1.
Wichita Falls, Texas
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Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. Wichita Falls is the city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay. According to the 2010 census, the city had a population of 104,553, of interest is the Newby-McMahon Building, constructed downtown in 1919 and featured in Robert Ripleys Ripleys Believe It or Not. The Choctaw Native Americans settled the area in the early 19th century from their native Mississippi area once Americans negotiated to relocate them after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, American settlers arrived in the 1860s to form cattle ranches. The city was officially titled Wichita Falls on September 27,1872, on that day, a sale of town lots was held at what is now the corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets – the birthplace of the city. The Fort Worth & Denver City Railway arrived in September 1882, the city grew westwards from the original FW&DC train depot which was located at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and the FW&DC. This area is now referred to as the Depot Square Historic District, the early history of Wichita Falls well into the 20th century also rests on the work of two entrepreneurs, Joseph A. Kemp and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell. Kemp and Kell were pioneers in food processing and retailing, flour milling, railroads, cattle, banking, a flood in 1886 destroyed the original falls on the Wichita River for which the city was named. After nearly 100 years of wanting to visit the nonexistent falls. The recreated falls are 54 ft high and recirculate at 3,500 gallons per minute and they are visible to south-bound traffic on Interstate 44. The city is seeking funding to rebuild and restore the downtown area. Both firms continued to use a portion of their former refineries as gasoline/oil terminal facilities for many years, a devastating tornado hit the north and northwest portions of Wichita Falls along with Sheppard Air Force Base during the afternoon of April 3,1964. As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area, it left seven dead, additionally, the tornado caused roughly $15 million in property damage with about 225 homes destroyed and another 250 damaged. It was rated as an F5, the highest rating on the Fujita scale, an F4 tornado struck the heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10,1979. It was part of an outbreak that produced 30 tornadoes around the region and it left 20,000 people homeless and caused $400 million in damage, a U. S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 Moore-Oklahoma City tornado of May 3,1999. Wichita Falls is about 15 miles south of the border with Oklahoma,115 mi northwest of Fort Worth, and 140 mi southwest of Oklahoma City. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 70.71 square miles. Wichita Falls experiences a subtropical climate, with some of the highest summer daily maximum temperatures in the entire U. S. outside of the Desert Southwest
2.
Lon Morris College
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Lon Morris was an accredited two-year institute of higher learning, which provides instruction in the arts and sciences with a core curriculum emphasizing liberal arts. While Lon Morris taught as many as 350 students in a semester, enrollment reached more than 1,000, the school was 30 miles south of Tyler. The person who last held the title of president was Dr. Miles McCall. Lon Morris College filed for bankruptcy on July 2,2012, the 112-acre campus was auctioned on January 14,2013 in Dallas, Texas, the primary purchasers were a local school district and an office supply company. Founded in 1854 as the New Danville Masonic Female Academy near Kilgore, the Texas Annual Conference acquired the Alexander Institute in 1875. Chartered on January 15,1887, the Institute moved to Jacksonville in 1894 and to its final location in 1909. Lon Morris of Pittsburg, Texas, gave his estate to the school, and with approval of the Texas Annual Conference and it was the only surviving pre-Civil War school in East Texas. One of Lon Morris presidents was John E. Fellers, a Christian writer and Methodist minister, primarily in the Houston area, but also in Alexandria and Shreveport, Louisiana. In 2009, the campus of Lon Morris grew to the west, with a gift from the city of Jacksonville of an activity center, a rodeo arena. The college allowed annual events for the Tops-in-Texas Rodeo at the arena without any financial outlays from the city. Students participated in a variety of sports including basketball, baseball and softball, mens/womens soccer, mens/womens golf, volleyball, cheer leading. In 2009, football was added as a varsity sport in attempt to increase revenue, in February 2010, Lon Morris announced a new agriculture curriculum, and begun in the fall of 2010. In March 2010, the college acquired a prominent downtown Jacksonville building that originally had housed the city post office for many decades, a local family had owned and operated the building for a time as a hotel and restaurant using the name The Landmark. Lon Morris announced it would use the property for its new hospitality administration program. By March 2010, a new dormitory, Cooper House, opened on the campus, another new dormitory was called The Lodge. On May 23,2012, all employees, with the exception of 11 core employees, were furloughed indefinitely. The furlough occurred after the school missed three pay periods, Miles McCall, the president, submitted his resignation notice via e-mail. McCalls resignation was effective May 24,2012, the affected individuals were notified via email
3.
