Attitudes towards women, and their role in American Musical Theatre. Es

Attitudes towards women, and their graphic symbol in Ameri skunk Musical Theatre.For my essay, I am going to attend to at the attitudes towards women, bothfrom men and other women, and the significant role that that women hadin telling the stories in American musical theatre.Showboat was the first musical of its kind. Up to this point, musicalsconsisted of songs and dances, with ofttimes feeble storylines basedaround the big stars. Showboat had a real story, adapted from a novel,and both the singing and dancing told the story.At the beginning of Showboat, after we declare been introduced to themain characters, we hear the main female characters attitude towardsmen and love.Fish got to swim, birds got to fly,I got to love one populace till I die.Cant help lovin dat man of mine.Julie seems like a surrogate mother to Magnolia, giving her advice, aswe see Magnolias relationship with her own mother is very strained.Parthy doesnt want her daughter to have anything to do with the stageo r Ravenal, the two things her daughter is most passionate about.Julie, on the other hand, just offers Magnolia advice and listens toher. We see Magnolia and Parthys differences highlighted by thecomposers use of the perfect fourth to maneuver Magnolias closeness withthe river, and the augmented fourth or tritone to show Parthysdistance from the river and its ideals.We see a mother-daughter relationship, where the mother wants onething for her daughter and her daughter wants the opposite.The action in the musical then jumps forward and we see a now marriedMagnolia, destitute in a boarding house. She has been abandoned byRavenal, just as her mother predicted. We then see Julie, now analcoholic, who has also been abandoned by her husband. Magnolia comesto audition for a job where Julie is working. She sings cant helplovin dat man and Julie leaves her job so Magnolia can have it.Magnolia doesnt see Julie, scarcely Julie supports her in this way. Themusical ends happily, with Magnolia, Ravenal and their daughter Kimbeing reunited.Showboat was tot whollyy revolutionary, and tackled issues that had neverbeen looked at through this medium before. It paved the way for allkinds of other issues to do with women to be looked at.Porgy and Bess was a totally new concept. Not only did it have a blackcast, but it showed the life t... ... but outof place in the liberal seventies.In conclusion, the attitude towards women has changed and developedwith that in the developed world. Musicals have both reflected this,whilst at the same time maintaining a continuity of strong femalecharacters. Musicals, whilst being looked at as light entertainment,constantly looked at new issues, often to do with women, to challengetheir audiences and society at large. The role women played wasobviously integral to the musicals stories as well as also in raisingthese issues. The roles women played varied widely from mother,daughter, strong, weak, and authoratitive. The issues varied fromdomestic fury to single parents, and forced society to payattention to the way these were affecting womens lives. This focushelped play a part in getting equal rights for women and reflects onthe society we have today.BibliographyEnchanted Evenings - Geoffery BlockRodgers and HammersteinEthan MordenGonzls book of the Musical theatreKurt Gonzl and Andrew LambThe Complete Lyrics of Cole PorterHamish Hamiltonhttp//musicals.nethttp//libretto.musicals.ruhttp//www.stlyrics.com