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Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Theatre, drama > Musical theatre
The American Song Book, Volume I: The Tin Pan Alley Era is the
first in a projected five-volume series of books that will reprint
original sheet music, including covers, of songs that constitute
the enduring standards of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the
Gershwins, and other lyricists and composers of what has been
called the "Golden Age" of American popular music. These songs have
done what popular songs are not supposed to do-stayed popular. They
have been reinterpreted year after year, generation after
generation, by jazz artists such as Charlie Parker and Art Tatum,
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra
began recording albums of these standards and was soon followed by
such singers as Tony Bennet, Doris Day, Willie Nelson, and Linda
Ronstadt. In more recent years, these songs have been reinterpreted
by Rod Stewart, Harry Connick, Jr., Carly Simon, Lady GaGa, K.D.
Laing, Paul McCartney, and, most recently, Bob Dylan. As such,
these songs constitute the closest thing America has to a repertory
of enduring classical music. In addition to reprinting the sheet
music for these classic songs, authors Philip Furia and Laurie
Patterson place these songs in historical context with essays about
the sheet-music publishing industry known as Tin Pan Alley, the
emergence of American musical comedy on Broadway, and the "talkie"
revolution that made possible the Hollywood musical. The authors
also provide biographical sketches of songwriters, performers, and
impresarios such as Florenz Ziegfeld. In addition, they analyze the
lyrical and musical artistry of each song and relate anecdotes,
sometimes amusing, sometimes poignant, about how the songs were
created. The American Songbook is a book that can be read for
enjoyment on its own or be propped on the piano to be played and
sung.
The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical offers new and
cutting-edge essays on the most important and compelling issues and
topics in the growing, interdisciplinary field of musical-theater
and film-musical studies. Taking the form of a "keywords" book, it
introduces readers to the concepts and terms that define the
history of the musical as a genre and that offer ways to reflect on
the specific creative choices that shape musicals and their
performance on stage and screen. The handbook offers a
cross-section of essays written by leading experts in the field,
organized within broad conceptual groups, which together capture
the breadth, direction, and tone of musicals studies today.
Each essay traces the genealogy of the term or issue it addresses,
including related issues and controversies, positions and
problematizes those issues within larger bodies of scholarship, and
provides specific examples drawn from shows and films. Essays both
re-examine traditional topics and introduce underexplored areas.
Reflecting the concerns of scholars and students alike, the authors
emphasize critical and accessible perspectives, and supplement
theory with concrete examples that may be accessed through links to
the handbook's website.
Taking into account issues of composition, performance, and
reception, the book's contributors bring a wide range of practical
and theoretical perspectives to bear on their considerations of one
of America's most lively, enduring artistic traditions. The Oxford
Handbook of The AmericanMusical will engage all readers interested
in the form, from students to scholars to fans and aficionados, as
it analyses the complex relationships among the creators,
performers, and audiences who sustain the genre.
Hailed as "absolutely the best reference book on its subject" by
Newsweek, American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle covers more than
250 years of musical theatre in the United States, from a 1735
South Carolina production of Flora, or Hob in the Well to The
Addams Family in 2010. Authors Gerald Bordman and Richard Norton
write an engaging narrative blending history, critical analysis,
and lively description to illustrate the transformation of American
musical theatre through such incarnations as the ballad opera,
revue, Golden Age musical, rock musical, Disney musical, and, with
2010's American Idiot, even the punk musical.
The Chronicle is arranged chronologically and is fully indexed
according to names of shows, songs, and people involved, for easy
searching and browsing. Chapters range from the "Prologue," which
traces the origins of American musical theater to 1866, through
several "intermissions" (for instance, "Broadway's Response to the
Swing Era, 1937-1942") and up to "Act Seven," the theatre of the
twenty-first century. This last chapter covers the dramatic changes
in musical theatre since the last edition published-whereas Fosse,
a choreography-heavy revue, won the 1999 Tony for Best Musical, the
2008 award went to In the Heights, which combines hip-hop, rap,
meringue and salsa unlike any musical before it. Other
groundbreaking and/or box-office-breaking shows covered for the
first time include Avenue Q, The Producers, Billy Elliot, Jersey
Boys, Monty Python's Spamalot, Wicked, Hairspray, Urinetown the
Musical, and Spring Awakening.
Discussion of these shows incorporates plot synopses, names of
principal players, descriptions of scenery and costumes, and
critical reactions. In addition, short biographies interspersed
throughout the text colorfully depict the creative minds that
shaped the most influential musicals. Collectively, these elements
create the most comprehensive, authoritative history of musical
theatre in this country and make this an essential resource for
students, scholars, performers, dramaturges, and musical
enthusiasts.
