Musical Theatre – Sheet Music & Scores

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The Origins of the Musical

In the 1920s, a new genre of modern music theatre emerged on New York’s Broadway, combining various popular forms, consisting of songs, dialog, drama, dance and music: the musical.

The true origins of the musical however, go back much, much further. Traces can be seen in opéra comique, Komödie, operetta, revue and vaudeville. The first “classic” musicals followed a very traditional, classical style and form, like “Lady, Be Good” (1924) by George Gershwin, and “Show Boat” (1927) by Jerome Kern, and Cole Porter (“Anything Goes” 1934,“ Kiss Me, Kate” 1948, “Can-Can 1953) and Irving Berlin (“Annie Get Your Gun” 1946) were among the first generation of musical composers. The next wave of musical composers included Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein (“Oklahoma! ” 1943,“ Carousel” 1945, “The Sound of Music” 1959), as well as Frederick Loewe (“My Fair Lady” 1956) and Jerry Herman (“Hello Dolly!” 1964, “La Cage aux Folles” 1983).

With “West Side Story” (1957) by Leonard Bernstein, and the subsequent film in 1961, musicals became more and more popular, and the musical “Grease” (1971) by Warren Casey & Jim Jacobs was also adapted into a huge blockbuster film in 1978.

Among the many different styles of musicals, Galt McDermot’s “Hair” (1967) and Richard O’Brien’s “Rocky Horror Show” (1973) were highly successful rock musicals.

Moving into the modern era of musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber (“Jesus Christ Superstar” 1971,“ Evita” 1978, “Cats” 1980,“ The Phantom of the Opera” 1986 ) is considered one of the most influential composers to this day. Modern musicals are now often through composed, like operas, the spoken dialogue largely disappears, and characters sing throughout. Moving into the 1980s, musicals by Claude-Michel Schönberg (“Les Misérables” 1980,“ Miss Saigon”1989) and by Stephen Sondheim (“Sweeney Todd” 1979,“ Sunday in the Park with George” 1983, “Into the Woods” 1986) were extremely popular.

At the end of the 1990s, ’tribute musicals’ became increasingly popular, which showcase songs by a particular artist or band, and weave the story and drama around the music. A few good examples include “Saturday Night Fever” 1998 (Bee Gees), “Mamma Mia!” 1999 (ABBA), and “We Will Rock You” 2002 (Queen).

The 2010s were shaped by huge hits like “The Book of Mormon” (2011) by Robert Lopez, Disney’s “Frozen” (2013), and the straight to film musical “La la Land” (2016) by Justin Hurwitz.

A few important musical theatre composers

• Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cats, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar)
• Leonard Bernstein (On The Town, Candide, West Side Story)
• Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line)
• Elton John (Aida, The Lion King, Billie Elliot)
• John Kander (Cabaret, Chicago, The Act)
• Jerome Kern (Sally, Show Boat)
• Sylvester Levay (Elisabeth, Mozart!, Rebecca)
• Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Little Mermaid)
• Richard O’Brien (The Rocky Horror Show)
• Cole Porter (Anything Goes, Kiss me Kate, Can-Can)
• Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein (Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Sound of Music)
• Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Misérables, Miss Saigon)
• Stephen Schwartz (Wicked)
• Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods)