Impacts on Broadway
Showboat
Showboat's contribution to The Great White Way's basic DNA was, unlike Oklahoma!'s, the implementation of several new ideas. Along with interracial thespians performing on stage together and the creators writing the story before the soundtrack was formulated, this turning point was the very first show to be adapted from a dramatic novel. This meant the plot was extremely strong and realistic compared to its peers in the show business world. Put quite simply, Showboat promulgated to the world that simplicity and mindless euphoria were, while entertaining, not necessary to create a successful musical. It may not have convinced all writers and composers in New York that this new system was best, but it certainly set everyone on the right track towards perfection and stood as living, breathing proof what was possible of a Broadway show if the creative team behind it was willing to see an opportunity, take a shot, and just go for it.
Oklahoma!
As was previously mentioned, Oklahoma!'s contribution to show business was quite different than Showboat's, in the way that it took many new ideas previously appraised and drove them all together into one musical theatre production. Chief among these was a concept originally put into place by Kern and Hammerstein's Showboat. This was, of course, the idea of writing music to fit a plot, rather than the other way around. Showboat's method of doing this was, while revolutionary, not flawless. Kern and Hammerstein based their show on a novel, and followed it very closely. On the other hand, Oklahoma!'s original base, Green Grow the Lilacs, was only loosely related to the Broadway show. This meant that the plot was more original, and thus, more effective and enthralling. Rodgers and Hammerstein's western, in essence, took Showboat's bright idea, put a crucial spin on it, and made it stick.
West Side Story
Bernstein and Sondheim's masterpiece took after both Showboat and Oklahoma! in the way in which it affected Broadway. The application of an extreme amount of tragedy and violence was a more advanced version of an aspect brought to the table originally by Showboat, and all music for West Side Story was written after the plot was developed, making it a relative to Oklahoma!. In addition, it was based on Romeo and Juliet, but was completely different in setting and in characters, thus another quality the musical shares with both of its turning point ancestors. With an amazing score, and an even more extraordinary story, West Side Story was enormously popular with its audience, meaning that all the ideas and abstractions put into place by its performances were accepted and emulated by many creative teams on Broadway. This lovely demonstration of modernization on the big stage was, essentially, an act of taking almost all crucial aspects of Showboat and Oklahoma! that made them truly great and making each one a little bit better.
Importance
When I set out to create this website, my main goal was to identify the single most important and paradigm changing Broadway show that has ever been created. As I researched, however, I realized that finding this musical and proclaiming it as such is impossible. These three turning points, like the chapters of a novel or the bricks of a wall, intertwine. Relying on one another, making advancements in previously conceived aspects, they could not have been made great without what came before. They act like a system, or a body. Showboat is the brain behind the curtains. Oklahoma! is the heart and soul, representing the happiness and hope that Broadway is the emblem of. West Side Story is the face, changing with the generations and times in which it is viewed by the audience. Three masterpieces that stand before us and define, both literally and metaphorically, everything that is, was, and will be possible of our quintessentially imperfectly human generations. Yesterday's, today's and those that will come in the mystery of tomorrow.