Approaches To The American Musical

edited by Robert Lawson-Peebles and contributions by Stephen Banfield, Wilfrid Mellers, Ann-Charlotte Hanes Harvey, David Horn, Robert Lawson-Peebles, Sue Rickard, Carey Wall and Ralph Willett

Book cover: Approaches To The American Musical

Extent: 176 pages

Publisher: University of Exeter Press

Subjects: Cultural Studies, Music & Performing Arts

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(March 1996)

ISBN: 9780859894050

5.67 x 9.02 inches

Price: $30.00

In stock

Most books on the American musical are little more than exercises in nostalgia. The specially commissioned essays that make up Approaches to the American Musical take a different view of the form, going beyond the common assertion that musicals are simply escapist.


Most books on the American musical are little more than exercises in nostalgia. The specially commissioned essays that make up Approaches to the American Musical take a different view of the form. Going beyond the common assertion that musicals are simply escapist; these examinations of American stage and film musicals argue that Porgy and Bess, Top Hat, Kiss Me Kate and All That Jazz were popular precisely because they engaged with such important American issues as ethnicity, commerce and international relations.

Copyright Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors 1. Introduction. Cultural Musicology and the American Musical, Robert Lawson-Peebles 2. From Butterfly to Saigon - Europe, America and "
Success"
, Wilfrid Mellers 3. There's No Business like Show Business - a Speculative Reading of the Broadway Musical, Carey Wall 4. From Gold Diggers to Bar Girls - a Selective History of the American Movie Musical, Ralph Willett 5. Holy Yumpin' Yiminy Scandinavian Immigrant Stereotypes in Early 20th Century American Musical, Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey 6. Movies in Disguise - Negotiating Censorship and Patriarchy Through the Dances of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Sue Rickard 7. Brush Up Your Shakespeare, Robert Lawson-Peebles 8. Who Loves You Porgy? The Debates Surrounding Gershwin's Musical, David Horn 9. "
West Side Story"
Revisited, Wilfrid Mellers 10. Sondheim and the Art that has No Name, Stephen Banfield Index

  • Contributions by Robert Lawson-Peebles
  • Contributions by Wilfrid Mellers
  • Contributions by Sue Rickard
  • Contributions by Carey Wall
  • Contributions by Ralph Willett