Music Theory through Musical Theatre takes a new and powerful
approach to music theory. Written specifically for students in
music theatre programs, it offers music theory by way of musical
theatre. Not a traditional music theory text, Music Theory through
Musical Theatre tackles the theoretical foundations of musical
theatre and musical theatre literature with an emphasis on what
students will need to master in preparation for a professional
career as a performer. Veteran music theatre musician John
Franceschina brings his years of experience to bear in a book that
offers musical theatre educators an important tool in equipping
students with what is perhaps the most important element of being a
performer: the ability to understand the language of music in the
larger dramatic context to which it contributes. The book uses
examples exclusively from music theater repertoire, drawing from
well-known and more obscure shows and songs. Musical sight reading
is consistently at the forefront of the lessons, teaching students
to internalize notated music quickly and accurately, a particularly
necessary skill in a world where songs can be added between
performances. Franceschina consistently links the concepts of music
theory and vocal coaching, showing students how identifying the
musical structure of and gestures within a piece leads to better
use of their time with vocal coaches and ultimately enables better
dramatic choices. Combining formal theory with practical exercises,
Music Theory through Musical Theatre will be a lifelong resource
for students in musical theatre courses, dog-eared and shelved
beside other professional resource volumes.
The Sounds of the Silents in Britain explores the sonic dimension
of film exhibition in Britain, from the emergence of cinema through
to the introduction of synchronized sound. Edited by Julie Brown
and Annette Davison, the volume includes original scholarship from
many highly-regarded experts on British silent film from a range of
disciplinary backgrounds, such as film history, theatre studies,
economic history, and musicology. The essays provide an
introduction to diverse aspects of early film sound: vocal
performance, from lecturing and reciting, to voicing the drama;
music, from the forerunners of music for visual spectacle to the
impact of legislation and the development of film music practice;
and performance in cinemas more generally, from dancing and
singalong films, to live stage prologues, and even musical
performances captured in British Pathe's early sound shorts. Other
topics include the sonic eclecticism of performances at the Film
Society, British International Pictures' first synchronized sound
films, and the role of institutions such as the Musicians' Union
and the Performing Right Society in relation to cinema music and
musicians. In addition to tackling these familiar topics from
surprising new angles, The Sounds of the Silents in Britain also
debunks some of the myths about the sonic dimension of film
exhibition. For example, the book reveals that local venue
licensing decisions had a profound effect on whether music could
even be performed with film in some British performances spaces and
cities, and that the same was true of live acts alongside film -
even into the late 1920s. The books also bring to light the fact
that, in terms of special film presentation and orchestral
accompaniment, practices in London were arguably more sophisticated
than those in New York before the onset of World War I; that
lecturing to film in Aberdeen, Scotland had almost as long a life
as Japanese benshi; and that the London Film Society was as
eclectic in its approach to sound as it was in programming the
films themselves. Filled with both archival research and sound
musicological analysis, The Sounds of the Silents in Britain
represents an important addition to early film and film music
scholarship.
A handy and engaging chronicle, this book is the most detailed
production history to date of the original Broadway version of
Cabaret, showing how the show evolved from Christopher Isherwood's
Berlin stories, into John van Druten's stage play, a British film
adaptation, and then the Broadway musical, conceived and directed
by Harold Prince as an early concept musical. With nearly 40
illustrations, full cast credits, and a bibliography, The Making of
Cabaret will appeal to musical theatre aficionados, theatre
specialists, and students and performers of musical theatre.
Theater music directors must draw on a remarkably broad range of
musical skills. Not only do they conduct during rehearsals and
performances, but they must also be adept arrangers, choral
directors, vocal coaches, and accompanists. Like a record producer,
the successful music director must have the flexibility to adjust
as needed to a multifaceted job description, one which changes with
each production and often with each performer. In Music Direction
for the Stage, veteran music director and instructor Joseph Church
demystifies the job in a book that offers aspiring and practicing
music directors the practical tips and instruction they need in
order to mount a successful musical production. Church, one of
Broadway's foremost music directors, emerges from the orchestra pit
to tell how the music is put into a musical show. He gives
particular attention to the music itself, explaining how a music
director can best plan the task of learning, analyzing, and
teaching each new piece. Based on his years of professional
experience, he offers a practical discussion of a music director's
methods of analyzing, learning, and practicing a score, thoroughly
illustrated by examples from the repertoire. The book also
describes how a music director can effectively approach dramatic
and choreographic rehearsals, including key tips on cueing music to
dialogue and staging, determining incidental music and
underscoring, making musical adjustments and revisions in
rehearsal, and adjusting style and tempo to performers' needs. A
key theme of the book is effective collaboration with other
professionals, from the production team to the creative team to the
performers themselves, all grounded in Church's real-world
experience with professional, amateur, and even student
performances. He concludes with a look at music direction as a
career, offering invaluable advice on how the enterprising music
director can find work and gain standing in the field.
