit” resulting in productions around the world:

1999 West End 2000 Toronto 2000 US Tour 2001 Melbourne 2001 Broadway 2002 North America Tour 2002 Hamburg 2002 Tokyo 2003 Las Vegas 2003 Utrecht 2004 Seoul 2004 International Tour 2004 Stuttgart 2004 Madrid 2005 Stockholm 2006 Antwerp 2006 Moscow 2007 Essen 2008 Film 2009 Oslo 2009 Mexico City 2009 Netherlands Tour 2009 Australia Tour 2010 South Africa Tour 2010 Milan 2010 Copenhagen 2010 Paris 2010 São Paulo 2011 Shanghai 2012 Buenos Aires 2012 Moscow 2013 Stuttgart 2014 New Zealand Tour 2014 Vienna 2014 Las Vegas 2014 Budapest 2014 Helsinki 2014 Royal Caribbean 2014 Prague 2015 Warsaw 2015 Belgrade 2015 Zagreb 2015 Ljubljana 2015 Barcelona 2016 Reykjavík 2016 Panama City 2016 UK Tour 2016 Lima 2016 Charlottetown

[musicaltheatretrivia]

Original playbill from Oklahoma! One of the shows to be considered for the first American Musical.

Fun Fact: Oklahoma!’s matinee shows were on Thursday & Saturday!

[musicaltheatretrivia]

Poster of The Black Crook, one of the first shows to be considered for the first American Musical!

[musicaltheatretrivia]

The First American Musical

Here’s our first Did You Know? (D.Y.K.?)

Did you know that there are three shows that, for different reasons, are considered the first American Musical? 

1. The Black Crook (1866): 

Considered because of it’s phenomenal set

The fact that it’s choreography rivaled classical ballet

It introduced tall female dancers gaining the name “March Of The Amazons”

It was the first “book musical,” but it’s book didn’t correlate with the music

2. Show Boat (1927):

First show where Black actors and White actors were considered equals

It was the last successful musical before the stock market crashed

First show where the music moved the plot of the show forward

First show to have depth to the book:

Socially relevant

Addresses issue of racism by including a inter-racial couple & black actors in major roles

First show that was considered a Drama

First show to inspired more than one movie

First show that was performed by Opera companies

3. Oklahoma! (1943):

Considered the first true musical because the musical numbers correspond with the plot of the story

First show to use dance to move the plot forward