University of Texas at Austin
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Founded in 1881 as The University of Texas, its campus is in Austin, Texas—approximately 1 mile from the Texas State Capitol. The institution has the nations seventh-largest single-campus enrollment, with over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and over 24,000 faculty, UT Austin was inducted into the American Association of Universities in 1929, becoming only the third university in the American South to be elected. It is a center for academic research, with research expenditures exceeding $550 million for the 2014–2015 school year. J. Pickle Research Campus and the McDonald Observatory, among university faculty are recipients of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, the Wolf Prize, the Emmy Award, the Turing Award, and the National Medal of Science, as well as many other awards. UT Austin student athletes compete as the Texas Longhorns and are members of the Big 12 Conference and its Longhorn Network is the only sports network featuring the college sports of a single university. The first mention of a university in Texas can be traced to the 1827 constitution for the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. Although Title 6, Article 217 of the Constitution promised to establish education in the arts and sciences. On April 18,1838, An Act to Establish the University of Texas was referred to a committee of the Texas Congress. On January 26,1839, the Texas Congress agreed to set aside fifty leagues of land towards the establishment of a publicly funded university, in addition,40 acres in the new capital of Austin were reserved and designated College Hill. In 1845, Texas was annexed into the United States, interestingly, the states Constitution of 1845 failed to mention higher education. On February 11,1858, the Seventh Texas Legislature approved O. B,102, an act to establish the University of Texas, which set aside $100,000 in United States bonds toward construction of the states first publicly funded university. The legislature also designated land reserved for the encouragement of railroad construction toward the universitys endowment, Texas secession from the Union and the American Civil War delayed repayment of the borrowed monies. At the end of the Civil War in 1865, The University of Texas endowment was just over $16,000 in warrants, the more valuable lands reverted to the fund to support general education in the state. The legislature additionally appropriated $256,272.57 to repay the funds taken from the university in 1860 to pay for frontier defense, the 1883 grant of land increased the land in the Permanent University Fund to almost 2.2 million acres. Under the Act of 1858, the university was entitled to just over 1,000 acres of land for every mile of railroad built in the state. On March 30,1881, the legislature set forth the structure and organization. By popular election on September 6,1881, Austin was chosen as the site, galveston, having come in second in the election was designated the location of the medical department. On November 17,1882, on the original College Hill, smite the earth, smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth
4.
University of Houston
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The University of Houston is a state research university and the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, UH is the third-largest university in Texas with nearly 43,000 students and its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of Houston–University Park from 1983 to 1991. The Carnegie Foundation classifies UH as a doctoral degree-granting institution with highest research activity, the U. S. News & World Report ranks the university No.194 in its National University Rankings, and No.103 among top public universities. The university offers more than 280 degree programs through its 14 academic colleges on campus—including programs leading to degrees in architecture, law, optometry. The institution conducts $150 million annually in research, and operates more than 40 research centers, interdisciplinary research includes superconductivity, space commercialization and exploration, biomedical sciences and engineering, energy and natural resources, and artificial intelligence. Awarding more than 9,000 degrees annually, UHs alumni base exceeds 260,000, the economic impact of the university contributes over $3 billion annually to the Texas economy, while generating about 24,000 jobs. The University of Houston hosts a variety of performances, concerts, lectures. It has more than 400 student organizations and 17 intercollegiate sports teams, annual UH events and traditions include The Cats Back, Homecoming, and Frontier Fiesta. The universitys varsity teams, known as the Houston Cougars, are members of the American Athletic Conference. The football team regularly makes bowl game appearances, and the basketball team has made 19 appearances in the NCAA Division I Tournament—including five Final Four appearances. The mens golf team has won 16 national championships—the most in NCAA history, the University of Houston began as Houston Junior College. On March 7,1927, trustees of the Houston Independent School District Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution that authorized the founding and operating of a junior college, the junior college was operated and administered by HISD. Originally HJC was located in San Jacinto High School and offered night courses. Its first session began March 7,1927, with an enrollment of 232 students and 12 faculty and this session was primarily held to educate the future teachers of the junior college, freshmen were not permitted to enroll. A more accurate date for the opening of HJC is September 19,1927. The first president of HJC was Edison Ellsworth Oberholtzer, who was the dominant force in establishing the junior college, the junior college became eligible to become a university in October 1933 when Governor of Texas, Miriam A. Ferguson, signed House Bill 194 into law. On April 30,1934, HISDs Board of Education adopted a resolution to make the school a four-year institution, UHs first session as a four-year institution began June 4,1934, at San Jacinto High School with an enrollment of 682. In 1934, the first campus of the University of Houston was established at the Second Baptist Church at Milam, the next fall, the campus was moved to the South Main Baptist Church on Main Street—between Richmond Avenue and Eagle Street—where it stayed for the next five years