"Over the Rainbow" exploded into worldwide fame upon its
performance by Judy Garland in the MGM film musical The Wizard of
Oz (1939). Voted the greatest song of the twentieth century in a
2000 survey, it is a masterful, delicate balance of sophistication
and child-like simplicity in which composer Harold Arlen and
lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg poignantly captured the hope and
anxiety harbored by Dorothy's character. In Arlen and Harburg's
Over the Rainbow, author Walter Frisch traces the history of this
song from its inception during the development of The Wizard of
Oz's screenplay, to its various reinterpretations over the course
of the twentieth century. Through analysis of the song's music and
lyrics, this Oxford Keynotes volume provides a close reading of the
piece while examining the evolution of its meaning as it traversed
widely varying cultural contexts. From its adoption as a jazz
standard by generations of pianists, to its contribution to Judy
Garland's role as a gay icon, to its reemergence as a chart-topping
recording by Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, "Over the
Rainbow" continues to engage audiences and performers alike in
surprising ways. Featuring a companion website with audio and video
supplements, this book leaves no path unexplored as it succeeds in
capturing the extent of this song's impact on the world.
Philip J. Lang, Jonathan Tunick - are names well known to musical
theatre fans, but few people understand precisely what the
orchestrator does. The Sound of Broadway Music is the first book
ever written about these unsung stars of the Broadway musical whose
work is so vital to each show's success. The book examines the
careers of Broadway's major orchestrators and follows the song as
it travels from the composer's piano to the orchestra pit. Steven
Suskin has meticulously tracked down thousands of original
orchestral scores, piecing together enigmatic notes and notations
with long-forgotten documents and current interviews with dozens of
composers, producers, conductors and arrangers. The information is
separated into three main parts: a biographical section which gives
a sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre
orchestrators, as well as incorporating briefer sections on another
thirty arrangers and conductors; a lively discussion of the art of
orchestration, written for musical theatre enthusiasts (including
those who do not read music); a biographical section which gives a
sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre orchestrators,
as well as incorporating briefer sections on another thirty
arrangers and conductors; and an impressive show-by-show listing of
more than six hundred musicals, in many cases including a
song-by-song listing of precisely who orchestrated what along with
relevant comments from people involved with the productions.
Stocked with intriguing facts and juicy anecdotes, many of which
have never before appeared in print, The Sound of Broadway Music
brings fascinating and often surprising new insight into the world
of musical theatre.
Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical tells the full
story of the making and remaking of the most important musical in
Broadway history. Drawing on exhaustive archival research and
including much new information from early draft scripts and scores,
this book reveals how Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern created
Show Boat in the crucible of the Jazz Age to fit the talents of the
show's original 1927 cast. After showing how major figures such as
Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan defined the content of the show, the
book goes on to detail how Show Boat was altered by later
directors, choreographers, and performers up to the end of the
twentieth century. All the major New York productions are covered,
as are five important London productions and four Hollywood
versions.
Again and again, the story of Show Boat circles back to the power
of performers to remake the show, winning appreciative audiences
for over seven decades. Unlike most Broadway musicals, Show Boat
put black and white performers side by side. This book is the first
to take Show Boat's innovative interracial cast as the defining
feature of the show. From its beginnings, Show Boat juxtaposed the
talents of black and white performers and mixed the conventions of
white-cast operetta and the black-cast musical. Bringing black and
white onto the same stage--revealing the mixed-race roots of
musical comedy--Show Boat stimulated creative artists and
performers to renegotiate the color line as expressed in the
American musical. This tremendous longevity allowed Show Boat to
enter a creative dialogue with the full span of Broadway history.
Show Boat's voyage through the twentieth century offers a vantage
point on more than just the Broadway musical. It tells a complex
tale of interracial encounter performed in popular music and dance
on the national stage during a century of profound transformations.
