Broadway Theater

Broadway Musical Theater The role of music has become increasingly important in Broadway theater. From the early days of theater in America, which quickly established itself in New York City, music has helped to create many successful Broadway productions. Vaudeville music, which was music hall variety entertainment, took root in the late1800s. It then turned into their theatrical revues, stage spectaculars consisting of sketches, dance, and songs with parody and satire in the early 1900s. In the 1900s, talented composers could gain popularity for their theatrical music in a very short period of time.A few such prominent songwriters are Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Due to catchy show tunes and optimum locations in New York City, Broadway musicals are more successful then ever before, and they show no sign of slowing down. Colonial America did not have a significant theater presence until 1752 when London entrepreneur, William Hallam, sent a company of twelve actors to the colonies with his brother, Lewis, as their manager. They established a theater in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist.The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753 and performed ballad-operas such as The Beggar’s Opera and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. By the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan (Musical theatre). After the Civil War, theater in New York moved from Downtown to Midtown Manhattan where real estate was less expensive. Broadway theater did not arrive in Times Square until the 1920s and 1930s. New York City’s first â€Å"long-run† musical was a 50 performance hit called The Elves in 1857.New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keene's â€Å"musical burletta† Seven Sisters in 1860 shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances (Musical theatre). The length of runs in the th eater changed rapidly around the same time that the modern musical emerged. As transportation improved, poverty in London and New York diminished. In addition, because street lighting made for safer travel at night, the number of potential patrons for the growing number of theaters increased enormously.Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values (Musical Theater). Vaudeville entertainment took America by storm in the late 1800s. These variety shows had musical, comic, dramatic, aerobatic, and juggling acts. Although Vaudeville’s popularity declined by the 1930’s, it gave a distinctive flavor to Broadway shows. Revues, which had their roots in 19th century American popular entertainment, grew into a substantial cultural presence during the years 1916 to 1932 (Revue).These musical variety shows consisted of skits, dance routines, and songs that often satirized current events and personalities. During he ctic times, both of these forms of entertainment became the way to â€Å"get away from it all† for a few hours and forget about ones troubles (Revue). By the early 1900s, Broadway musicals were in full swing. The great songs from these musicals involved almost all of the top composers of the day (History of). In many cases, after the composed songs were well established, a particular song was selected as the theme song for that Broadway musical. Unknown composers had the chance to become famous overnight.Often songs â€Å"caught fire† and they were in ranks with the most successful composers of the day. One of these great composers was Irving Berlin. Born in Russia, Irving Berlin was a composer and lyricist, widely considered to be one of the greatest American songwriters in history. In 1907 he published his first song, Marie From Sunny Italy, and by 1911 he had his first major international hit, Alexander's Ragtime Band (Irving). Over the next five decades, Irving Ber lin produced an outpouring of ballads, dance numbers, novelty tunes and love songs that defined American popular songs for much of the century.A sampling of some of the Irving Berlin’s songs are: How Deep Is the Ocean? , Blue Skies, White Christmas, Always, Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better, There's No Business Like Show Business, Cheek To Cheek, Puttin' On The Ritz, A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody, Heatwave, Easter Parade, and Lets Face The Music and Dance. In a class by itself, he wrote for his beloved country, God Bless America (Irving). Throughout his sixty-year career, he composed approximately 1,500 songs. Some other famous composers were Richard Rodgers are Oscar Hammerstein who collaborated on several Broadway musicals such as Oklahoma! n 1943, South Pacific in 1949, The King and I in 1951, and The Sound of Music n 1959 (Amer Spec Encly pp 472, 930). Andrew Lloyd Webber, a British composer, has seen many of his plays appear on Broadway. Some of his best known shows are: Eita, Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and The Phantom of the Opera which is the longest running show to date (celebrating its 10,000th performance on Broadway on February 11. 2012), the Phantom of the Opera opened in the West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It won a total of seven Tony Awards including Best Musical.Phantom is the highest-grossing entertainment event of all time and the most financially successful theatrical show in history (The Phantom). In an era of stunning 3-D movies and impressive IMAX films, Broadway musical theater remains one of the most popular attractions in New York City. Few attractions match the excitement and spectacle of a Broadway musical. Featuring forty Broadway theaters, high-profile stage actors, and world-class sets and costumes, New York Broadway shows are must-see entertainment for travelers. Broadway theater is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theater in the English-speaking world.Ac cording to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $1. 081 billion dollars worth of tickets in the calendar year 2011. Attendance in 2011 was 12. 13 million people (HISTORY OF). Because music plays such an important role in Broadway theater, Broadway musicals are more successful than ever before. Works Cited â€Å"HISTORY OF BROADWAY IN NEW YORK CITY, BROADWAY THEATER, MUSICALS AND SHOW HISTORY. † nyctourist. com. N. p. , 29 May 2012. Web. 3 June 2012. . â€Å"History of Broadway Musicals: More Than A Century of Musical Classics. † americana-music-and-memories. om. N. p. , n. d. Web. 3 June 2012. . â€Å"Irving Berlin. † wikipedia. org. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , 28 May 2012. Web. 3 June 2012. . â€Å"List of the longest-running Broadway shows . † wikipedia. org. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , 26 May 2012. Web. 3 June 2012. . â€Å"Musical theatre. † Wikipedia. org. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , 31 May 2012. Web. 3 June 2012. .  "The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical). † wikipedia. org. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , 27 May 2012. Web. 3 June 2012. . â€Å"Revue. † wikipedia. org. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 18 May 2012. Web. 3 June 2012. .

