The American musical and the formation of national identity / Raymond Knapp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Knapp, Raymond.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Musicals--United States--History and criticism.

Musicals.

United States.

National characteristics, American.

Physical Description:

xxi, 361 pages : illustrations, music ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2005]

Summary:

The American musical has achieved and maintained relevance to more people in America than any other performance-based art. This thoughtful history of the genre, intended for readers of all stripes, offers probing discussions of how American musicals, especially through their musical numbers, advance themes related to American national identity. Written by a musicologist and supported by a wealth of illustrative audio examples (on the book's website), the book examines key historical antecedents to the musical, including the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American burlesque and vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, and other song types. It then proceeds thematically, focusing primarily on fifteen mainstream shows from the twentieth century, with discussions of such notable productions as Show Boat (1927), Porgy and Bess (1935), Oklahoma! (1943), West Side Story (1957), Hair (1967), Pacific Overtures (1976), and Assassins (1991). The shows are grouped according to their treatment of themes that include defining America, mythologies, counter-mythologies, race and ethnicity, dealing with World War II, and exoticism. Each chapter concludes with a brief consideration of available scholarship on related subjects. An extensive appendix provides information on each show discussed, including plot summaries and song lists, and a listing of important films, videos, audio recordings, published scores, and libretti associated with each musical.

Contents:

Part 1 Introductions 1

1 Contexts and Strategies 3

2 Nineteenth-Century European Roots: Models and Topics 19

Paris (and Berlin) 20

The Black Crook (1866) 20

London: W. S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) 29

H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor (1878) 34

3 Early American Developments: Minstrelsy, Extravaganza, Pantomime, Burlesque, Vaudeville 47

Minstrelsy 49

Extravaganza 59

Pantomime 60

Burlesque 61

Vaudeville 62

A Gilbert and Sullivan Postscript on American Minstrelsy 63

4 American Song through Tin Pan Alley 67

Minstrel Songs 67

The Early Tin Pan Alley Era 70

Classic Tin Pan Alley 77

Anything Goes (1934) 88

Part 2 Defining America 101

5 Whose (Who's) America? 103

Little Johnny Jones (1904) 104

The Cradle Will Rock (1938) 110

6 American Mythologies 119

Oklahoma! (1943) 122

Guys and Dolls (1950) 134

The Music Man (1957) 144

7 Counter-mythologies 153

Hair (1967-68) 154

Assassins (1991) 162

Part 3 Managing America's Others 179

8 Race and Ethnicity 181

Show Boat (1927) 185

Porgy and Bess (1935) 194

West Side Story (1957) 204

Fiddler on the Roof (1964) 215

9 Dealing with the Second World War 228

The Sound of Music (1959) 230

Cabaret (1966) 239

10 Exoticism 249

The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu (1885) 250

The King and I (1951) 261

Pacific Overtures (1976) 268

11 Afterword: Other Directions, Other Identities 282

Appendix A Art and Commerce: The Business of Making Musicals 285.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [341]-349) and index.

ISBN:

0691118647

OCLC:

54007249