First published in 2007, "Oklahoma!": The Making of an American
Musical tells the full story of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein
musical. Author Tim Carter examines archival materials,
manuscripts, and journalism, and the lofty aspirations and
mythmaking that surrounded the musical from its very inception. The
book made for a watershed moment in the study of the American
musical: the first well-researched, serious musical analysis of
this landmark show by a musicologist, it was also one of the first
biographies of a musical, transforming a field that had previously
tended to orient itself around creators rather than creations. In
this new and fully revised edition, Carter draws further on
recently released sources, including the Rouben Mamoulian Papers at
the Library of Congress, with additional correspondence, contracts,
and even new versions of the working script used - and annotated -
throughout the show's rehearsal process. Carter also focuses on the
key players and concepts behind the musical, including the original
play on which it was based (Lynn Riggs's Green Grow the Lilacs) and
the Theatre Guild's Theresa Helburn and Lawrence Langner, who
fatefully brought Rodgers and Hammerstein together for their first
collaboration. The crucial new perspectives these revisions and
additions provide make this edition of Carter's seminal work a
compulsory purchase for all teachers, students, and lovers of
musical theater.
In Strategies for Success in Musical Theatre, veteran musical
director and teacher Herbert Marshall provides an essential how-to
guide for teachers or community members who find themselves in
charge of music directing a show. Stepping off the podium, Marshall
offers practical and often humorous real-world advice on managing
auditions; organizing rehearsals; working with a choir,
choreographer, and leads; how to run a sitzprobe, a technical
rehearsal, and a dress rehearsal; how to manage the cast and crew
energy for a successful opening night; and ways to end the
experience on a high note for all involved. Throughout the book,
Marshall emphasizes the importance of learning through performance
and the beauty of a group united in a common goal. In doing so, he
turns what can appear as a never-ending list of tasks and demand
for specialized knowledge into a manageable, educational, and
ultimately engaging and fun experience for all. Because the
techniques in Marshall's book have been thoroughly workshopped and
classroom tested, they are based in proven pedagogy and will be of
particular use for the music director in acting as a teaching
director: someone imparting theatrical knowledge to his or her cast
and production staff. Marshall provides both extended and
abbreviated timelines, flexible to fit any director's needs.
Marshall's book is a greatly beneficial resource for music
education students and teachers alike, giving an insightful glimpse
into the range of possibilities within a music educator's career.
Musicians and actors with varying levels of skill and experience
will be able to grow simultaneously through Marshall's innovative
teaching plans. Through collaborative techniques, steps in the book
serve to educate both director and student. Thoroughly illustrated
with charts, diagrams, and scores, Strategies for Success in
Musical Theatre is an ideal companion for all who work with school
and community based musical theater productions.
From Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls" to Nina in "In the Heights" and
Elphaba in "Wicked," female characters in Broadway musicals have
belted and crooned their way into the American psyche. In this
lively book, Stacy Wolf illuminates the women of American musical
theatre - performers, creators, and characters -- from the start of
the cold war to the present day, creating a new, feminist history
of the genre. Moving from decade to decade, Wolf first highlights
the assumptions that circulated about gender and sexuality at the
time. She then looks at the leading musicals to stress the key
aspects of the plays as they relate to women, and often finds
overlooked moments of empowerment for female audience members. The
musicals discussed here are among the most beloved in the
canon--"West Side Story," "Cabaret," "A Chorus Line," "Phantom of
the Opera," and many others--with special emphasis on the
blockbuster "Wicked." Along the way, Wolf demonstrates how the
musical since the mid-1940s has actually been dominated by
women--women onstage, women in the wings, and women offstage as
spectators and fans.
Gestures of Music Theater: The Performativity of Song and Dance
offers new cutting edge essays focusing on Song and Dance as
performative gestures that not only entertain but also act on
audiences and performers. The chapters range across musical
theatre, opera, theatre and other artistic practices, from Glee to
Gardzienice, Beckett to Disney, Broadway to Turner Prize winning
sound installation. The chapters draw together these diverse
examples of vocality and physicality by exploring their affect
rather than through considering them as texts. This book considers
performativity in relation to Dramaturgy, Transition, Identity,
Context, Practice, Community and finally, Writing. The book reveals
how the texture of music theatre, containing as it does the
gestures of song and dance, is performative in dense, interwoven,
dialogical and paradoxical ways, partly caused by the intertextual
and interdisciplinary energies of its make-up, partly by its active
dynamism in performance. The book's contributors derive
methodologies from many disciplines, seeking in many ways to resist
and explode discrete discipline-based enquiry. They share
methodologies and performance repertoires with discipline-based
scholarship from theatre studies, musicology and cultural studies,
but there are many other approaches and case studies which we also
embrace. Together, they view these as neighboring voices whose
dialogue enriches the study of contemporary music theatre.