Abortion: Pro Choice Essay

Abortion, the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life, has been practiced since ancient times. With records dating to 1550 BC, it’s no question that abortion techniques have been used throughout the ages as an effective form of birth control. Pregnancies were terminated through a number of methods, including the use of herbs, sharpened instruments, the application of abdominal pressure, and other techniques. In the 19th century, the English Parliament and the American state legislatures prohibited induced abortion to rotect women from surgical procedures that were deemed unsafe. However, in 1973, abortion was legalized as a result of the U. S. Supreme Court rule in Roe v. Wade. This ruling made it possible for women to safely have an abortion, no matter the reason behind it. I wholeheartedly believe that the banning of abortions should not be considered because of the possibility that the woman’s physical health is at risk, the case of rape or incest, or the child would be born with a severe disability. In the case of a pregnancy where the woman is facing physical complications, an abortion should be available if needed. Some examples of physical complications include placenta Previa (the placenta is attached close to or covering the cervix), ectopic pregnancy (the fertilized egg becomes embedded outside the womb), and pre-eclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension). These life-threatening situations would pose a serious hazard to the mother if the child is carried full term, which means the mother’s life could be spared if an abortion is performed. According to the Guttmacher Institute, fourteen thousand abortions per year are due to rape or incest. If a woman is raped, she should have the right to terminate her pregnancy. In some cases, the baby can not be cared for due to lack of finances, the mother is not mature enough to care for it, or the baby would be born into potentially harmful situations. Oftentimes, the child is not wanted, and would be a potential victim of neglect or abuse. On the other hand, an abortion would only add to the emotional weight placed on the raped woman. Because of this, the mother must make her decision very carefully. If medical tests have proven that the child will be born with severe handicaps that would greatly reduce the quality of life or endanger the fetus, the opportunity to terminate should be available. Allowing abortion because of fetal disability may actually benefit the child in the long run, by saving it from a life full of unnecessary complications. This, however, is a very controversial reason and is not generally accepted by many people due to moral reasons. It is clear that the U. S. government absolutely should not allow the banning of all abortions, regardless of the reason behind it. A choice must be available to prevent the birth of an unwanted child as well as to protect the mother from physical harm. This should essentially be the choice of the mother carrying the child, and if it is in her best interest, her decision to abort should not be influenced by anyone else’s opinions or moral standards. If the woman has a high risk of physical complications hat would most likely be a result from full term pregnancy, is a victim of rape, or believes that she will be unable to care for a severely disabled child, then the option points that I have made, I urge you to think twice about banning abortion and put yourself in the mother’s shoes. If it was you or your child’s life that was in danger, what would you do? Sit back and let a higher power decide the outcome of your life, or fght for what you believe is the best decision regarding your future?

