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‘Static on a screen’: Seeking theatrical and thematic clarity in the challenges of Jonathan Larson’s Superbia
- Source: Studies in Musical Theatre, Volume 6, Issue 2, Sep 2012, p. 213 - 226
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- 10 Sep 2012
Abstract
Jonathan Larson is best known as the Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer of Rent (1996) and tick, tick ... BOOM! (1990). However, his first major work, Superbia, is often viewed as little more than a footnote to his later works due to its unproduced status. An original dystopia with a vivid pop score, Superbia represents nine years of development ending in a piece which culturally encapsulated the 1980s within a form far ahead of its time. Based on extensive archival research and interviews with Larson’s contemporaries, this article looks at the issues facing Superbia’s troubled creation in the 1980s, its themes of the media’s role in daily life, and its potential for contemporary re-visitation
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