Changed for Good A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical

by Wolf, Stacy

• ISBN13: 9780195378245
• ISBN10: 0195378245
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780199831234
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-07-07
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

From Maria in "West Side Story" to Tracy Turnblatt in "Hairspray" and Elphaba in "Wicked," female characters in Broadway musicals have belted and crooned their way into the American psyche. In this lively book, Stacy Wolf illuminates the women of American musical theater--performers, creators, and characters--from the start of the cold war to the present day, creating a new, feminist history of the genre, which finds often overlooked moments of empowerment for female audience members. Moving from decade to decade, Wolf first highlights the assumptions that circulated about gender and sexuality at the time, and then looks at the leading musicals, stressing the key aspects of the plays as they relate to women. The musicals discussed here are among the most beloved in the canon--"West Side Story," "Guys & Dolls," "Cabaret," "Phantom of the Opera," and many others--with special emphasis on the blockbuster "Wicked." Along the way, Wolf demonstrates how the musical since the mid-1940s has actually been dominated by women--women onstage, women in the wings, and women offstage as spectators and fans.

Author Biography

Stacy Wolf is Professor of Theater and Director of the Princeton Atelier, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: "Defying Gravity"	p. 3
The 1950s: "Marry the Man Today"	p. 25
The 1960s: "If My Friends Could See Me Now"	p. 53
The 1970s: "Everything Was Beautiful at the Ballet"	p. 91
The 1980s: "The Phantom of the Opera Is There Inside My Mind"	p. 127
The 1990s-2000s: Tm Beautiful and I'm Here"	p. 161
"Changed for the Better": Queer Conventions in Wicked (2003)	p. 197
"Its All About Popular": Wicked Divas and Internet Girl Fans 219
Epilogue: "Changed for Good"	p. 237
Notes	p. 245
Selected Bibliography	p. 287
Index	p. 291
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