Origins

How did people start to sign in high pitches in loud voices for long periods of time?

In article titled "The First Musicals" I learned this was the beginning of a lifestyle that has lasted nearly 300 years. The Beggar's Opera written by John Gay in 1728.This show is often considered a forerunner for modern musicals, as it was the first show to combine singing and dialogue in the same show.The show was very, popular and brought in a lot of money. The reason it was so popular was that Gay used familiar song that were popular during that time. From this came many other shows that would shape the shows to come.

William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan were musical writers over 100 years after the Beggar's Opera. They were some of the first well know writes to make satirical musicals. While both were popular writers, their best work came when they collaborated with each other. Sadly they had a hard time getting along and only wrote about 1 unpopular show before they met Richard D’Oyly Carte. Carte was the owner of a theatre and needed a writer, so he asked Gilbert to write the show, but he needed someone to write the music and Sullivan fit the bill.

Musical Comedy’s creation is credited to George Edwardes. Most of his plays were about an independent hard working woman becoming rich and famous. During opening nights he would watch the audience to see how the show was received. To make his show more enjoyable he always made sure his characters were dressed in the most current style.  

http://budapest.travel

I think it makes sense that musical theatre came from operas, but I am surprised that no one had thought to mix dialogue with singing until th 1700s. I had never heard of John Gay before this, and I feel like I would have heard of such and important character in th creation of musical theatre. I was familiar with Gilbert and Sullivan before this, but I got to learn more about them. It is surprising that such a successful duo did not get along very well. I was not familiar with George Edwardes, but he seemed to be an important bridge between early musicals and modern ones.  

The source is reliable, becasuse it had believable information, and I knew some of what the article was saying, so I know it is accurate. It is also a one of the links in Wikipedia what is usually reliable. 

For my next 2 posts I plan to look at modern theatre and modern musical theatre.