The Most Influential People in Musical-Theater History

While teaching my course on the history of musical theater at the Boston Conservatory, I frequently point to Oscar Hammerstein II as the most important person in the history of musical theater. I genuinely believe that. Hammerstein was not only crucial for what he did, but also in whom he taught and inspired, namely one Stephen Sondheim. 

To understand Hammerstein's immeasurable contributions, it's important to understand integration, one of the most important concepts in the evolution of musicals. Integration basically means the trend toward having every element of a show serve some dramatic purpose. As Richard Rodgers famously once said, the reason that Oklahoma worked as well as it did was because "the orchestrations sound the way the costumes look." This always surprises my students, but there was a time when songs in a musical didn't have much to do with the plot, and dance was mere decoration. And that time was basically B.H. (Before Hammerstein) 

That's a gross simplification, of course, but Oscar Hammerstein was indeed an integration pioneer, starting with his work in operettas and musical comedy, continuing with the seminal Show Boat, and culminating in his work with Rodgers. Hammerstein didn't invent integration, but he did more than any other single person to make it come about, and the rest of musical-theater history rests squarely on his shoulders and accomplishments. 

My admiration of Hammerstein got me thinking about which other people are responsible for the development of the musical-theater form, and since I've been a list-making mood lately, well, you can probably see where this is heading. Here then is my attempt to list the most influential people in the history of musical theater. Some of these names will be very well known, others not so much. I've included links for all the names, plus brief explanations for those I deemed it appropriate. I'm sure that there will be many people who feel that I've left someone out, or ranked someone too low or too high. If so, feel free to drop me a line.

As with all of my other lists, this one will be listed as a sub-page of in the left-hand margin.

1. Oscar Hammerstein
2. Stephen Sondheim
3. Jerome Kern - composer of Show Boat, as well as the seminal Princess shows, which include Very Good Eddie and Oh, Boy!
4. Harold Prince
5. Richard Rodgers
6. Jerome Robbins
7. Arthur Laurents - librettist for West Side Story and Gypsy
8. George M. Cohan - the do-it-all impresario showman, who not only wrote and starred in his own shows, but was also an integration pioneer
9. Agnes de Mille - first female director/choreographer, key force behind Oklahoma and the integration of dance
10. George Gershwin
11. Kurt Weill - composer of The Threepenny Opera, as well as such wonderful but underperformed shows as Lady in the Dark and Lost in the Stars
12. Bob Fosse
13. George S. Kaufman - librettist for Of Thee I Sing, Strike Up the Band, and key force behind Guys and Dolls
    
14. Florenz Ziegfeld - producer of the Ziegfeld Follies and the seminal Show Boat
15. Moss Hart - librettist for Lady in the Dark and As Thousands Cheer, and key force behind My Fair Lady
    
