Show Boat: The Stereotypes Of Musical Theatre

When people think of musical theatre, they imagine jazz, kick lines, high notes, and jazz hands. This stereotype of musical theatre largely began in the 1920’s with the Ziegfeld Revues, though this art form has gone through a metamorphosis since those days the stigma stays (Lubbock). Hamilton contains almost none of these archetypal images of musical theatre. Perhaps that is why Hamilton has won 11 Tony Awards, a Pulitzer, and tickets are selling for $850 each (Lopez). However, as anyone who has been following the Broadway scene knows, there are hundreds of shows that break these conventions and think outside the box. As early as 1927, artist shattered these parameters, this is evident in a musical like Show Boat, which brought drama and plot

To this, the question needs to be whether the genre is cohesive with story matter, this is true with all genres. For example, it would be nonsensical to see a rock musical about a happily married couple. As with any genre, hip hop lends itself well to some stories and less to others. Hamilton has taught us that politics and history can mingle well with hip-hop, this seems to be true for many reasons. As stated before hip-hop was birthed as a highly political artform, it started as an art for the disenfranchised and it has largely remained that way. Rappers have constantly used this form to discuss and point out issues with our political system. From N.W.A.’s “F**k the police” released in 1988 pointing out the issue that people of color do not feel like they can trust the police in this country to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” which came out in 2015 and deals with whether it is possible to feel comfortable in this country as a person of color. Because the art form already deals with political topics, as hip-hop becomes a musical form it would make sense to continue to use it to address political topics. Why hip hop lends itself well to history is partly due to the fact that almost everything historical is political, yet there are other reasons which have to do with theatre at large. The theatre is constantly trying to find ways to re-examine history. Most theatre is either based on movies, books or history and sometimes a combination of two or three. When trying to revamp the old using a fairly new form of music will cause the viewer to look at that moment differently. Another aspect of this style that makes it a successful fit for history and politics is the speed and the ability to pack a lot of information into a song. This is favorable for history because often history has a monstrous amount of