Theatre History Overview - Part 102 - The Beginnings of American Musical Theatre

The rise in popularity of ballad opera coincided with the beginnings of Europeans settling in the United States. The first musical production that took place on February 8, 1735 in the colonies was Flora and it took place in a courtroom in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1753, New York's first permanent playhouse was established by Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Hallam. It offered operettas including Flora.

People in Philadelphia were given hope that a comic opera called The Disappointment would appear on the stage on April 20, 1767. However, four days before the comic opera was to open, a notice was run in papers that it was inappropriate for the stage being that it contained personal reflections.

More attempts were made at making a uniquely American musical. On December 11, 1781, Francis Hopkinsin debuted his work, The Temple of Minerva as part of a concert in honor of George Washington. In 1790, The Reconciliation; or, The Triumph of Nature by Peter Markoe was supposed to be produced in Philidelphia, but the production was canceled. Then in 1796, William Dunlap debuted his work, The Archers. Even though Dunlap was born in New Jersey, there are people who don't consider his work a truly American musical and call it hackwork.

The widely accepted play to be considered the first American musical, despite being called an imitation of European extravaganzas that visited the states, is The Black Crook. It debuted in New York on September 12, 1866. Up to that time, it was the most successful musical written by Americans, It also introduced some of the elements that have become associated with American musicals. These include elaborate costumes, ornate production numbers, sexual inuendos, sexually provactive songs, chorus girls, and large dance numbers.

The first truly American operetta was 1886's The Little Tycoon by Willard Spencer. it owes its popularity to the fact that earlier, The Mikado was popular. However, the operetta did not both have a cohesive plot and concentrate on American experiences. The first musical to do this was The Brook by Nate Salesbury in 1879. While the songs were obvious adaptations of familiar tunes, the humor was obvious. From this point on, more people wrote musicals for the American stage and American musical theatre is still going strong today.

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