16. Ethel Merman
17. Alan Jay Lerner - librettist/lyricist for Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, and Camelot
18. Guy Bolton - librettist for the seminal Princess shows, among many others
19. P.G. Wodehouse - lyricist for seminal Princess shows, among many others
20. Irving Berlin
21. Lorenz Hart - lyricist who worked with Richard Rodgers on many shows, including Pal Joey, The Boys from Syracuse, A Connecticut Yankee, and On Your Toes
22. Ira Gershwin - lyricist who went on after his brother's death to create Lady in the Dark and A Star Is Born
23. George Balanchine - first person to receive the credit "choreography by" versus "dances by"
24. Frederick Loewe - composer of Brigadoon and My Fair Lady
25. W.S. Gilbert - librettist/lyricist half of Gilbert & Sullivan
26. Cole Porter
27. Fred Ebb
28. Frank Loesser
29. John Kander
30. Arthur Sullivan - composer half of Gilbert & Sullivan
31. Marc Blitzstein - composer lyricist of The Cradle Will Rock and Juno
32. Peter Stone - librettist of 1776, Titanic, and Woman of the Year
33. Noel Coward
34. James Lapine
35. Chita Rivera
36. Michael Stewart - librettist of 42nd Street, Bye Bye Birdie, Carnival!, and Hello, Dolly!
37. Gertrude Lawrence - star of Lady in the Dark and The King and I
38. David Merrick - controversial producer of such hits as Hello, Dolly!, Carnival, and Gypsy
39. Victor Herbert - the first significant American composer to write an entire musical score himself (Babes in Toyland), versus group efforts and song interpolations. Also, invented American operetta
40. Michael Bennett
41. Betty Comden
42. Al Jolson
43. Bertie Williams - first African-American star
44. Jerry Herman
45. Sheldon Harnick/Jerry Bock - composer/lyricist team that wrote Fiorello, She Loves Me, and Fiddler on the Roof
46. Gower Champion - director/choreographer of Bye Bye Birdie, Hello, Dolly, Carnival, and 42nd Street
47. Stephen Schwartz
48. Adolph Green
49. Leonard Bernstein
50. Mary Martin
51. Otto Harbach - prolific lyricist and librettist of both musical comedies and operettas
52. B.G. DeSylva/Ray Henderson/Lew Brown - creators of a successful series of shows in the 1920s, including Good News
53. Ethel Watters - first female African-American star
54. Michael Kidd - prolific and influential choreographer
55. Bernadette Peters
56. Victor Moore/William Gaxton - popular comic actors and frequent co-stars
57. Gwen Verdon
58. H.Y. "Yip" Harburg - known primarily as the lyricist for "The Wizard of Oz," but responsible for much more, including Finian's Rainbow
59. Morrie Ryskind - known for his work with the Marx Brothers, but also worked with Kaufman on Of Thee I Sing and Strike Up the Band
60. Harry B. Smith - the most prolific writer in Broadway history, working on 122 separate shows, including...nothing you've ever heard of
61. Carol Channing
62. Bob Merrill - composer and lyricist who worked on such shows as Carnival and Funny Girl
63. Sigmund Romberg - composer of numerous successful operettas, including The Student Prince, The Desert Song, and The New Moon
64. Joseph Stein - librettist for numerous shows, including Fiddler on the Roof
65. Rudolph Friml - composer of numerous successful operettas, including Rose Marie and The Vagabond King
66. Harvey Schmidt/Tom Jones - composer and lyricist of The Fantasticks, 110 in the Shade and others
    
67. Joseph Papp - producer of Hair, The Pirates of Penzance, and A Chorus Line, among others
68. Edward Harrigan/Tony Hart - creators of a series of popular and influential shows, including The Mulligan Guard Ball, in the 1800s. The first famous collaboration in the American musical theater
69. Marilyn Miller - popular star of the musical theater in the 1920s and 1930s.
70. Eubie Blake/Noble Sissle - authors of the first successful show created entirely by African Americans, Shuffle Along
71. Dorothy Fields - first successful female lyricist and librettist, whose shows include Annie Get Your Gun and Sweet Charity
72. George Abbott - producer, director, and librettist with a career spanning more than seven decades. Shows include Pal Joey, On the Town, and The Pajama Game
73. Herbert Fields - librettist and lyricist, whose shows include Annie Get Your Gun and A Connecticut Yankee
74. Tommy Tune
75. Arthur Schwartz/Howard Dietz - composer/lyricist team, whose shows include The Band Wagon, and The Gay Life
76. Charles H. Hoyt - author of a number of farce comedies in the 1800s, including A Trip to Chinatown
    
77. Harold Rome - composer/lyricist of such shows as Pins and Needles and I Can Get It for You Wholesale
78. Kay Swift - first woman to score and entire musical, Fine and Dandy
    
79. Rouben Mamoulian - director of Porgy and Bess, Oklahoma!, Carousel, and Lost in the Stars
80. Onna White - choreographer of The Music Man, Mame, and 1776
81. Joshua Logan - director of Knickerbocker Holiday, South Pacific, and Annie Get Your Gun
82. Andrew Lloyd Webber
83. Patti LuPone
84. Howard Lindsay/Russell Crouse - librettists of The Sound of Music, Call Me Madam, and Anything Goes
85. Cameron Mackintosh
86. Tim Rice
87. Jule Styne - composer of Gypsy, Funny Girl, and Bells Are Ringing
88. Charles Strouse - composer of Bye Bye Birdie and Annie
89. Neil Simon - librettist for Sweet Charity, Promises, Promises, and They're Playing Our Song, as well as script doctor for A Chorus Line
    
