Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) Spring 4-6-2013 The volutE ion of Broadway Musical Entertainment, 1850-2009: Interlingual and Intermedial Interference DJ Kaiser Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Kaiser, DJ, "The vE olution of Broadway Musical Entertainment, 1850-2009: Interlingual and Intermedial Interference" (2013). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 1076. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1076 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Program in Comparative Literature Dissertation Examination Committee: Robert Hegel, Chair Todd Decker Robert Henke Ignacio Infante Lara Teeter Julia Walker Gerhild Williams The Evolution of Broadway Musical Entertainment, 1850-2009: Interlingual and Intermedial Interference by DJ Kaiser A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2013 St. Louis, Missouri ii © Copyright 2013 by DJ Kaiser. All rights reserved. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………. iii List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………. vii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………...viii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………….... x Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 1 Chapter 2: The Methods, Problems, and Possibilities of Cataloguing Musical Entertainment…. 43 Chapter 3: Interlingual Interference during the Operetta Century: 1850-1949…………………. 91 Chapter 4: Intermedial Interference in Broadway Musical Entertainment…………………….. 148 Chapter 5: Conclusions………………………………………………………………………… 198 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………………... 228 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………. 244 ii List of Figures Figure 2.1. Total number of operas presented on Broadway stages each decade according to this database…………………………………………………………………………... 61 Figure 2.2. Total number of premiering musicals per decade on Broadway……………………. 83 Figure 2.3. Comparison of premieres, revivals, and return engagements per decade…………... 84 Figure 2.4. Percentage of premiering and revival productions of operettas by decade…………. 85 Figure 2.5. Percentage of premiering, revival, and return engagement productions per decade... 86 Figure 2.6. Percentage of operetta productions (premieres and revivals) per decade…………... 87 Figure 2.7. Percentage of premiering and revival productions of operettas compared to all productions………………………………………………………………………………. 87 Figure 2.8. Number of premiering adaptations and translations compared to premieres and total productions…………………………………………………………………………. 89 Figure 2.9. Percentage of premiering adaptations and translations relative to premiering productions……………………………………………………………………………..... 89 Figure 3.1. Total number of operettas performed on Broadway (with a break out of premiering and revival productions)……………………………………………………………….. 103 Figure 3.2. Percentage of operettas performed on Broadway relative to all musical productions (with a break out of premiering and revival productions)………………... 106 Figure 3.3. Categories of interference for operettas on the Broadway stage…………………... 107 Figure 3.4. Percentages of categories of inferences in operettas on Broadway………………... 109 Figure 3.5. Number of middle-European operettas premiering on Broadway in English translation………………………………………………………………………………. 111 iii Figure 3.6. Number of foreign-language operettas imported compared to other adapted and English original compositions…………………………………………………………. 115 Figure 3.7. Percentages of foreign-language operettas imported compared to other adapted and English original compositions……………………………………………………... 115 Figure 3.8. Number of foreign-language operettas imported compared to English-language operettas………………………………………………………………………………... 116 Figure 3.9. Percentage of foreign-language operettas imported compared to English-language operettas………………………………………………………………………………... 116 Figure 3.10. Number of foreign-language sources (operettas and other source material) entering the Broadway polysystem as operettas (including untranslated, translated, and adapted works)…………………………………………………………………….. 119 Figure 3.11. Number of foreign-language sources (operettas and other source material) entering the Broadway polysystem as operettas (including untranslated, translated, and adapted works) compared to English-language sources for operetta……………… 121 Figure 3.12. Percentage of foreign-language sources (operettas and other source material) entering the Broadway polysystem as operettas (including untranslated, translated, and adapted works) compared to English-language sources and other operettas……… 121 Figure 3.13. Number of foreign-language operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through indirect interlingual interference (translation proper)………………………… 122 Figure 3.14. Number of operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through indirect intramedial interference………………………………………………………………... 125 Figure 3.15. Comparison of French and German operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through translation and adaptation………………………………………... 126 iv Figure 3.16. Comparison of French and German operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through no translation, translation, and adaptation……………………….. 127 Figure 3.17. Comparison of French operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through no translation, translation, and adaptation……………………………………………... 128 Figure 3.18. Comparison of German operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through no translation, translation, and adaptation……………………………………………... 129 Figure 3.19. Comparison of percentages of French and German operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through no translation, translation, and adaptation……………. 129 Figure 3.20. Comparison of percentages of French operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through no translation, translation, and adaptation………………………... 130 Figure 3.21. Comparison of percentages of German operettas entering the Broadway polysystem through no translation, translation, and adaptation………………………... 130 Figure 4.1. Number of adaptations relative to all productions (premieres only)………………. 149 Figure 4.2. Percentage of adaptations relative to all productions (premieres only)…………… 149 Figure 4.3. Number of burlesques compared to the total number of premiering musical productions……………………………………………………………………………... 155 Figure 4.4. Percentage of burlesques relative to the total number of premiering musical productions……………………………………………………………………. 156 Figure 4.5. Percentage of burlesques relative to all adaptations in the database……………..... 156 Figure 4.6. Media used as the source for these burlesques…………………………………….. 157 Figure 4.7. Percentage of media used as the source for these burlesques……………………... 157 Figure 4.8. Percent of various media used as source material for adaptations on Broadway…. 161 Figure 4.9. Number of revues per decade compared to all premiering musical productions….. 163 v Figure 4.10. Percentage of revues per decade of all premiering musical productions………… 163 Figure 4.11. Total number of premiering productions per decade……………………………...164 Figure 4.12. Percent of adaptations per decade (subset comparison to premieres)……………. 165 Figure 4.13. Number of source texts per medium from which musicals have been adapted….. 170 Figure 4.14. Percent of source texts per medium from which musicals have been adapted…... 171 Figure 4.15. Percent of premiering musical adaptations based on particular media…………... 173 Figure 4.16. Performance run statistics for musical productions on Broadway by decade: 1900s through 2000s…………………………………………………………... 175 Figure 4.17. Median performance runs for adaptations and non-adaptations…………………. 177 Figure 4.18. Median performance run for adaptations based on source material compared to musicals that are not adaptations………………………………………… 177 Figure 4.19. Median performance run for adaptations based on source material compared to musicals that are not adaptations (excluding the “other” category)……... 178 Figure 4.20. The median age of source material (in years) when its musical adaptation premieres on Broadway………………………………………………………………... 183 Figure 4.21. The median age of source material (in years) when its musical adaptation premieres on Broadway (novels, operettas, and film only)……………………………. 184 Figure 5.1. Basic three-wave model of literary interference……………………………………199 Figure 5.2. Hypothesized four-wave model of literary interference…………………………… 205 Figure 5.3. Percentage of all French and German sources premiering on Broadway as musical entertainment…………………………………………………………………...213 vi List of Tables Table 3.1. Offenbach operettas that premiered on Broadway in German translation…………. 107 Table 3.2. Hungarian operettas that premiered on Broadway in English translation………….. 123 Table 3.3. Performance run statistics for the 1900s……………………………………………. 132 Table 3.4. Performance run statistics for the 1900s……………………………………………. 132 Table 5.1. Comparison of waves of interference relative to each other………………………...204 vii Acknowledgements Many thanks to my dissertation committee