Musical Theatre Quiz B

Minstrel shows, mostly created and performed in the urban centers of the North, sought to create stereotypical caricatures of African-Americans which accurately reflected life for slaves in the South.

The first American stage form to commission music to be composed specifically for it’s productions was:

One character created for minstrel shows was an elderly African-American slave with a “happy, go-lucky attitude” and slurred dialect named:

Without a doubt, the most commercially successful minstrel troupe was called “The ___________ Minstrels”.

At the end of a typical minstrel show’s “Act One” was a contest for the performers to parody, with strutting and high-stepping, the fancy balls and dances of white high-society. It was called:

Which character typically served as “Master of Ceremonies” in the minstrel show?

The first prolific African-American composer of minstrel songs (estimated at over 600) was a freed slave named:

A common theme with all melodramas was that plots centered around:

An integral part of the melodrama was the “melo” which was:

Melodrama’s use of music to manipulate the audience’s emotions was a 19th century precursor to the contemporary movie soundtrack.