90. William Finn - composer/lyricist for Falsettos, A New Brain, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
91. Thomas Meehan - librettist for Annie, The Producers, and Hairspray
92. Cy Coleman - composer of Sweet Charity, On The Twentieth Century, and City of Angels
93. Trevor Nunn - director of Les Misérables, Cats, Starlight Express and Sunset Boulevard
94. John Weidman - librettist of Pacific Overtures, Assassins, and Contact
95. Walt Disney - the company, not the man
96. Jason Robert Brown - composer/lyricist of Parade, The Last Five Years, and 13
97. Susan Stroman - director choreographer of Contact, The Producers, and Young Frankenstein
98. Alan Menken/Howard Ashman - composer/lyricist pair responsible for Little Shop of Horrors and the Disney films The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin
99. Ivor Novello - composer/lyricist of British shows, including Careless Rapture and The Dancing Years
100. Michael John LaChiusa - composer/lyricist/librettist of Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party, and See What I Wanna See

Comments

[winer]

So, what is the thinking behind putting Ethel Merman above Cole Porter and Gilbert & Sullivan? I'm not saying you are wrong, but it just surprised me and I want to understand your thought process. Great list as usual.

[ccaggiano]

An excellent question. Ethel Merman single-handedly changed what a female lead could be. Before Merman, musical-comedy females were wispy sopranos or winsome ingenues. After Merman, they could be brassy and bold.

Cole Porter wrote amazing songs, but he only wrote one cohesive score, Kiss Me Kate. And after Kate, he fell back on his old habits of writing hit songs rather than numbers that suited the show.

As for G&S, I'm thinking maybe I should rank them higher. The reason they're as low as they are is that no one else really caught on to what they were doing until about 40 years later. G&S shows came to the US and were big hits, but no one had the slightest idea of how to put together that kind of show, so musical theater floundered for decades. But now that I think about it, they really laid a solid foundation, even if the effect wasn't immediately noticeable.

[Neil Reilly]

Chris! You've left out the music departments! What about the brilliant men who guided those composers and lyricist in making their music work for the productions?

-Paul Gemignani- he's cited by many composers and orchestrators as the best music director on broadway, having a huge influence on the way the music of Sondheim was taught, arranged, and employed in the shows he worked on.

-Robert Russell Bennett- who single handedly created the "Broadway Sound," and taught the two greatest living orchestrators their craft, William David Brohn Jonathan Tunick.

-William David Brohn- perhaps the greatest orchestrator ever to live, who made it his mission to work not just with the music he was provided with, but with the drama it was there to create and support. Unlike most orchestrators, he works not only with the composer and music director, but with the director and the whole production.

-Jonathan Tunick- the orchestrator who gave Sondheim his sound.

Anyways, just a thought! Wonderful entry!
-Neil

[ccaggiano]

OMG, Neil, I stand chastised and abased. How could I forget the orchestrations? Mea maxima culpa. I'll rectify this error on my permanent list.

It also makes me think about designers. Not sure what to do there, but at the very least I should consider Joseph Urban (Ziegfeld Follies), Boris Aronson (Fiddler), and Jules Fisher (friggin everything).

I originally had a couple of critics, Brooks Atkinson and Walter Kerr, but I took them off because I wanted to focus on creators. I might have to reconsider.

[winer]

Thanks for the explanation on Ethel Merman. Makes sense.

[Elisabeth]

I'm not a huge fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber but I think he has been much more influential than many higher on the list (he is only 82nd).

I don't think you are rating quality but influence. History may not be kind to his body of work but he does have the longest 2 running shows on Broadway plus I consider Evita a classic.

[ccaggiano]

Elisabeth,

When considering whom to place where, I was primarily interested in how that particular individual helped progress the form. In other words, how did they influence the quality of the shows that are produced. There's no question that Andrew Lloyd Webber has had a huge economic impact, but that's not really what this list is about.