Executive Summary Franks Pizza Pan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Executive Summary Franks Pizza Pan - Essay Example The new MIS has the potential of solving the problem of market uncertainties where businesses are not aware of the exact locations of their markets. The executive summary is actually concise and accurate in content, but loses conciseness and accuracy in language use. This makes the summary not engaging as it is supposed to be. One factor that makes it lose engaging feature is vagueness. The author does not use exact business and technological terms required for a business plan. An example is â€Å"narrow down locations for business improvement† instead of â€Å"market segmentation and positioning.† As an executive officer reading this executive summary, I think I would take too much time to be convinced of the exact problem that the MIS intends to address and its benefits. Apart from these, the executive summary has covered all parts of sections of the assignment. I can only add that when you want to prepare a business plan, consider communicative terms suitable for the context, and not just passing

Power, Privilege, Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Power, Privilege, Security - Essay Example Privacy does not include the opportunity to cause harm. What the employee does on his personal time that does not present a danger to others in the workplace, e.g., smoking or having unprotected sex, is not the concern of the employer, not directly under the employer's rightful control, and not subject to scrutiny through any means; much less through a device as inconsistent as a polygraph. It is not the responsibility of an employer to supervise its workers on such a microcosmic level. Even Kant, in his most moralistic application of a categorical imperative would find no duty on the part of the employer to police the employees in such an intrusive manner. Employees are not children and employers are certainly not empowered to treat them as such. As far as the use of a pre-screening process whereby an employer determines what is and what is not acceptable activity in the private lives of its employees, a more arbitrary and capricious means of discrimination could hardly be imagined. Even the libertarian-especially the libertarian-would see such discriminatory practice as rife with the potential for abuse. My Position: I am for the Patriot Act in general because I feel that increasing police powers for the purposes of protecting the American public can be done reasonably and without violating anyone's constitutional rights. Amendments to section... First, it clarifies the level of detail necessary to obtain a section 206 order, particularly where the target is identified by a description rather than by name. Second, it imposes a "return" requirement on investigators, meaning that in most circumstances the government is required to provide notice to the court within 10 days that surveillance has been directed at a new facility or place. Statement in Support of Section 206. As quoted above, Section 206 provides for the issuance of "an electronic surveillance order that attaches to a particular target rather than a particular phone or computer" (DOJ 1). This section of the Patriot Act assists federal authorities in focusing their efforts on a suspect individual and monitor communication across all possible areas of communication rather than having to get court authority for each different mode. In the case of Mr. X, who intended to plant a bomb in the main terminal of Grand Central Station in New York, authorities were severely limited in their surveillance abilities. Having sufficient information from a reliable informer, authorities obtained a warrant to tap the home telephone of Mr. X. The terrorist was technologically astute, and discovered the monitoring of his conversations with the co-conspirators. He immediately began to use a series of cell phones and private chat rooms on the Internet to prevent authorities from stopping his intended attack. Section 206 allows investigative agencies to obtain a warrant for any electronic device that Mr. X might use, and thereby provide a timely response to stop him and his associates from carrying out their plans. Counter Argument. It has been asserted that

INSANITY AND MURDER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

INSANITY AND MURDER - Essay Example Women were further forced into the stereotypical passive housewife role† (Frick, 2002). Those women who found this role difficult to assume were often the subjects of harsh treatments or otherwise controlling methods that were designed to bring them back into their socially accepted, and therefore considered natural, roles. â€Å"Cures included bed rest, seclusion, bland food, refrain from mental activities (such as reading), daily massage, and sensory depravation. Though these treatments do not seem too appalling, they were comparable to solitary confinement and would often drive a woman to further insanity† (Frick, 2002). These are the types of women who are often seen gracing the pages of late nineteenth and early 20th century writers such as William Faulkner and Susan Glaspell. In stories like â€Å"A Rose for Emily† (Faulkner) and â€Å"Trifles† (Glaspell), women can be seen to be driven to insanity by the controlling actions of the men. Faulkner introduces Miss Emily Grierson as a woman who has never been provided an opportunity to become comfortable or familiar with the world outside of her father’s old world ideals. â€Å"None of the young men were quite good enough to Miss Emily and such. We had long thought of them as a tableau; Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door† (437). This created a situation in which Miss Emily â€Å"got to be thirty and was still single† (437), forced to live in her maidenhood forever and lacking any connection to the rest of the world. Miss Emily’s inability to relate to the real world outside her fantasy is first manifested completely when she refused to acknowledge her father’s change of state upon his death. â€Å"Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of

