The Great White Way : race and the Broadway musical
- Responsibility
- Warren Hoffman.
- Publication
- New Brunswick, New Jersey : Rutgers University Press, [2014]
- Copyright notice
- ©2014
- Physical description
- x, 251 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Online
Available online
At the library
Music Library
Stacks
| Call number | Status |
|---|---|
| ML3918 .M85 H64 2014 | Checked out - Overdue Request |
| ML3918 .M85 H64 2014 |
More options
Description
Creators/Contributors
- Author/Creator
- Hoffman, Warren, 1976- author.
Contents/Summary
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-240) and index.
- Contents
-
- Overture : all singin'! all dancin'! all white people?
- Act one : 1927-1957
- Only make believe : performing race in Show boat
- Playing cowboys and Indians : forging whiteness in Oklahoma! and Annie get your gun
- Trouble in New York City : the racial politics of West Side story and the Music man
- Act two : 1967-2012
- Carbon copies : Black and interracial productions of white musicals
- A chorus line : the Benetton of Broadway musicals
- Everything old is new again : nostalgia and the Broadway musical at the end of the twentieth century
- Exit music.
- Publisher's Summary
-
Broadway musicals are one of America's most beloved art forms and play to millions of people each year. But what do these shows, which are often thought to be just frothy entertainment, really have to say about our country and who we are as a nation? The Great White Way is the first book to reveal the racial politics, content, and subtexts that have haunted musicals for almost one hundred years from Show Boat (1927) to The Scottsboro Boys (2011). Musicals mirror their time periods and reflect the political and social issues of their day. Warren Hoffman investigates the thematic content of the Broadway musical and considers how musicals work on a structural level, allowing them to simultaneously present and hide their racial agendas in plain view of their audiences. While the musical is informed by the cultural contributions of African Americans and Jewish immigrants, Hoffman argues that ultimately the history of the American musical is the history of white identity in the United States. Presented chronologically, The Great White Way shows how perceptions of race altered over time and how musicals dealt with those changes. Hoffman focuses first on shows leading up to and comprising the Golden Age of Broadway (1927-1960s), then turns his attention to the revivals and nostalgic vehicles that defined the final quarter of the twentieth century. He offers entirely new and surprising takes on shows from the American musical canon-Show Boat (1927), Oklahoma! (1943), Annie Get Your Gun (1946), The Music Man (1957), West Side Story (1957), A Chorus Line (1975), and 42nd Street (1980), among others.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Subjects
- Subjects
- Race in musical theater.
- Music and race.
- Musical theater > Social aspects > United States > History > 20th century.
- Musical theater > Social aspects > United States > History > 21st century.
- Musical theater > Political aspects > United States > History > 20th century.
- Musical theater > Political aspects > United States > History > 21st century.
Bibliographic information
- Publication date
- 2014
- Copyright date
- 2014
- ISBN
- 9780813563350 (hardcover : alk. paper)
- 0813563356 (hardcover : alk. paper)
- 9780813563343 (pbk. : alk. paper)
- 0813563348 (pbk. : alk. paper)
- 9780813563367 (e-book)
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