Musical theatre is frequently framed as connected to place and space, as terms like ‘the Broadway musical’ or ‘the Viennese operetta’ imply. National categorization, used prominently in titles of key monographs and handbooks, has turned out to be a moulding structure for the genre’s historiography. The term ‘American popular song form’ insinuates that musical form and style may reasonably be categorized by national adjectives. This is also true for the national attribution of earlier genres, such as the supposedly British ballad opera, French opéra comique and German singspiel. Signature pieces of the genre, e.g., the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein, have been read as documents of national re-affirmation. Nevertheless, a major portion of the repertoire can just as well be reinterpreted as a statement for mobility, thus bringing into question the tropes of regional rootedness and national at-homeness. Starting with methodological assumptions given in Stephen Greenblatt’s cultural mobility manifesto (), this article will examine the unquestioned frames of fixity in musical theatre scholarship and sound out alternatives that allow readings of the genre as mobile.
{"title":"‘When you change the view from where you stood, the things you view will change for good’: An introduction to the mobilities paradigm in musical theatre","authors":"N. Grosch","doi":"10.1386/smt_00101_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00101_1","url":null,"abstract":"Musical theatre is frequently framed as connected to place and space, as terms like ‘the Broadway musical’ or ‘the Viennese operetta’ imply. National categorization, used prominently in titles of key monographs and handbooks, has turned out to be a moulding structure for the genre’s historiography. The term ‘American popular song form’ insinuates that musical form and style may reasonably be categorized by national adjectives. This is also true for the national attribution of earlier genres, such as the supposedly British ballad opera, French opéra comique and German singspiel. Signature pieces of the genre, e.g., the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein, have been read as documents of national re-affirmation. Nevertheless, a major portion of the repertoire can just as well be reinterpreted as a statement for mobility, thus bringing into question the tropes of regional rootedness and national at-homeness. Starting with methodological assumptions given in Stephen Greenblatt’s cultural mobility manifesto (), this article will examine the unquestioned frames of fixity in musical theatre scholarship and sound out alternatives that allow readings of the genre as mobile.","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45177051","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Persecution and expulsion due to Nazi terror and the Second World War led to massive population shifts within Europe. First was the mass exodus from the German Reich, as a result of racist and political persecution. Then, after the end of the war, millions of German refugees and up to 12 million displaced persons – former forced labourers and foreign concentration camp prisoners – had to find new homes or be repatriated. These movements led to the discursive negotiation of wandering, mobility and settledness in German language musical theatre of the 1950s. This article analyses such relations by looking at the musicals Feuerwerk (1950) and Katharina Knie (1957) and focusing on their structures, receptions and evolutions; in both cases, special attention is paid to the dream ballets. Both musicals (at that time referred to as ‘musical comedies’ or ‘musical folk plays’) premiered at Munich’s Gärtnerplatztheater and, as part of their plots, thematize the nomadic life of circus people opposed to a settled existence.
{"title":"‘Meine Heimat ist der Wagen’: Negotiation of mobility and settledness in two German post-war musicals","authors":"Carolin Stahrenberg","doi":"10.1386/smt_00106_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00106_1","url":null,"abstract":"Persecution and expulsion due to Nazi terror and the Second World War led to massive population shifts within Europe. First was the mass exodus from the German Reich, as a result of racist and political persecution. Then, after the end of the war, millions of German refugees and up to 12 million displaced persons – former forced labourers and foreign concentration camp prisoners – had to find new homes or be repatriated. These movements led to the discursive negotiation of wandering, mobility and settledness in German language musical theatre of the 1950s. This article analyses such relations by looking at the musicals Feuerwerk (1950) and Katharina Knie (1957) and focusing on their structures, receptions and evolutions; in both cases, special attention is paid to the dream ballets. Both musicals (at that time referred to as ‘musical comedies’ or ‘musical folk plays’) premiered at Munich’s Gärtnerplatztheater and, as part of their plots, thematize the nomadic life of circus people opposed to a settled existence.","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43934897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Review of: Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way, Caseen Gaines (2021) Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 448 pp., ISBN 978-1-49268-881-9, 978-1-49268-881-5, h/bk, $26.99
{"title":"Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way, Caseen Gaines (2021)","authors":"Cody M. Jones","doi":"10.1386/smt_00109_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00109_5","url":null,"abstract":"Review of: Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way, Caseen Gaines (2021)\u0000 Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 448 pp.,\u0000 ISBN 978-1-49268-881-9, 978-1-49268-881-5, h/bk, $26.99","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41867167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
To meet the demands of the ever-evolving musical theatre industry, performers are expected to craft inspiring performances across eight shows a week, seamlessly integrating their triple-threat expertise. Most actors undertake intensive training to achieve the complex skillset required to execute this art form, yet professional success can be elusive. It appears that a key element to building and maintaining a musical theatre career is performance synergy. This phenomenon is described colloquially as stage presence or X-factor. Whilst the literature regarding the field of musical theatre training is wide-ranging, little formal research has been undertaken on the ephemeral subject of performance synergy as it pertains to the work of the musical theatre actor. To address this lacuna in the literature ‐ and to determine whether performance synergy can be described, comprehended, taught or learned ‐ semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 Australian actors and creative directors active in the musical theatre industry. Collected data captured expert opinions on the elements, constructs and praxis of musical theatre performance synergy. Following a thematic analysis of the data, a framework of seven performative processes was constructed towards a clearer understanding of the practical aspects of this multifaceted phenomenon.
