Musical Era of the 1970s

¶ … musical era of the 1970s on Broadway: Company (1970) and beyond

The 1970s was an era of historic change on Broadway, change which had begun with the explosion of the countercultural musical of Hair onto the stage in 1968. Over the course of the era, the more liberal social mores present in greater American society began to manifest themselves on the Great White Way. Innovative methods of staging also became more prominent, not just in 'straight' plays but also in the mainstream musicals of Broadway. However, the 1970s should be regarded as a distinct musical decade and not simply grouped in with the Broadway musicals of the freewheeling 1960s, as the tone of 1970s musicals was far more cynical and edgy, in contrast to the exuberant 1960s.

Stephen Sondheim's 1970 revue Company is a good example of an early 1970s musical that still delights in 1960s ideas of free love. The musical, rather than a straightforward narrative, unfolds in a series of musical set pieces, or vignettes, all linked to the fact that the play is set on the protagonist Bobby's 35th birthday. Bobby is still single while all of his friends are attached. They urge him to get married, despite the fact that they seem so unhappy in their married or coupled lives. Divorces, fighting, drug use, alcoholism and even weight problems all plague Bobby's supposedly happily married friends. Bobby wants to get married, but cannot choose between his three current girlfriends. He wants something or someone 'in between' all of their qualities.

Sondheim's musical was ground-breaking in the way that it portrayed the problems of middle-aged couples of the decade and suggested that desire could not always be satisfied in the arms of one person, contrary to conventional expectations. One of the most famous songs from the show, "The Ladies Who Lunch," contains a refrain of "I'll drink to that," chronicling the empty lives of well-educated, wealthy married women whose lives revolve around lunching, shopping, going to Broadway plays (like Company) and drinking. The tone of the play is humorous, fun -- yet it is also a clever send-up of romantic conventions and the expected happy ending of the boy-meets-girl 'marriage plot.'

Musicals became even darker as the era wore on. One of the most innovative musicals was Chicago. Chicago (1975) featured the asymmetrical, modernist dancing of the choreographer Bob Fosse. It looked back on the 1920s, another cynical era of gangsters and media lies. But its vision of the 1930s was very '1970s' in its inspiration. The play chronicles the story of a real-life woman in the city of Chicago, Roxie Hart, who was accused of murdering her lover. Over the course of the play, Roxie becomes a celebrity and eventually gets a slick lawyer to represent her in court. Roxie was always infatuated by fame, particularly the case of Velma Kelly, a woman on the same cellblock as herself, who is accused of double murder of her sister and lover (who were cheating on her).

The musical suggests that sexual indiscretions are a part of life, not simply something produced by the sexual revolution of the 1970s. Sexual scheming is seen as human nature. It offers a very jaded perspective of the American justice system, which can be easily manipulated by media-savvy lawyers. In one musical scene, the lawyer Bobby Flynn manipulates Roxie like a puppet, speaking her words for her during a 'press conference' ragtime dance which emphasizes that "We Both Reached for the Gun" (Roxie's defense). Although the play is set during the gangster era, it is as much a commentary upon the mid-70s, a decade in which the nation had endured the end of the failed Vietnam War and Watergate. The play ends with Roxie's acquittal and the rise to stardom of Velma and Roxie, based upon their beauty and murderousness. The one woman who does not have a good attorney on their cellblock meets her untimely demise, even though she is the only person who seems innocent of her accused crime.

If Chicago was a ground-breaking commercial failure (although its later revivals have been extremely successful), Grease (1971) was a nostalgic success, a backward-looking musical that portrayed a simpler, pre-sexual revolution era when a 'bad girl' like Rizzo was called names for sleeping with boys and smoking (gasp) cigarettes. Grease is nostalgic as Happy Days for a past American glory age, although it contains certain 'winking' at the audience, regarding its sexual innuendo. And the climax of the musical portrays good girl Sandy going 'bad' in black leather for her beloved object of desire, Danny. The musical takes place at Rydell High School, and the teens have no other cares in the world than doing their hair, polishing their cars, and engaging in gossip over their romantic lives.