Table of Contents

‘Why We Tell the Story’: Introduction
Historiography and Context(s)
Deciphering Multiple Histories
How to Read this Book

Chapter 1 - ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’: From Operetta to Poperetta
European Origins
Musical Comedy and Broadway Operetta (1900-1940)
American Origins
Into the Twentieth Century
The Musical Play and Beyond (1940-1960)
Fragmentation and the Concept Musical
The Megamusical, or Poperetta
Conclusion

Chapter 2 - ‘New Music’: From Ragtime to Rap
Ragtime and Early African American Music
Early African American Musical Theatre
Shuffle Along, And All That Jazz
The Rise of Minstrelsy and ‘Coon Songs’
Dreamgirls and Motown
Rap, Hip-Hop and Hamilton
Conclusion

Chapter 3 - ‘Waving Through A Window’: From Intertext to Instagram
Literary Adaptations
Stage and Screen Interactions
The Wonderful World of Oz
Singin’ in the Rain and the Hollywood Film Musical
Disney and the Animated Musical
Cast Recordings
You Already Know You’re Gonna Love It…
Television Musicals
Social Media and the Worldwide Web (of Showtunes)
Conclusion

Chapter 4 - ‘Easy to be Hard’: From Censorship to Sex
Legal Censorship in Britain, 1485-1843
A Changing Landscape, 1843-1968
Censorship in America, 1620-1967
Politics meets Finance
Hair (and all that followed)
Self-Censorship and Political Correctness
Conclusion

Chapter 5 - ‘Stand Up’: From Gender Duality to Diversity
Late Victorian Britain
Music Hall and Variety
Early Twentieth Century Transatlantic Transfers
The ‘Golden Age’ – Post-World War II
Diversity and Difference – After the 1960s
Into the Twenty First Century
Conclusion

Chapter 6 - ‘Another National Anthem’: From Ourselves to the Other
Before the Great War
World War II and Post-War Reconstruction
1990s British Resurgence (as Mythologised in American Musicals)
Challenging American Mythology
Hybrid Influences in Musical Theatre
Conclusion

Chapter 7 - ‘A Whole New World’: From The Mikado to the Megamusical
Colonialism
Culture within Colonialism
The Cultural Dimension of Globalisation
Global Producers and International Productions
Conclusion

Chapter 8 - ‘Journey to the Past’: From Revival to Revisal
Reviving Gypsy
1970s American Revivals
New Models and Styles
(Concert and Small-Scale Productions, Actor-Musicianship, Opera House Productions)
Revision and Reinvention
Conclusion

Abstracts + Keywords

Bibliography

Promotional Information

This foundational textbook provides a transatlantic set of ‘histories’ of musical theatre, considering the form as neither solely British nor American, but a series of interactions between the two centres.

About the Author

Millie Taylor is Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester, UK. She worked as a freelance musical director and, for almost twenty years, toured Britain and Europe with a variety of musicals including West Side Story, Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors and Sweeney Todd. Recent publications include British Pantomime Performance (2007), Singing for Musicals: A Practical Guide (2008), Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment (2012), and with Dominic Symonds the edited collection Gestures of Music Theatre: The Performativity of Song and Dance (2014). Dr Adam Rush is Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer in Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester, UK. He is co-author of Musical Theatre Histories: Expanding the Narrative (2022), with Millie Taylor, and is currently developing Adaptation in Musical Theatre for Methuen Drama. His research explores intertextuality, adaptation, digital media, and fan culture in contemporary musical theatre. This work has been published in Studies in Musical Theatre and in edited collections for Palgrave, Routledge, and Oxford University Press. Adam completed his Ph.D. at the University of Lincoln in 2017 and holds a Masters in Theatre and Performance from Queen Mary, University of London.

Reviews

The history of musical theatre has been told countless times, and often in the same way; so it is refreshing to read a study of the musical that offers a myriad tellings of the tale. Like holding a diamond up to Broadway and West End shows, each chapter in Taylor and Rush's fascinating book offers a different perspective. For students and scholars of the musical, the book provides a rich seam of thought-provoking discussions written in an accessible and engaging way. Bouncing between Britain and America in its central focus, it explores the musical as a ‘transnational’ form – one that has developed on either side of the Atlantic, yet one that has always been caught in a tussle between two different worlds. In the expert hands of Millie Taylor and Adam Rush, readers will experience an exciting set of transatlantic adventures in musical theatre.
*Dominic Symonds (Professor of Musical Theatre, University of Lincoln, UK)*