5.
Actor
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An actor is a person who portrays a character in a performance. Simplistically speaking, the person denominated actor or actress is someone beautiful who plays important characters, the actor performs in the flesh in the traditional medium of the theatre, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής, literally one who answers, the actors interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is playing themselves, as in forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, to act, is to create. Formerly, in societies, only men could become actors. When used for the stage, women played the roles of prepubescent boys. The etymology is a derivation from actor with ess added. However, when referring to more than one performer, of both sexes, actor is preferred as a term for male performers. Actor is also used before the name of a performer as a gender-specific term. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the term dates to the 1950–1960s. As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper, Im an actor – I can play anything. The U. K. performers union Equity has no policy on the use of actor or actress, an Equity spokesperson said that the union does not believe that there is a consensus on the matter and stated that the. subject divides the profession. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times stated that Actress remains the term used in major acting awards given to female recipients. However, player remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a group or company, such as the American Players. Also, actors in improvisational theatre may be referred to as players, prior to Thespis act, Grecian stories were only expressed in song, dance, and in third person narrative. In honor of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians, the exclusively male actors in the theatre of ancient Greece performed in three types of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play. Western theatre developed and expanded considerably under the Romans, as the Western Roman Empire fell into decay through the 4th and 5th centuries, the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire. Records show that mime, pantomime, scenes or recitations from tragedies and comedies, dances, from the 5th century, Western Europe was plunged into a period of general disorder
6.
Dance
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Dance is a performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture, Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin. Other forms of movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming. Theatrical dance, also called performance or concert dance, is intended primarily as a spectacle and it often tells a story, perhaps using mime, costume and scenery, or else it may simply interpret the musical accompaniment, which is often specially composed. Examples are western ballet and modern dance, Classical Indian dance and Chinese and Japanese song, most classical forms are centred upon dance alone, but performance dance may also appear in opera and other forms of musical theatre. Such dance seldom has any narrative, a group dance and a corps de ballet, a social partner dance and a pas de deux, differ profoundly. Even a solo dance may be solely for the satisfaction of the dancer. On the other hand, some cultures lay down strict rules as to the dances in which, for example. Archeological evidence for early dance includes 9, 000-year-old paintings in India at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka and it has been proposed that before the invention of written languages, dance was an important part of the oral and performance methods of passing stories down from generation to generation. The use of dance in trance states and healing rituals is thought to have been another early factor in the social development of dance. References to dance can be found in very early recorded history, Greek dance is referred to by Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, the Bible and Talmud refer to many events related to dance, and contain over 30 different dance terms. In Chinese pottery as early as the Neolithic period, groups of people are depicted dancing in a line holding hands, Dance is further described in the Lüshi Chunqiu. Primitive dance in ancient China was associated with sorcery and shamanic rituals, during the first millennium BCE in India, many texts were composed which attempted to codify aspects of daily life. Bharata Munis Natyashastra is one of the earlier texts and it mainly deals with drama, in which dance plays an important part in Indian culture. It categorizes dance into four types - secular, ritual, abstract, the text elaborates various hand-gestures and classifies movements of the various limbs, steps and so on. A strong continuous tradition of dance has since continued in India, through to modern times, where it continues to play a role in culture, ritual, and, notably, the Bollywood entertainment industry. Many other contemporary dance forms can likewise be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial, Dance is generally, though not exclusively, performed with the accompaniment of music and may or may not be performed in time to such music. Some dance may provide its own audible accompaniment in place of music, many early forms of music and dance were created for each other and are frequently performed together
7.
