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- Volume 8, Issue 1, 2014
Studies in Musical Theatre - Volume 8, Issue 1, 2014
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2014
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�It might have been sophisticated film music�: The role of the orchestra in stage and screen versions of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
More LessAbstractWhen Stephen Sondheim wrote his 1979 musical thriller Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, he aimed for it to feel like a horror film. As such, he drew upon methods from Classical Hollywood film scoring in order to sustain tension between musical numbers and provide clues about the drama. In 2007, the musical was adapted into a film directed by Tim Burton, and thus Sondheim�s music became a film score. Though much of the score is built upon Sondheim�s original work, new scenes required the development of new music. This article considers the role of the orchestra in both the original production of Sweeney Todd and in the film using theories of the role and function of film music and the orchestra in musical theatre.
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�This is Our Turf!�: Puerto Rican youths in the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story
By Megan WollerAbstractIn 1961 directors Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise as well as screenwriter Ernest Lehman adapted the 1957 stage musical West Side Story into a film, and in the process engaged with the complex racial and ethnic discourses of Broadway and Hollywood. Thus, I explore how the depiction of the Puerto Rican characters grows out of significant trends onstage and in film. Furthermore, this article foregrounds adaptation by examining how the film portrays the Puerto Rican gang in relation to the so-called American gang and the Puerto Rican female characters in ways that both intersect with and make changes from the original stage production. Characterization through the music, lyrics, book and visuals all distinguish the different ethnic groups, in part through well-worn stereotypes. In fact, a tension in the representation of the Puerto Rican gang members results from the combination of highly problematic stereotyping and an attempt to give them more agency than in the original Broadway production. My analysis centres on three exemplary musical numbers, the Prologue, the �Mambo� and �America� in order to tease out various aspects of the film�s portrayal of Puerto Rican youths.
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Face-work, social movement leadership, and �Glinda the Good�: A textual analysis of the character G(a)linda in the musical Wicked
More LessAbstractThis textual analysis of the musical Wicked examines how the musical conveys messages about social movement leadership and the sociological concept of face-work. Specifically, this article suggests that the character G(a)linda emerges as a leader through the use of front and face-work and then undergoes a transformation that leads her to adopt the values of the social movement in the musical, giving her the ability to serve as a government leader while illustrating the characteristics of a moderate social movement leader.
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Practice as research in musical theatre � reviewing the situation
More LessAbstractThe convergence of conservatoire-style training with academia has witnessed an explosion of practice as research (PaR) projects � or what in some academic quarters constitutes research, which is practice led or practice based. During the last five years, we have seen a high water mark in PaR pursuits within musical theatre training and performance. Yet, despite the benefit of research paradigms and publications from adjacent fields, practice-based musical theatre researchers often find themselves somewhat adrift when it comes to understanding the ways in which PaR is formulated, understood, and indeed practiced. This article offers both a general overview of the situation that PaR musical theatre currently finds itself in, and also provides scenarios of what that research might look like. As a springboard for the article I use Robin Nelson�s recent examination of the field, and particularly the fundamental trope of �doing-thinking� which is formulated in and through the notion of praxis (2013: 40). From here my discussion will develop in two ways. First, I look at various settings in academia in which I have encountered PaR, occasions that have given rise to issues about the ineffability of the art form and the intentionality of practice during research. Second, I focus on the nascence, resistance and potential of practice-based research in musical theatre. Crucially the inherent complexity of musical theatre offers us a chance to reflect on the dyadic concept of �doing-thinking�. To that end I propose taxonomic distinctions that may help convert an essentially dialectical concept into an analytical tool for the appraisal and evaluation of musical theatre PaR.
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The revocalization of logos? Thinking, doing and disseminating voice
More LessAbstract�As a specific object of interest for philosophy, the human voice is grasped within a system of signification that subordinates speech to the concept�. It is in the traditional dualism between the vocal/aural and the conceptual/seen that Cavarero postulates the de-vocalization of logos, the dichotomy between embodied phonation and critical enquiry. Her remarks invite further probing of the pedagogy and creative praxis of voice: how do we conceptualize voicing? How does voice emerge from and reflect back to its discursive domains? How can we bridge the chasm between the ontology and epistemology of voice? How do we think, do and disseminate voice? In reflecting on these concerns, our overall aspiration is to propose a new paradigm for practice as research (PaR) education in Voice Studies.
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Making Broadway musicals: An interview with Dan Knechtges
More LessAbstractAs a director and choreographer for the stage and the screen, Dan Knechtges� work is known for its captivating spark and exuberant energy. Dan�s choreography for the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005) and Xanadu (2007) has received nominations for the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Lucille Lortell Award. Most recently, Dan directed and choreographed Lysistrata Jones (2011) on Broadway. Below are excerpts from a conversation between Knechtges (DK), Princeton undergraduate students Adam Hyndman (AH), Abigail Williams (AW) and Angela Caruso (AC), and members of a general public audience about Knechtges� experiences as a choreographer and choreographer-director. This conversation took place as part of the Making Broadway Musicals: Artists and Scholars in Conversation symposium at Princeton University on 21�April 2012.
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Reviews
Authors: Michael Goron, Charles D. Adamson, Jim Lovensheimer and John GrazianoAbstractGilbert and Sullivan: Class and the Savoy Tradition, 1875�1896, Regina B. Oost (2009) Farnham: Ashgate, 168 pp., ISBN: 9780754664123, h/bk, �50
The Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and Sullivan, David Eden and Meinhard Saremba (eds) (2009) Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, v+274 pp., ISBN: 9780521716598, h/bk., �45, p/bk, 17.99
Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theatre, Ethan Mordden (2013) New York: Oxford University Press, 322 pp., ISBN: 9780199892839, h/bk, $29.95 (US)
Show Boat: Performing Race In An American Musical, Todd�Decker (2012) New York: Oxford University Press, 309 pp., ISBN: 9780199759378, h/bk, $35.00
There�s a Place for us; the Musical Theatre Works of Leonard Bernstein, Helen Smith (2011) Farnham and Vermont: Ashgate, 318 pp., ISBN: 9781409411697, h/bk, �60/$100
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 18 (2024)
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Volume 17 (2023)
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Volume 16 (2022)
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Volume 15 (2021)
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Volume 14 (2020)
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Volume 13 (2019)
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Volume 12 (2018)
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Volume 11 (2017)
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Volume 10 (2016)
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Volume 9 (2015)
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Volume 8 (2014)
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Volume 7 (2013)
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Volume 6 (2012)
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Volume 5 (2011 - 2012)
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Volume 4 (2010)
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Volume 3 (2009)
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Volume 2 (2008)
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Volume 1 (2006 - 2007)