{"title":"Exploring musical theatre performance synergy: Accessing seven performative processes","authors":"Jacqui Cuny","doi":"10.1386/smt_00094_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00094_1","url":null,"abstract":"To meet the demands of the ever-evolving musical theatre industry, performers are expected to craft inspiring performances across eight shows a week, seamlessly integrating their triple-threat expertise. Most actors undertake intensive training to achieve the complex skillset required\u0000 to execute this art form, yet professional success can be elusive. It appears that a key element to building and maintaining a musical theatre career is performance synergy. This phenomenon is described colloquially as stage presence or X-factor. Whilst the literature regarding\u0000 the field of musical theatre training is wide-ranging, little formal research has been undertaken on the ephemeral subject of performance synergy as it pertains to the work of the musical theatre actor. To address this lacuna in the literature ‐ and to determine whether performance\u0000 synergy can be described, comprehended, taught or learned ‐ semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 Australian actors and creative directors active in the musical theatre industry. Collected data captured expert opinions on the elements, constructs and praxis of musical theatre\u0000 performance synergy. Following a thematic analysis of the data, a framework of seven performative processes was constructed towards a clearer understanding of the practical aspects of this multifaceted phenomenon.","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43300344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Through its unique jazz-inspired score, creative sets and costume design, the 2019 Tony award-winning musical Hadestown tells the classic Greek mythology story of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus ventures to the underworld to save his love from an eternity of suffering. In this rhetorical analysis of the musical’s script, cast recording, sheet music and Broadway production, I explore how Hadestown makes statements about hegemony and memory that connect with current events. Hadestown presents the underworld as an industrial wasteland that contrasts with Persephone’s green earth, placing industry and the environment at odds with one another and bringing the audience’s attention to issues including climate change, refugeeism, homelessness and poverty. Hades is presented as an industrial tycoon and a hegemon who exploits his workers, and the song ‘Why We Build the Wall’ serves to highlight the many hegemonic tactics used to maintain control over a populace. I also explore how the references to Hades’ wall provide audiences experiencing the musical after 2016 with a biting critique of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to build a wall to curb immigration at the United States’ southern border, and I suggest that the penultimate song provides audiences with a message that aligns with Hannah Arendt’s view of the purpose of memory: that we must remember the past or, in the words of Hadestown, ‘tell the sad tale’, because we hope that it might turn out differently this time. The messages in Hadestown encourage theatregoers to remember the lessons of history, including difficult memories related to hegemony, because only through remembering can we learn from the past and take the actions necessary to face our current challenges.
{"title":"‘Why We Build the Wall’: Hegemony, memory and current events in Hadestown","authors":"Valerie Lynn Schrader","doi":"10.1386/smt_00093_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00093_1","url":null,"abstract":"Through its unique jazz-inspired score, creative sets and costume design, the 2019 Tony award-winning musical Hadestown tells the classic Greek mythology story of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus ventures to the underworld to save his love from an eternity of suffering.\u0000 In this rhetorical analysis of the musical’s script, cast recording, sheet music and Broadway production, I explore how Hadestown makes statements about hegemony and memory that connect with current events. Hadestown presents the underworld as an industrial wasteland that\u0000 contrasts with Persephone’s green earth, placing industry and the environment at odds with one another and bringing the audience’s attention to issues including climate change, refugeeism, homelessness and poverty. Hades is presented as an industrial tycoon and a hegemon who exploits\u0000 his workers, and the song ‘Why We Build the Wall’ serves to highlight the many hegemonic tactics used to maintain control over a populace. I also explore how the references to Hades’ wall provide audiences experiencing the musical after 2016 with a biting critique of Donald\u0000 Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to build a wall to curb immigration at the United States’ southern border, and I suggest that the penultimate song provides audiences with a message that aligns with Hannah Arendt’s view of the purpose of memory: that we must remember the past\u0000 or, in the words of Hadestown, ‘tell the sad tale’, because we hope that it might turn out differently this time. The messages in Hadestown encourage theatregoers to remember the lessons of history, including difficult memories related to hegemony, because only through\u0000 remembering can we learn from the past and take the actions necessary to face our current challenges.","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46680058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cinderella, Kay Cannon (dir.) (2021), USA: Sony Pictures","authors":"M. Anjirbag","doi":"10.1386/smt_00097_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00097_5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42937310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this piece, music and translation are discussed as tools to analyse society and social changes, taking as an example the musical Hair and specifically the song ‘I Got Life’, its translation into German and a cover version by Nina Simone. The article focuses on translation as an integrated research approach, an extra layer of cultural analysis that can enrich studies in musical theatre (e.g. the German translation of ‘I Got Life’ and the role of the translator), finally stressing the need for collaboration between scholars of cultural, musical theatre and translation studies to explore new areas of research, broaden perspectives and challenge mainstream interpretations.
{"title":"A hairy affair: Applying translation studies concepts and methods to the musical theatre","authors":"Stefanie Barschdorf, C. Peligra","doi":"10.1386/smt_00092_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00092_1","url":null,"abstract":"In this piece, music and translation are discussed as tools to analyse society and social changes, taking as an example the musical Hair and specifically the song ‘I Got Life’, its translation into German and a cover version by Nina Simone. The article focuses on\u0000 translation as an integrated research approach, an extra layer of cultural analysis that can enrich studies in musical theatre (e.g. the German translation of ‘I Got Life’ and the role of the translator), finally stressing the need for collaboration between scholars of cultural,\u0000 musical theatre and translation studies to explore new areas of research, broaden perspectives and challenge mainstream interpretations.","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46397268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Schmigadoon! Barry Sonnenfeld (dir.) (2021), USA: Broadway Video, Out of Cinc and Universal Television","authors":"Lisa Duffy, A. Fine","doi":"10.1386/smt_00098_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/smt_00098_5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41759,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Musical Theatre","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44969491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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