Lamar High School (Houston)
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Lamar Senior High School is a secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. Lamar High School, which serves grades 9 through 12, is part of the Houston Independent School District, the school has a business magnet program offering business management courses, as well as cooperation with the Houston business community to provide internships and university scholarships. The school handles grades nine through twelve, Lamar High School has neighborhood, Advanced Placement, and IB Diploma Programme programs. Lamar has one of two high school level IB Diploma programs in the Houston Independent School District and, therefore, is one of HISDs seven IB World Schools, Lamar High School consistently has the greatest number of students who graduate with the IB Diploma in Texas. Lamar offers many International Baccalaureate Diploma classes, including five languages, Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish. In 1999 Lamars IB program was the 14th largest such program in the country, the schools mascot for its sports teams is the Lamar Texans. In the 19th century Michael Louis Westheimer, a German immigrant who arrived in Houston in 1859, on his property Westheimer established a school for local children, including some of his relatives from Germany. The path to the school became Westheimers Road, now called Westheimer Road, the Houston Independent School District built and established Lamar on the former site of Westheimers farm. Earlier the Southampton Civic Club attempted to persuade Houston ISD to build Lamar at a lot along Kirby and West Alabama, HISD board member Ray K. Daily, then the sole female on the board, attended and participated in the March 13,1936 groundbreaking. The initial name for the school was Southwest High School, Lamar opened in 1937 along Westheimer Road which was not paved. The opening relieved pressure on San Jacinto High School in what is now Midtown, when the school opened it had 1,310 students, mostly from Bellaire, West University Place, Montrose, Southampton, and Southgate. In 1938 10% of the students resided in River Oaks, william Broyles of the Texas Monthly wrote that in its pre-desegregation history Lamar was the public equivalent of an exclusive prep school and Houstons society school. In that period Lamar was the designation of children of Houstons most prominent families who attended high schools. Many students in the 1950s had referred to River Oaks Boulevard as the street with a country club at both ends. One was the River Oaks Country Club, and the other was Lamar High School, gregory Curtis of the Texas Monthly wrote that Lamar has always had a reputation as a school of snobs within Houstons public school system. Lamar grew rapidly to the point where Robert E. Lee High School was built in 1962 to relieve Lamar, lees first principal, Woodrow Watts, was previously the principal of Lamar. Harold Costlow became Lamars principal in 1962, after its opening, Lee became Lamars primary athletic rival. Lamar racially integrated in the 1970s, Broyles wrote that Lamar integrated quietly and not so much as an experiment in integration but simply as a school, a place where adolescents learn many things, some of them in the classroom
8.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
9.
