Show tune

From Freepedia

A Show tune is a song designed and written for a musical theater production, such as the songs from:

• Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song, The Sound of Music
• Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, Gigi, Camelot
• Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
• Jerry Herman's Milk and Honey, Hello Dolly!, Mame, Dear World, Mack & Mabel, La Cage aux Folles
• Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd
• John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret, Chicago
• Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera

Though show tunes may vary in style, they do tend to share common characteristics — they tend to be singable, and to contain content which fits (or can be fit into) the context of a larger story. Even independent songs that are later used in musicals usually have a "show tunes"-appropriate quality to them. That is, they don't just "happen" to be in musicals. They are in musicals for a reason.

See also

• Musical theater
• The Jerry Herman musical revues Showtune, Jerry's Girls
• The Stephen Sondheim musical revues Side by Side by Sondheim, Putting It Together