"A form of variety entertainment popular in Britain from circa 1850, consisting of singing, dancing, comedy, acrobatics, and novelty acts. Its popularity declined after the First World War with the rise of the cinema" - http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/music-hall
ORIGINS:
PERFORMANCES:
"Members of the public flocked to theatres around the country to sing along to favourite popular songs, or watch entertainments as diverse as acrobats, trapeze artists, ‘operatic selections’, ‘black-face minstrels’, or can-can dancers." - http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item106422.html
PERFORMERS:
Paul Cinquevalli (juggler); Lottie Collins (skipping rope dance act); Gus Elen ('coster' comedian); El Niño Farini (acrobat); Dan Leno (pantomime dame); Marie Lloyd (singer); Vesta Tilley (impersonator) - http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/m/music-hall-performers/
THEATRES:
"Mr Charles Morton, publican of the Canterbury Tavern in Lambeth, opened the first purpose built music hall, The Canterbury Hall, in 1852. It held 700 people. Audiences were seated at tables and food and drink was served throughout the performance, which took place on a platform at one end of the hall under the watchful Chairman, the vocalist, Mr John Caulfield. Entrance was by a sixpenny refreshment ticket and the star was Sam Cowell, who had been lured from Evans’ Supper Rooms. So great was Cowell’s success that Morton had to build a larger hall on the same site. The more ornate hall opened in 1856 complete with chandeliers, balcony and art exhibition. It held 1500 people. Admission was sixpence to the floor and ninepence to the gallery. Refreshments, now charged separately, were served at tables. Mr Chairman sat at a table on the stage." - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-story-of-music-halls/"Institutions: The backroom of the pub, where simple sing-songs gave way to the singing saloon concert // Popular theatre, sometimes in pub saloons but mainly at travelling fairs // Song & Supper Rooms, where more affluent middle class men would enjoy a night out on the town // The Pleasure Gardens, where entertainment became more low brow as the years passed." - http://www.musichallcds.co.uk/music_hall_history.htm
STRIKES:
In 1907 there were strikes due to contracts becoming stricter. - http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-story-of-music-halls/ (bottom of the page)THE END: In the 1950s, Rock and Roll arrived, which drove away older audiences and brought in younger audiences (who weren't interested in the Music Hall acts). Competition for Music Hall also appeared in the form of television. "The music hall is dying, and with it, a significant part of England. Some of the heart of England has gone; something that once belonged to everyone, for this was truly a folk art." — John Osbourne, The Entertainer (1957).- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall
I knew it was essential to conduct research on Music Hall to enable myself to have a strong knowledge of the history of Musical Theatre, as I had heard of Music Hall and believed it to be where Musical Theatre stemmed from. However, I do understand that Opera had a strong influence on Musical Theatre, so I shall research this in depth too. I was eager to begin my research on Music Hall, as I have had a little taster of it having taken Musical Theatre singing grades, and found it really interesting. I thought that having a dictionary definition of the term "Music Hall" would be a good place to begin my research. I then broke the research down into small subtitles to make the research more manageable. Having done a research log of purely Music Hall, I will be able to produce a very detailed timeline by the end of this unit. I strongly believe that by understanding the routes and influences of a chosen subject, you will gain a better understanding of the subject itself.