I tried to think not only in terms of what the individuals on the list produced them selves, but also in how they influenced other creators and other shows. I may have to give some further consideration to the matter, because, for good or for ill, we do see the effect of ALW shows all around us. Not that that's a good thing, mind you.

[simon]

Ah, that explains the low ranking of Abbott - he's influential, but necessarily spectacularly good way (a lot of good shows that he directed suffer from Abbott-isms, where the logic of the show goes out the window to allow for expediency)

[ccaggiano]

Simon: Oh, yeah. That's exactly why Abbott is where he is. He worked on tons of shows, and was very slick and efficient. But he specialized in taking a so-so property and making it work through style and showmanship. (Des McAnuff, anyone?)

[Justin]

No Frank Rich?

[Geoff]

I think you might be a little hard on Abbott. I agree that many of his musicals are flawed (for instance, the famous Abbott second act which is usually incredibly short on plot) and marked by Abbottisms (for instance, the "let's pep up the second act with an extraneous musical number"), but I think one has to place him in his historical context to fully appreciate his contributions.

When he turned to the musical form, its libretto was marked by excess and was frequently verbose, nonsensical, plodding, and leaning toward the exotic. He gave the musical speed, efficiency, structure, a sense of realism, and, in his own way, a kind of logical honesty. I'm not sure that I would characterize his work as slick or showman-like. Efficient? Yes. Professional? Yes. Deep and emotionally affecting? Sadly, no.

I think it is because of this latter characteristic that most of his work creaks and groans when presented today. He was so interested in getting from point A to point B that he could loose site of the emotional honesty of his characters. He did not hesitate to manipulate them to make his plot points. Audiences of the 1940s and 1950s were apparently more forgiving of this type of manipulation. Unfortunately, this doesn't hold true today, so his work must be edited and reworked for contemporary audiences. I don't think this lessens his contribution though.

Many of the artists you rank above him were, in fact, tutored by Abbott and owe much of their success to him. I think this is especially true of Hal Prince, who while able to move far beyond his Abbott upbringing, never discounted his origins.

[ccaggiano]

Geoff, you make a compelling point with respect to the people who came after Abbott. I'll have to give it some consideration. But there's a difference between teaching and setting a negative example. There's no question that Abbott had a successful career, and marshaled many significant shows to fruition, including On Your Toes, Pal Joey, and On the Town. But I'm not entirely convinced that these shows succeeded because of him, but rather in spite of him.

[Seth Christenfeld]

Chris, you're missing one person who, though not loudly so, may have been the most influential musical theatre force (for better or worse) of the the last 50 years: Lehman Engel. Not for his career as a conductor, but rather for founding the BMI Workshop, which has now trained (and in a few cases completely destroyed the hopes of...cough cough) nearly five decades' worth of composers and lyricists, including a few names on the list. He belongs up near the top, I'd think. (By extension, those who've followed him in leading the Workshop belong with him--Skip Kennon, Maury Yeston, etc.)

By the same token, William Finn's influence is largely being felt via his teaching at NYU, rather than through his work. (I adore him, but he's not been like Sondheim or Jason Robert Brown, forging leagues of followers/imitators.)

[Seth Christenfeld]

Chris, you're missing one person who, though not loudly so, may have been the most influential musical theatre force (for better or worse) of the the last 50 years: Lehman Engel. Not for his career as a conductor, but rather for founding the BMI Workshop, which has now trained (and in a few cases completely destroyed the hopes of...cough cough) nearly five decades' worth of composers and lyricists, including a few names on the list. He belongs up near the top, I'd think. (By extension, those who've followed him in leading the Workshop belong with him--Skip Kennon, Maury Yeston, etc.)

By the same token, William Finn's influence is largely being felt via his teaching at NYU, rather than through his work. (I adore him, but he's not been like Sondheim or Jason Robert Brown, forging leagues of followers/imitators.)

(Apologies if this shows up more than once.)

[SarahB]

You included Bernadette, but not Angela? Have you gone quite mad?

[Encore Entertainment]

I love that you included Bernadette. I absolutely love her.

http://encorentertainmnt.blogspot.com/2009/08/iconic-musical-scenes.html