The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical

The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical PDF Author: Raymond Knapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019998736X
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
This text presents keywords and critical terms that deepen analysis and interpretation of the musical. Taking into account issues of composition, performance, and reception, the book's contributors bring a range of practical and theoretical perspectives to bear on their considerations of American musicals.

Identities and Audiences in the Musical

Identities and Audiences in the Musical PDF Author: Raymond Knapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190877804
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Issues of identity have always been central to the American musical in all its guises. Who appears in musicals, who or what they are meant to represent, and how, over time, those representations have been understood and interpreted, provide the very basis for our engagement with the genre. In this third volume of the reissued Oxford Handbook of the American Musical, chapters focus on race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, regional vs. national identity, and the cultural and class significance of the musical itself. As important as the question of who appears in musicals are the questions of who watches and listens to them, and of how specific cultures of reception attend differently to the musical. Chapters thus address cultural codes inherent to the genre, in particular those found in traditional school theater programs.

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Publisher:
ISBN: 0190877766
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Media and Performance in the Musical

Media and Performance in the Musical PDF Author: Raymond Knapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190877839
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
For the past several years, the American musical has continued to thrive by reflecting and shaping cultural values and social norms, and even commenting on politics, whether directly and on a national scale (Hamilton) or somewhat more obliquely and on a more intimate scale (Fun Home). New stage musicals, such as Come from Away and The Band's Visit, open on Broadway every season, challenging conventions of form and content, and revivals offer audiences a different perspective on extant shows (Carousel; My Fair Lady). Television musicals broadcast live hearken back to 1950s television's affection for musical theatre and aim to attract new audiences through the accessibility of television. Film musicals, including Les Misérables and Into the Woods, capitalize on the medium's technical capabilities of perspective and point of view, as well as visual spectacle. Television has embraced the genre anew, and with unexpected gusto, not only devising musical episodes for countless dramatic and comedy series, but also generating musical series such as Galavant and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. And animated musicals, such as Disney's Moana, hail child and adult audiences with their dual messages, vibrant visual vocabulary, and hummable music. The chapters gathered in this book, Volume II of the reissued Oxford Handbook, explore the American musical from the various media in which musicals have been created to the different components of a musical and the people who do the work to bring a musical to life.

The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical

The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical PDF Author: Raymond Knapp
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Musicals
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
Essays on issues and topics in the interdisciplinary field of musical-theater and film-musical studies, introducing 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.--From publisher description.

The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity

The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity PDF Author: Raymond Knapp
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691186200
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
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.

The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical

The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical PDF Author: Robert Gordon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199988749
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 777

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Book Description
The first comprehensive academic survey of British musical theatre from its origins, The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical offers both a historical account of musical theatre from 1728 and a range of in-depth critical analyses of key works and productions that illustrate its aesthetic values and sociocultural meanings.

The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations

The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations PDF Author: Dominic McHugh
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190490004
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 624

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Book Description
Hollywood's conversion to sound in the 1920s created an early peak in the film musical, following the immense success of The Jazz Singer. The opportunity to synchronize moving pictures with a soundtrack suited the musical in particular, since the heightened experience of song and dance drew attention to the novelty of the technological development. Until the near-collapse of the genre in the 1960s, the film musical enjoyed around thirty years of development, as landmarks such as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St Louis, Singin' in the Rain, and Gigi showed the exciting possibilities of putting musicals on the silver screen. The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations traces how the genre of the stage-to-screen musical has evolved, starting with screen adaptations of operettas such as The Desert Song and Rio Rita, and looks at how the Hollywood studios in the 1930s exploited the publication of sheet music as part of their income. Numerous chapters examine specific screen adaptations in depth, including not only favorites such as Annie and Kiss Me, Kate but also some of the lesser-known titles like Li'l Abner and Roberta and problematic adaptations such as Carousel and Paint Your Wagon. Together, the chapters incite lively debates about the process of adapting Broadway for the big screen and provide models for future studies.

The Oxford Handbook of American Drama

The Oxford Handbook of American Drama PDF Author: Jeffrey H. Richards
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199731497
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
This volume explores the history of American drama from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. It describes origins of early republican drama and its evolution during the pre-war and post-war periods. It traces the emergence of different types of American drama including protest plays, reform drama, political drama, experimental drama, urban plays, feminist drama and realist plays. This volume also analyzes the works of some of the most notable American playwrights including Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller and those written by women dramatists.

The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies PDF Author: Robert Gordon
Publisher: Oxford Handbooks
ISBN: 0195391373
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 517

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Book Description
This handbook presents a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim's oeuvre. Chapters come from a remarkably wide range of disciplines as they offer new insights into Sondheim's work not only for the stage, but also for film and television, describing in full how Sondheim has re-shaped American musical theater.