About Us
Cast & Crew
Contact Us
|
Years ago, while teaching college courses in the History of American Musical Theatre, my research exposed numerous instances of innovation in the art form (“this was the first time…”) as theatrical technologies, along with musical styles and forms, evolved. I began to “collect” such phrases, which later included people, theatrical venues and other occasional oddities, into the collection and organized the data chronologically. |
|
At this site, we focus on historical firsts. Innovation creates history, and this is a collection of innovative events, decisions and inventions. Among other things, the collection includes initial appearances of popular shows, songs and performers. Here, you’ll find descriptions of theatrical firsts in America from 1665 to 2000. Each “historical first” appears in bold type. |
|
Generally, the New York opening is considered the finished form of any work (even if subsequent changes occur during the New York run). For the sake of maintaining some historical perspective, this site covers events through the 1999-2000 season. |
|
Ongoing additions to the site include textual entries and pictures of people and theatrical venues. One project will soon offer links to audio files of songs in the public domain; other improvements may occur as they are invented or suggested. |
|
We owe much to those who have assisted in the development and presentation of this material. Please see our “Cast & Crew” page. To everyone who appears there, I offer my deepest thanks. |
|
Perhaps you will find something here that will initiate your own research. You might want to have an item considered for inclusion at the site (if so, please contact me). You might wish to correct an error that you find here (if so, by all means contact me). You may even find items that will pique your curiosity and motivate you to seek answers. We hope that this site will bring you closer to the theatrical art form that has proven time and again to be our most beloved: the musical. |
|
Wayne Hamilton, MFA 2009 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
Thank you for visiting FirstOnStage.com, a web site that was literally decades in the making. We hope you find the information here useful in your classes, in your research or in exercising your intellectual curiosity. If so, we hope you’ll make a donation to help support FirstOnStage. This information comes to you quickly and easily without the cost of expensive textbooks or hours of searching for the proverbial needle in the digital haystack. Your gift will enable site developers to provide ongoing enhancements, including additional textual content, pictures and audio files. PayPal will safely and securely process the transaction. Thanks for your interest and your generous support! |
|
Visitor Count: |
000079135 |
|
Nora Bayes, an important lyric-theatre star of her day, introduced a new music collaboration in October of 1918 when she sang "The Real American Folk Song (Is A Rag)" in a show called Ladies First. The song was the first professional collaboration between Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin. George, who was twenty at the time, appeared on stage to accompany Bayes on the piano. In May of 1921, the first songs by Vincent Youmans premiered on Broadway in Two Little Girls in Blue. Other composers also contributed to the work. This piece boasts a double first, as it was also the first for which Ira Gershwin wrote all the lyrics. As he had when he wrote "Waiting For The Sun To Come Out" the year before, Ira used the pen name of Arthur Francis. The first complete score by Vincent Youmans was presented in New York in January of 1924 with Lollipop. The show didn't last long, but it was more the fault of the book than the music. Earlier (1921) Youmans had written songs with lyrics by Ira Gershwin for Two Little Girls in Blue. Along with Herbert Stothart, Ira Gershwin also worked on songs for Wildflower with Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1923. The first collaboration between Marc Connelly and George S. Kaufman was in 1917 with a musical they called Miss Moonshine. Years (and several additional collaborations between the two) later, in September of 1924, the show opened on Broadway as Be Yourself. The new show had music by Milton Schwarzwald and Lewis Gensler. Along with lyrics from Connelly and Kaufman, some lyrics were provided by Ira Gershwin. Ira Gershwin created lyrics for brother George's music in Lady, Be Good, a "jazz musical." It opened in December of 1924 and was the first complete musical score by Gershwin in the jazz style. The cast included Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire, and sets were by Norman Bel Geddes. Songs included "Fascinatin' Rhythm" and "The Man I Love" as well as the title tune. This was an influential musical, as it was a positive role model for the jazz musical style. The Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin classic "'S Wonderful" became a standard in November, 1927 in the score of Funny Face. The cast included Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire. Florenz Ziegfeld mounted Show Girl in July of 1929. Given his historical glorification of females, one would think that this would have been one of his greatest productions; alas, it was not to be. However, it did include music written by George Gershwin and Jimmy Durante, who also played a part in this, his first Broadway musical. Lyrics were by Gus Kahn and Ira Gershwin; the show featured Duke Ellington as the pit leader. The cast was outstanding; in addition to Durante, the show included his sidemen Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson, along with Eddie Foy, Jr. and Ruby Keeler. Finally, one Gershwin standard had its first public performance in this show: "Liza." Despite hard times during the Great Depression, musicals were occasionally successful. Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin (Ira's lyrics and George's music), along with Guy Bolton and John McGowan (book) opened Girl Crazy in October of 1930. Many of the songs were introduced by a club singer who was cast in her first Broadway show as the female lead: Ethel Merman (1909 - 1984). The new Gershwin tunes included "I Got Rhythm" (forever after associated with Merman), "But Not For Me," "Bidin' My Time," "Could You Use Me?" and "Boy, What Love Has Done To Me." In addition, Gershwin included "Embraceable You" in the score. A young woman who would go on to future fame was also in the cast: nineteen-year-old Ginger Rogers, appearing in her second musical (she debuted in Top Speed, which opened in December of 1929). Furthermore, there were some gentlemen in the orchestra pit of Girl Crazy who would become as famous as the people who wrote and sang the songs they played: musicians and future bandleaders Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey and Gene Krupa. They had all worked together previously in the pit of another Gershwin Broadway musical, Strike Up The Band. An innovative, satirical musical opened the day after Christmas in 1931: Of Thee I Sing. Without naming names, ridiculing contemporaries or even revealing a party preference, the show took a hard but funny look at the ins and outs of American politics. The show was the first American musical ever to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin, respectively, provided the lyrics and music, while George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind created the libretto; all of the above elements were very tightly woven together, giving the show an above-average continuity. Kaufman directed the piece. Because the Pulitzer was a literary prize, the Gershwins were not named as recipients. Of Thee I Sing was also the first musical to be published as a hardcover book. A milestone was reached in October of 1935 when Porgy and Bess opened. This masterpiece by Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin introduced additional classic American songs to the musical theatre songbook. They include "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin,'" "It Ain't Necessarily So" and the incomparable "Summertime." The show, with an all-black cast, was a failure; some say it was because people wanted to escape the troubles of the Great Depression rather than be confronted with the problems of others. Whether or not it was because of the show's failure, this was the last show George Gershwin wrote for the American musical theatre.
|
Nora Bayes, an important lyric-theatre star of her day, introduced a new music collaboration in October of 1918 when she sang "The Real American Folk Song (Is A Rag)" in a show called Ladies First. The song was the first professional collaboration between Ira Gershwin and George Gershwin. George, who was twenty at the time, appeared on stage to accompany Bayes on the piano.