Unit 2 The United Kingdom Reading课时作业

阅读理解

　　A

　　(2019·广州综合测试二)

　　THE HISTORY OF MUSICAL THEATRE

　　Musical theatre is considered the most inclusive of the performing arts, combining music, song, dialogue and dance.

　　Pre­1900 ENTER MUSICAL COMEDIES AND OPERETTAS

　　Musical theatre can be traced back to ancient Greece. Over the centuries musicals have evolved through Roman, French and 18th century theatre.

　　During the 19th century, musical theatre as we know it was born, with the development of musical comedies and operettas.

　　1900－1929　ENTER MUSICAL REVUES AND HUGE BROADWAY SHOWS

　　The music hall and musical comedies, such as those written by Gilbert and Sullivan continued to dominate.

　　Huge Broadway shows and musical revues featuring wonderful costumes and sets, designed to entertain but with little plot, became popular.

　　1930－1939 ENTER JAZZ MUSICALS AND NATURALISTIC

　　DIALOGUE

　　Competition for audiences from low­price movies encouraged writers to experiment with new themes, moving towards more naturalistic dialogue.

　　Progy and Bess(1935) was Broadway's first jazz opera, using an all­black cast to explore poverty.

　　1940－1949 ENTER THE GOLDEN AGE

　　Theatre in the 1940s became more wide­ranging, integrating complicated plots with song and dance.

　　Oklahoma! dazzled audiences, marking a new direction for American musicals. Composers became dramatists, creating mood, tension and a sense of high drama through their music.

　　1950－1959 ENTER THE BOOK MUSICALS AND ROMANTIC COMEDIES

　　Broadway musicals remained popular, but several non­Broadway musicals experienced great success.

　　An explosion of romantic comedy book musicals arrived, including My Fair Lady. On Broadway, West Side Story became the first show that used dance to drive the story telling.

【解题导语】　本文是一篇说明文，全文按照时间顺序介绍了音乐剧的产生、发展、黄金时期等阶段。