Methodism
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Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and Johns brother Charles Wesley were also significant leaders in the movement and it originated as a revival within the 18th century Church of England and became a separate Church after Wesleys death. Because of vigorous missionary work, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, Wesleys theology focused on sanctification and the effect of faith on the character of a Christian. Distinguishing Methodist doctrines include an assurance of salvation, imparted righteousness, the possibility of perfection in love, the works of piety and the primacy of Scripture. Most Methodists teach that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for all of humanity and that salvation is available for all, in theology and this teaching rejects the Calvinist position that God has pre-ordained the salvation of a select group of people. However, Whitefield and several others were considered Calvinistic Methodists and held to the latter position, Methodism emphasises charity and support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the works of mercy. These ideals are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens and schools to follow Christs command to spread the gospel, the movement has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage. Denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition are generally less ritualistic, Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition and Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church. In Britain, the Methodist Church had an effect in the early decades of the making of the working class. In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves who later formed black churches in the Methodist tradition. The Methodist revival began with a group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles, the Wesley brothers founded the Holy Club at the University of Oxford, where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College. The club met weekly and they set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving Communion every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury and frequently visited the sick, the fellowship were branded as Methodist by their fellow students because of the way they used rule and method to go about their religious affairs. John, who was leader of the club, took the attempted mockery, unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help to Peter Boehler and other members of the Moravian Church, at a Moravian service in Aldersgate on 24 May 1738, John experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his heart strangely warmed. Charles had reported an experience an few days previously. Considered a pivotal moment, Daniel L. John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, Arminius had rejected the Calvinist teaching that God had pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris, and Selina Hastings, George Whitefield, returning from his own mission in Georgia, joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly to become a national crusade
10.
Jacksonville, Texas
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Jacksonville is a city located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,544 at the 2010 census and it is the principal city of the Jacksonville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cherokee County, and part of the larger Tyler–Jacksonville combined statistical area. Jacksonville is located in an area of rolling hills in East Texas, north of the county seat, Rusk, the north-south Highway 69 intersects the east-west U. S. Route 79 at the former Landmark Hotel/Restaurant and the Capital One Bank building in downtown Jacksonville. Area production and shipping of tomatoes gained the town the title Tomato Capital of the World, annual events include the Tomato Fest celebration in June and the Tops in Texas Rodeo held in July. As of the census of 2000, there were 13,868 people,4,882 households, the population density was 981.0 people per square mile. There were 5,397 housing units at a density of 381.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 62. 60% White,21. 70% African American,0. 48% Native American,0. 68% Asian,0. 13% Pacific Islander,12. 72% from other races, and 1. 69% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23. 04% of the population,27. 7% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the family size was 3.28. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 29. 2% under the age of 18,12. 1% from 18 to 24,25. 2% from 25 to 44,17. 9% from 45 to 64, the median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 89.9 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $25,800, males had a median income of $23,650 versus $19,375 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,541, about 19. 2% of families and 23. 1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29. 0% of those under age 18 and 17. 7% of those age 65 or over. Jacksonville began in 1847 as the town of Gum Creek, Jackson Smith built a home and blacksmith shop in the area, and became postmaster in 1848, when a post office was authorized. Shortly afterward, Dr. William Jackson established an office near Smiths shop, when the townsite was laid out in 1850, the name Jacksonville was chosen in honor of these two men. The name of the post office was changed from Gum Creek to Jacksonville in June 1850, Jacksonville is located a 31°57′49″N 95°16′07″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 14.1 square miles. On average, the warmest month is July, the highest recorded temperature was 110 °F in 1954
11.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
12.
Musical theatre
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Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement, since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. Musicals are performed around the world and they may be presented in large venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, Off-Broadway or regional theatre productions, musicals are often presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada, the three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The interpretation of a musical is the responsibility of its team, which includes a director. A musicals production is also characterized by technical aspects, such as set design, costumes, stage properties, lighting. The creative team, designs and interpretations generally change from the production to succeeding productions. Some production elements, however, may be retained from the production, for example. There is no fixed length for a musical, while it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length, most musicals range from one and a half to three hours. Musicals are usually presented in two acts, with one intermission, and the first act is frequently longer than the second. A book musical is usually built four to six main theme tunes that are reprised later in the show. Several shorter musicals on Broadway and in the West End have been presented in one act in recent decades, moments of greatest dramatic intensity in a book musical are often performed in song. Proverbially, when the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing, typically, many fewer words are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore, there is time to develop drama in a musical than in a straight play of equivalent length. Within the compressed nature of a musical, the writers must develop the characters, the material presented in a musical may be original, or it may be adapted from novels, plays, classic legends, historical events or films. On the other hand, many musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver
