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UrielAcosta (talk | contribs) →National recognition: Removed unsourced content based on weasel words Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
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The [[African Grove Theatre]] opened in New York City in 1821.
Before the late 1890s, the image portrayed of [[African-Americans]] on Broadway was a "secondhand vision of black life created by [[European-American]] performers."<ref>Allen L. Woll, ''Black Musical Theater: From Coontown to Dreamgirls.'' Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1989; pg. 1.</ref> Stereotyped "[[coon song]]s" were popular, and [[blackface]] was common. Minstrel shows were often performed in early history and were inspired by black music. These shows were first performed by white people who used black face in the 1800s. Many of these performers wore old ripped clothing, some actually stolen from slaves, to “represent” the enslaved African Americans. Along with the clothing,
[[Will Marion Cook]] and [[Bob Cole (composer)|Bob Cole]] brought black-written musical comedy to Broadway in 1898. Cook's ''[[Clorindy: The Origin of the Cakewalk|Clorindy, or The Origin of the Cake Walk]]'', an hour-long sketch that was the first all-black show to play in a prestigious Broadway house, [[Casino Theatre (New York, New York)|Casino Theatre]]'s Roof Garden. Cole's ''[[A Trip to Coontown]]'' was the first full-length New York musical comedy written, directed and performed exclusively by blacks. The approach of the two composers were diametrically opposed: Cole believed that African Americans should try to compete with European Americans by proving their ability to act similarly on- and offstage, while Cook thought African Americans should not imitate European Americans but instead create their own style.{{cn|date=November 2021}}
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