The American musical and the performance of personal identity / Raymond Knapp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Knapp, Raymond.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Musicals--United States--History and criticism.

Musicals.

Musicals--Social aspects--United States.

Personality and culture.

Motion pictures--United States--History.

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (489 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2009, c2006.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The American musical has long provided an important vehicle through which writers, performers, and audiences reimagine who they are and how they might best interact with the world around them. Musicals are especially good at this because they provide not only an opportunity for us to enact dramatic versions of alternative identities, but also the material for performing such alternatives in the real world, through songs and the characters and attitudes those songs project. This book addresses a variety of specific themes in musicals that serve this general function: fairy tale and fantasy, idealism and inspiration, gender and sexuality, and relationships, among others. It also considers three overlapping genres that are central, in quite different ways, to the projection of personal identity: operetta, movie musicals, and operatic musicals. Among the musicals discussed are Camelot, Candide; Chicago; Company; Evita; Gypsy; Into the Woods; Kiss Me, Kate; A Little Night Music; Man of La Mancha; Meet Me in St. Louis; The Merry Widow; Moulin Rouge; My Fair Lady; Passion; The Rocky Horror Picture Show; Singin' in the Rain; Stormy Weather; Sweeney Todd; and The Wizard of Oz. Complementing the author's earlier work, The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity, this book completes a two-volume thematic history of the genre, designed for general audiences and specialists alike.

Contents:

Personal genres. The Viennese connection : Franz Lehár and American operetta (The merry widow (1907). Naughty Marietta (1910). Little Mary Sunshine (1959). A little night music (1973))

The movie musical (Singin' in the rain (film, 1952). Stormy weather (film, 1943) and Bamboozled (film, 2000). Meet me in St. Louis (film, 1944). Moulin Rouge (film, 2001) and Chicago (film, 2002)).

Personal themes. Fairy tales and fantasy (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (animated film, 1937). The Wizard of Oz (film, 1939). Mary Poppins (film, 1964). Into the woods (1987))

Idealism and inspiration (Camelot (1960). Man of La Mancha (1965). The scarlet pimpernel (1997). Once more, with feeling (television, 2001))

Gender and sexuality (Annie get your gun (1946). Gypsy (1959). Sweet Charity (1966). The Rocky horror picture show (film, 1975). Hedwig and the angry inch (1998; film, 2001))

Relationships (Lady in the dark (1941). Kiss me, Kate (1948). My fair lady (1956). Company (1970). Passion (1994)).

Epilogue. Operatic ambitions and beyond (Candide (1956). Sweeney Todd (1979). Evita (1979)).

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [433]-447) and index.

ISBN:

9786612692123

9781282692121

1282692127

9781400832682

1400832683

OCLC:

650540514