| The first theater piece that conforms to the | | | | New York by productions such as Reginald |
| modern conception of a musical is generally | | | | DeKoven's Robin Hood (1891), and John Philip |
| considered to be The Black Crook, which | | | | Sousa's El Capitan (1896). A Trip to Coontown |
| premiered in New York on September 12, 1866. | | | | (1898) was the first musical comedy entirely |
| The production was a staggering five-and-a-half | | | | produced and performed by blacks in a Broadway |
| hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a | | | | theater (largely inspired to the routines of the |
| record-breaking 474 performances. The same | | | | minstrel show), followed by the ragtime-tinged |
| year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and | | | | Clorindy the Origin of the Cakewalk (1898), and |
| the Post was the first show to call itself a | | | | the highly successful In Dahomey (1902). New |
| "musical comedy." | | | | York runs, however, continued to be relatively |
| Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart | | | | short, with a few exceptions, compared with |
| produced and starred in musicals on Broadway | | | | London runs, until after World War I.[7] |
| between 1878 (The Mulligan Guard Picnic) and | | | | Musicals had spread to the London stage by the |
| 1884, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music | | | | 1890s. George Edwardes left the management of |
| by his father-in-law David Braham. These musical | | | | Richard D'Oyly Carte's Savoy operas and |
| comedies featured characters and situations | | | | perceived that theatregoers' tastes had turned |
| taken from the everyday life of New York's | | | | away from comic operas. He revolutionized the |
| lower classes and represented a significant step | | | | London stage by presenting musical comedies at |
| forward from vaudeville and burlesque, towards a | | | | the Gaiety Theatre, Daly's Theatre and other |
| more literate form. They starred high quality | | | | venues. His early Gaiety hits included a series of |
| singers (Edna May, Lillian Russell, Vivienne Segal | | | | light, romantic "poor maiden loves aristocrat and |
| and Fay Templeton) instead of the ladies of | | | | wins him against all odds" shows, usually with the |
| questionable repute who had starred in earlier | | | | word "Girl" in the title, including The Shop Girl |
| musical forms. | | | | (1894) and A Runaway Girl (1898), with music by |
| The length of runs in the theatre changed rapidly | | | | Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton. At Daly's |
| around the same time that the modern musical | | | | Theatre, Edwardes presented more complex |
| was born. As transportation improved, poverty in | | | | comedy hits. The Geisha (1896) by Sidney Jones |
| London and New York diminished, and street | | | | with lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross |
| lighting made for safer travel at night, the number | | | | and then San Toy (1899) each ran for more than |
| of potential patrons for the growing number of | | | | two years, which was unusual at the time. Other |
| theatres increased enormously. Plays could run | | | | British composers of the period included F. |
| longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to | | | | Osmond Carr, Edward Solomon and Leslie Stuart. |
| better profits and improved production values. | | | | The British musical comedy Florodora (1899) by |
| The first production to achieve 500 consecutive | | | | Leslie Stuart and Paul Rubens made a splash on |
| performances was the London comedy Our | | | | both sides of the Atlantic, as did A Chinese |
| Boys, opening in 1875, which set an astonishing | | | | Honeymoon (1901), by British lyricist George |
| new record of 1,362 performances.[6] This was | | | | Dance and American-born composer Howard |
| soon followed in London by the long-running | | | | Talbot, which ran for a record setting 1,074 |
| successes of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera | | | | performances in London and 376 in New York. |
| hits, beginning with H.M.S. Pinafore, which were | | | | The story concerns couples who honeymoon in |
| exceeded by Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson's | | | | China and inadvertently break the kissing laws |
| record-breaking hit, Dorothy, in 1886 (a show | | | | (shades of The Mikado). After the turn of the |
| midway between comic opera and musical | | | | century, Seymour Hicks (who joined forces with |
| comedy) and equalled by many of the most | | | | American producer Charles Frohman) wrote |
| successful London musicals of the 1890s. | | | | popular shows with composer Charles Taylor and |
| Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on | | | | others, and Edwardes and Ross continued to |
| Broadway in the 1890s and early 1900s | | | | churn out hits (The Toreador (1901), A Country |
| comprising music written in New York's Tin Pan | | | | Girl, The Orchid (1903), The Girls of Gottenberg |
| Alley involving composers such as Gus Edwards, | | | | (1907), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), and The Boy |
| John J McNally, John Walter Bratton and George M. | | | | (1917)). However, only three decades after Gilbert |
| Cohan (Little Johnny Jones (1904), 45 Minutes | | | | and Sullivan broke the stranglehold that French |
| From Broadway (1906), and George Washington | | | | operettas had on the London stage, European |
| Jr. (1906)). Charles Hoyt's A Trip to Chinatown | | | | operettas came roaring back to Britain and |
| (1891) was able to compete against Gilbert and | | | | America beginning in 1907 with The Merry Widow. |
| Sullivan's comic operas, which were imitated in | | | | |