In a career that spanned nearly five decades, Dorothy Fields penned
the words to more than four hundred songs, among them mega-hits
such as "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "I Can't Give You
Anything But Love," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "If My Friends
could See Me Now." While Fields's name may be known mainly to
connoisseurs, her contributions to our popular culture--indeed, our
national consciousness--have been remarkable.
In I Feel a Song Coming On, Charlotte Greenspan offers the most
complete, serious treatment of Fields's life and work to date,
tracing her rise to prominence in a male-dominated world. Born in
1904 into a show business family--her father, Lou Fields, was a
famed vaudeville comedian turned Broadway producer--Fields first
teamed with songwriter Jimmy McHugh in the late 1920s and went on
to a series of Hollywood collaborations with Jerome Kern, including
the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers classic Swing Time. With her brother
Herbert, she co-authored the books for several of Cole Porter's
Broadway shows, as well as for Irving Berlin's phenomenally
successful Annie Get Your Gun. More stage hits would follow, among
them Redhead and Sweet Charity, as Fields remained active right up
to her death in 1974. Fields's lyrics--colloquial, urbane,
sometimes slangy, sometimes sensuous--won her high praise from
later generation songwriters including Stephen Sondheim and Fred
Ebb, and her stellar career opened a path for other women in her
profession, among them Betty Comden, Dory Previn, and Marilyn
Bergman.
Meticulously researched and filled with sharp insights, this
lively biography not only illuminates Fields's life but also offers
unique insights into the golden ageof popular song.
'Stand. Breathe. Look. Try to empty my mind. Somehow, for some
reason, I have been brought to this place to tell this story, now.
So tell it. That's all.' When Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking
musical Hamilton opened in London's West End in December 2017, it
was as huge a hit as it had been in its original production off-
and on Broadway. Lauded by critics and audiences alike, the show
would go on to win a record-equalling seven Olivier Awards -
including Best Actor in a Musical for Giles Terera, for his
portrayal of Aaron Burr. For Terera, though, his journey as Burr
had begun more than a year earlier, with his first audition in New
York, and continuing through extensive research and preparation,
intense rehearsals, previews and finally opening night itself.
Throughout this time he kept a journal, recording his experiences
of the production and his process of creating his award-winning
performance. This book, Hamilton and Me, is that journal. It offers
an honest, intimate and thrilling look at everything involved in
opening a once-in-a-generation production - the triumphs,
breakthroughs and doubts, the camaraderie of the rehearsal room and
the moments of quiet backstage contemplation - as well as a
fascinating, in-depth exploration of now-iconic songs and moments
from the musical, as seen from the inside. It is also deeply
personal, as Terera reflects on experiences from his own life that
he drew on to help shape his acclaimed portrayal. Illustrated with
dozens of colour photographs, many of which are shared here for the
first time, and featuring an exclusive Foreword by Lin-Manuel
Miranda, this book is an essential read for all fans of Hamilton -
offering fresh, first-hand insights into the music and characters
they love and know so well - as well as for aspiring and current
performers, students, and anyone who wants to discover what it
really felt like to be in the room where it happened. Hamilton and
Me was featured as Book of Week on BBC Radio 4 in August 2021.
From "Over the Rainbow" to "Moon River" and from Al Jolson to
Barbra Streisand, The Songs of Hollywood traces the fascinating
history of song in film, both in musicals and in dramatic movies
such as High Noon. Extremely well-illustrated with 200 film stills,
this delightful book sheds much light on some of Hollywood's best
known and loved repertoire, explaining how the film industry made
certain songs memorable, and highlighting important moments of film
history along the way. The book focuses on how the songs were
presented in the movies, from early talkies where actors portrayed
singers "performing" the songs, to the Golden Age in which
characters burst into expressive, integral song--not as a
"performance" but as a spontaneous outpouring of feeling. The book
looks at song presentation in 1930s classics with Fred Astaire and
Ginger Rogers and in 1940s gems with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.
The authors also look at the decline of the genre since 1960, when
most original musicals were replaced by film versions of Broadway
hits such as My Fair Lady.
