From Operetta to Broadway

Music compositions transitioned from the performance of operettas to Broadway musicals, as did musical study on a collegiate level. Although Universities did not begin teaching musical theater when the genre originally emerged, Broadway musicals have become a part of “classic” American repertoire. With the intent of improving music pedagogy and performance, the purpose of this research is to investigate the history of the Broadway musical in University settings. The particular problems of this study were to (1) explore the transition from operettas to musicals; (2) trace the development of musical theatere in collegiate study; and (3) to describe the University of Lynchburg’s musical theater departments’ production choices. Musicals originally had three main genres, but composers blended elements from each genre so frequently that they eventually transitioned into one genre known as simply “the musical.” Musical theater is still a new discipline being taught in colleges, so students do not have access to many academic resources. At the University of Lynchburg, musical theater students have recently performed several productions from both the 20th and 21st centuries. Musicals have come a long way, and it is important for students of the discipline to have high quality learning materials and ample experience performing