Race and Your Community Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Race and Your Community - Personal Statement Example Admittedly, my community, that is Dallas, is notorious for the existence of racism. It seems that the issue of racism is much higher in this city because of the special nature of the demography here. In this area, all the racial groups are almost equal in size. According to the 2000 statistics, Hispanics are the largest group which constitutes nearly 35.55 % of the population followed by 34.56 percent whites. The presence of blacks is estimated at nearly 25.65%. Asians and other races are the minority, which together contribute less than 5% of the total population. Evidently, this mix of population has a specific role in amplifying racial issues. Due to the almost equal proportion of various groups, both politicians and media are eager to utilize racism as a tool for campaign and publicity. In fact, my neighborhood too is a mix of a variety of races, and the difference is visible in the look of people too. There are people who are black in complexion, some who are rather brown in complexion, and there are whites. The fact is that my society is more mixed than many other cities in the US. The difference is visible in communication too. For example the Hispanics, the Whites, and the Asians are easily distinguished for the way they use language. I have come to know that people like the Asians who first reach the place face serious problems communicating, and this situation leads to poor access to vital social services like medicine and other governmental grants. Admittedly, the leaders within my community are highly aware about the situation, and often, it seems as if they intentionally try to use the matter for easy public attention. Though most people and leaders try to avoid hurting other people by avoiding racial comments, some just make the comments publically. An exa mple is the recent statement made by a Dallas County commissioner to an attorney that â€Å"All of you are white. You can go to hell† (Piggy, 2011). The commissioner claims that he got angry because he found the statement of the attorney racial in nature. Though there are allegations of racism every now and then, from my observation, it seems that the leaders try to avoid any racial discrimination in their dealings. And most of the time, the term ‘racism’ does not arise in public offices and services. However, when there are issues involving people from two different races, the first allegation is racial profiling or racial discrimination. When a black child is punished by a white teacher, the situation is often given the color of racism. Similarly, when a black youth is arrested for drug or looting, the media shows the tendency to present the situation in the light of racism. The frequently made claim by the media is that, or what they try to make people believe is that, blacks are antisocial creatures who live on violence, theft and drugs. Another area where racism is highly visible is peer groups. Admittedly, the youth prefer to remain within groups of their own race. Within such groups, often comments of racial content take birth, and most of the time, it seems that such groups are behind racial attacks and abuses. I feel that the youth, if alone, will not resort to such activities of racism. As White and Perrone (2001) point out, it is the collective identity and the feeling of security within the group that makes them engage in such rare activities of racism. Though it is not always so, there are many whites who prefer to remain within white groups and blacks who prefer to be with blacks, and the main reason behind this situation is not hatred, but fear of getting maltreated by the other that is injected by the society and the media. Thus, though the administration cries ‘no racism’, there is racism in the air, and everyt hing in the society is first analyzed in the light of racism. A catalyst of racism, as already said, is media. It seems to me that media is bent on crating stereotypes and formulas in the social relations. As Rickford (2011) states, while

Animal adaption report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Animal adaption report - Essay Example For instance, a sunflower’s ecological niche is absorption of water, lights, and nutrients. Offering food to some organisms and releasing oxygen in the atmosphere (Daily, 2014). A structural adaptation is defined as the physical characteristics that an organism develops in order to survive in a particular environment. The video shows a type of reptile that has developed sharp teeth to grasp slippery seaweed. The developed teeth is an example of adaptation that gives the reptile better likelihood of obtaining food thus surviving in the particular habitat. They have also developed a flat snout that helps them graze. Physiological adaptations accounts for the way an organism adjusts or regulates bodily functions in response to a situation or its environment. An example from the video is the oxygen carrying capacity that the iguana reptile has developed to enable it dive for up an hour to get seaweed. The ability to dive deep enables the iguana reptile to dive deeper thus finding food. An example of behavioral adaptation from the video is the migration of birds (albatross). Albatross migrate in response to their mating instincts. The behavioral adaptation that albatross has developed for mating allows their population to gather in one place and at a specific time and ensures their ongoing reproduction. In the former times, cheetahs were prevalent and common in various regions of the pre medieval world. However, nowadays, they are sported in specific parts of the world mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, emote and secluded North African regions, as well as Iranian and Pakistani enclaves. The largest Cheetah population’s concentration is in Namibia, Southwest Africa. This place is therefore famous as "the land of cheetahs." The cheetah’s diet includes mammals ranging from small to medium size, which are lighter than 40kg. Some of these are impala, gazelles, and wildebeest calves. Other prey