class of 9/9/08

Today in class, we continued exploring vaudeville's evolution to broadway and then to musicals.
Vaudeville was the voice of the city, the most popular form of stage entertainment for the average citizen. I can't help but be reminded of the vaudeville characters on family guy. They usually show up to crack a few jokes that would have been funny in the early 20th century and then leave as quickly as they entered, albeit with old-timey piano music following them. It sticks out to me because its a rare example of vaudeville showing up in modern pop culture in this new post 2000 millennium.
Broadway was a mix of high brow and low brow art. Prohibition had forced the privileged masses to mingle with gangsters and Broadway was greatly influenced by this. Siegfield and his follies were responsible for many very popular shows. The most interesting part of the act for me were sketches that featured actors positioning themselves to match a famous painting. That intrigues me because paintings were made to represent and imitate real life, and now that they have acquired enough acclaim, real life begins to imitate paintings.
Finally musicals became the modern live opera. Music, dancing, singing, drama, comedy, and story had come together into a seamless form of entertainment. West side Story sticks out because it portrayed contemporary life and it featured dancing as an extension of the acting (dance moves became fight scenes).
All of these forms of entertainment have sex appeal in common. The truth is that sex sells and that was as true a century ago as it is today.