Show Tunes fully chronicles the shows, songs, and careers of the
major composers of the American musical theatre, from Jerome Kern's
earliest interpolations to the latest hits on Broadway. Legendary
composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, Berlin, Bernstein, and
Sondheim have been joined by more recent songwriters like Stephen
Schwartz, Stephen Flaherty, Michael John LaChiusa, and Adam
Guettel. This majestic reference book covers their work, their
innovations, their successes, and their failures. Show Tunes is
simply the most comprehensive volume of its kind ever produced, and
this newly revised and updated edition discusses almost 1,000 shows
and 9,000 show tunes. The book has been called "a concise skeleton
key to the Broadway musical" (Variety) and "a ground-breaking
reference work with a difference" (Show Music)-or, as the
Washington Post observed, "It makes you sing and dance all over
your memory."
The eagerly anticipated Fourth Edition, updated through May, 2009,
features the entire theatrical output of forty of Broadway's
leading composers, in addition to a wide selection of work by other
songwriters. The listings include essential production data and
statistics, the most extensive information available on published
and recorded songs, and lively commentary on the shows, songs, and
diverse careers. Based on meticulous research, the book also
uncovers dozens of lost musicals-including shows that either closed
out of town or were never headed for Broadway-and catalogs hundreds
of previously unknown songs, including a number of musical gems
that have been misplaced, cut, or forgotten. Informative,
insightful, and provocative, Show Tunes is an essential guide for
anyone interested in the American musical.
Adamo is the greatest composer of musicals ever but despite
intensive investigations, his/her identity remains unknown.
Royalties of more than a billion pounds have amassed over the
years. Adamo composes a final musical about the world's youth in
revolt and promises to reveal his/her identity. The world's youth
identify with the musical "One for a heartbeat, One for Eternity",
and from countries far and wide they petition the United Nations
for a symbolic holding of hands despite ideological differences.
The Adamo enigma is the catalyst for people from diverse
backgrounds, from the very cradle of humankind in faraway Swaziland
to the sophisticated Western cultures, to be drawn into the
fascinating intrigue. Inextricably Merri Fencham from South Africa,
Pierre Villeyand - the scion of a French dynasty and famous
conductor, sangoma Vusi Dlamini - a Swazi royal prince, and others
are drawn into the web of intrigue. And overall, the ancient
influences of the ancestors, the "Toothless Ones", confound Western
stereotypes.... The drive of destiny cannot be denied as the
ancient wisdom of Africa and modern technology meld into an
awe-inspiring finale at the Royal Albert Theatre.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical
"South Pacific" has remained a mainstay of the American musical
theater since it opened in 1949, and its powerful message about
racial intolerance continues to resonate with twenty-first century
audiences.
Drawing on extensive research in the Rodgers and the Hammerstein
papers, including Hammerstein's personal notes on James A.
Michener's Tales of the South Pacific, Jim Lovensheimer offers a
fascinating reading of "South Pacific" that explores the show's
complex messages and demonstrates how the presentation of those
messages changed throughout the creative process. Indeed, the
author shows how Rodgers and especially Hammerstein continually
refined and softened the theme of racial intolerance until it was
more acceptable to mainstream Broadway audiences. Likewise,
Lovensheimer describes the treatment of gender and colonialism in
the musical, tracing how it both reflected and challenged early
Cold War Era American norms. The book also offers valuable
background to the writing of "South Pacific," exploring the earlier
careers of both Rodgers and Hammerstein, showing how they
frequently explored serious social issues in their other works, and
discussing their involvement in the political movements of their
day, such as Hammerstein's founding membership in the Hollywood
Anti-Nazi League. Finally, the book features many wonderful
appendices, including two that compare the original draft and final
form of the classic songs "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out-a My
Hair" and "I'm In Love With a Wonderful Guy."
Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, this superb book
offers a rich, intriguing portrait of a Broadway masterpiece and
the era in which it was created.
Musical theatre is often perceived as either a Broadway based art
form, or as having separate histories in London and New York.
Musical Theatre Histories: Expanding the Narrative, however,
depicts the musical as neither American nor British, but both and
more, having grown out of frequent and substantial interactions
between both centres (and beyond). Through multiple thematic
'histories', Millie Taylor and Adam Rush take readers on a series
of journeys that include the art form's European and American
origins, African American influences, negotiations arounddiversity,
national identity, and the globalisation of the form, as well as
revival culture, censorship and the place of social media in the
21st century. Each chapter includes case studies and key concept
boxes to identify, explain and contextualise important discussions,
offering an accessible study of a dynamic and ever evolving medium.
Written and developed for undergraduate students, this introductory
textbook provides a newly focused and alternative way of
understanding musical theatre history.
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