Scarlet Masque Theatre Journal New Beginnings and Fond Farewells Vol. 1 | Page 35

predecessors, the works written by Rodgers and Hammerstein relied heavily on spoken
dialogue rather than recitative to reveal the plot to the audience and take them along on
the narrative journey. The music and the libretto combined to truly tell a story. This is
similar from a compositional standpoint to the Opera Reform movement of the 18th
century, and composers such as Christoph Willibald Gluck who utilized compositional
elements and intricacies within the libretto to solely further the narrative rather than to
provide ornamentation (Norton, 2014). Thus, in a way, New York opera was very
founded in compositional theory construction from a musicology standpoint, rather than
simply a shot in the dark to establish an operatic sub-genre.
After Rodgers and Hammerstein, New York opera began to expand and
encompass many different musical avenues. Dizikes writes, “Other composers and
other works amplified the scope of New York opera. Different as they were from each
other, all bore the stamp of the liberal culture of the period.” (Dizikes, 1993). Composers
such as Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser, and Cole Porter functionally expanded the
horizons of the sub-genre, yet each in his own way. Berlin played into the successes of
Oklahoma in his own production, Annie Get Your Gun. In the score and the creative
vision for the show, Berlin recreated the world of Oklahoma, “drawing on the vein of
frontier innocence and high spirits.” (Dizikes, 1993). In nearly antithetical fashion, Frank
Loesser chose to portray the fast-paced, often cartoonish urban world in shows such as
Guys and Dolls (Dizikes, 1993). Cole Porter paid homage to traditional operatic
conventions in shows like Kiss Me Kate, in which he parodies Viennese opera and
juxtaposes such a parody against the canvas of a Broadway musical (Dizikes, 1993).
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