THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATER
Saturday
This FREE 90 minute zoom session is a specialized workshop outlining the history of the American Musical Theater. We start from Showboat, the golden age of Broadway, Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Weber, and The British and Disney Invasion.
This FREE 90-minute zoom session is a specialized workshop discussing the beginning and the history of the theatrical phenomenon of the American Musical Theater. We will put special emphasis on his different periods and styles.
On December 27, 1927 a new genre was given birth in New York - A musical play as distinguished from musical comedy, musical hall or Burlesque.
We will look at the beginnings with Showboat, the era of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein, Lerner and Loewe, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Weber etc.
In this session with Maestro Stephen Scovasso, he will explore the growth of this genre and where is Broadway today
Instructor
Stephen Scovasso is a musicologist, conductor, director and author. He has directed operas including, Carmen, Tosca, La Bohème, Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, Cosi fan Tutte as well operetta's such as The Merry Widow and Die Fledermaus. He has also directed American Musical Theater pieces such as Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and Bernstein’s Candide. In the dramatic theater, Stephen has directed Garcia Lorca’s La Casa del Bernarda Alba, Oscar Wilde’s Salome.
In conjunction with SAS Performing Arts Company, he has produced and directed 6 full length virtual streams including Dracula: The Radio Play, Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream as well as many virtual concerts and holiday concerts.
Stephen studied Operatic and Symphonic conducting under the tutelage of the late Vincent La Selva. Among the works he has conducted are Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 in D minor, Handel’s Messiah, Puccini’s Tosca, and Mozart's Don Giovanni.
During his years at Arizona State University, he taught classes on the Baroque Style, Opera, American Musical Theater, and Stephen Sondheim.
Mr. Scovasso has also published a treatise on Puccini's Il Trittico and the end of Italian Opera