It is acknowledged that the modem musical show is Americas most original and dynamic cont

It is acknowledged that the modem musical show is America"s most original and dynamic contribution toward theater. In the last quarter of 20th century, America has produced large 【21】______ of musical plays that have been popular abroad 【22】______ at home. 【23】______ , it is very difficult to explain 【24】______ is new or 【25】______ American about them, for the 【26】______ are centuries old.

Perhaps the uniqueness of America"s contribution to the 【27】______ can best be characterized through brief descriptions of several of the most important and best-known musicals. One of these is surely Oklahoma by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hamerstein. It burst 【28】______ popularity in 1943. Broadway audience and critics were 【29】______ by its 【30】______ , vitality and excitement. This "new" type of musical was 【31】______ as kind of 【32】______ theater in which the play, the music and lyrics, the dancing, and the scenic background were assembled not merely to provide entertainment and 【33】______ , but to 【34】______ in a single unifying whole to contribute to its unique feature. 【35】______ , it meant that the songs and dances should 【36】______ naturally out of the situations of the story and play an important part in carrying the action 【37】______ . In Oklahoma, an American folk-dance style. was organically combined with classical ballet and modem dance. It is fight to say that the musical was a brilliantly integrated performance by the talented dancers and singing actors.

Oklahoma also marked a new 【38】______ in the choice of story on which a musical is based. Writers and composers began to abandon the sentimentally picturesque or aristocratic setting 【39】______ more realistic stories in authentic social and cultural 【40】______ Oklahoma was based on a "folk" whose story dealt not only with young love but also with the opening of the American West.

【21】

A．number

B．amount

C．quantity

D．numbers