This course, spanning the entire history of the American musical theater, beginning in pre-Civil War times during the minstrel era, is absolutely delightful. It is full of background about American culture you may never have guessed at - I certainly hadn’t, such as the origin of the phrase “that takes the cake!” and the fact that barbershop quartets sprung up from men practicing songs to try out for musicals while waiting to get haircuts. I never knew how the phrase “Tin Pan Alley” originated, or that pianos were such a popular source of home entertainment in the days before radio, even for the relatively poor. I was amused to learn that Al Jolson started his trademark singing down on one knee after one night when he was trying to relieve the pain of standing with an ingrown toenail. And who would have thought that many of the songs we love today were written in the 1910s and then remade over and over through the years.

The instructor is a wonderful piano player, although his singing voice [if one can even call it that] leaves a bit to be desired. Nevertheless, his playing and enthusiasm make up for it.

Besides the fascinating history of musical theater, punctuated by Messenger’s playing of tunes as well as many original recordings, we learn about the structure of shows, songs, “the lead sheet,” and how the music of today is similar to, or different from, early music in America. (There are a surprising amount of similarities.) He describes the “rules” for song writing as set out by Charles Harris in the late 1800s and still much followed today. He points out how many popular songs drew from classical music out of copyright or from old folk songs.

An interesting development in musical theater began in the 1860s with America’s first blockbuster musical. It was tasteless, hackneyed, had an incoherent theme and wooden characters, but ran for 474 performances, because it also had something irresistible: a troupe of Parisian ballerinas was added to an otherwise unsuccessful melodrama. The predominantly male audiences were held spellbound by the cast of 100 ballerinas in tights, revealing, as Messenger points out, “more of the female form than had ever before been exposed to American audiences.” Thereafter, clothing for women in shows only got scantier.

“Jim Crow” was popular at first, meaning whites dressed up in black face using burned cork and singing and dancing as if they were Black. Early Black performers in minstrel shows had to wear “black face” themselves because white audiences demanded a uniformly pitch-black appearance. Minstrel shows were also the source of many of the unique practices of early jazz players, such as growling trumpet calls, sliding clarinet effects, and wah-wah mutes, as musicians entertained audiences in front of the curtain during changes of scenery.

The way people interacted with music changed with the advent of network radio and talking pictures in the 1920s. Sales of sheet music began to be replaced by sales of recordings.

Messenger teaches listeners a lot about landmark artists associated with musical theater, including James Bland, Nora Bayes, George M. Cohan, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, and so many more.

Jolson, Messenger maintains, along with Crosby and Sinatra, was one of the three great innovators of popular singing in the first half of the 20th century. “Singers before Jolson sang the song the way it was written and enunciated with the clarity of robots.”

For many listeners, the best part of the course will be the tour through the 1940s (Rodgers and Hammerstein) and the 1950s (Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Leonard Bernstein, and Frank Loesser). Listening to the stories behind My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls and other musicals only made me want to see them all over again.

Messenger explains why “West Side Story” made such a seminal impact on theater, with its dark story, and why Steven Sondheim helped create a new genre of musicals. He ends with a discussion of “The Producers” and “Wicked.”

The PDF file accompanying the lectures includes a timeline, biographical notes, and a bibliography.

Evaluation: I have one criticism, which is that this series wasn’t longer. I was so sad to finish, that I had to start the series over again! ( )

This was an excellent listen. A great overview of musical theatre from its very beginnings. My only criticism is that it was too short. I wish it had dwelt far longer on musicals since the 1940's, but alas, it was just an overview. Made me want to learn more. ( )