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- Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015
Studies in Musical Theatre - Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015
Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015
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‘Telling the tale’: Adaptation as interpretation
Authors: Robert Gordon and Olaf JubinAbstractThe introduction considers the adaptations of stage musicals from previously existing source material as acts of cultural translation, operating through intricately interwoven intertexts of narrative meaning in myths, folk tales, fairy tales, prose fiction, poetry and films across a wide spectrum of cultures and languages. One of the key questions problematized is the common sense idea of fidelity to the original source material; it is however logically impossible for an adaptation to be faithful to its source as all adaptation involves interpretative decisions so that even the simplest translation from one medium to another is a hermeneutic act. Rather than focusing exclusively on the technical differences between media, the articles in this volume address adaptations of sources for the musical stage as interpretations.
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‘Clothes make an awful difference in a girl’: Mlle. Modiste, Irene and Funny Face as Cinderella fashion musicals
By Maya CantuAbstractThe world of fashion has been a frequent setting for the many Broadway musicals inspired by Charles Perrault’s Cinderella (1697). Using two Broadway musicals and one Hollywood musical as cross-historical case studies, this article examines how the American musical has variously adapted and interpreted themes of ‘clothes make the woman’ by posing Cinderella as a shop girl or model in fields of consumer fashion. The 1905 Victor Herbert/Henry Blossom operetta Mlle. Modiste, and the 1919 Cinderella musical Irene (by James Montgomery, Harry Tierney and Joseph McCarthy) both assert the democratizing power of fashion. In Mlle. Modiste, the resourceful title character uses both her singing talent and her access to stylish clothing to rise in the world as an opera diva, as well as a viscount’s wife. Irene emphasizes themes of masquerade and meritocracy, as the eponymous Irish American shop girl models dresses for couturier ‘Madame Lucy’, fools high society as a pedigreed lady and marries her Prince Charming. By contrast, the 1957 Paramount movie musical Funny Face problematizes its heroine’s fashion-world makeover. While Funny Face’s narrative depicts the transformation of Jo Stockton (Audrey Hepburn), a bookish ‘Greenwich Village Cinderella’, into a glamorous Paris mannequin, Funny Face’s musical numbers, use strategies of camp and parody to undercut the concept of ‘The Quality Woman’.
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The Beauty and the Beast trope in modern musical theatre
More LessAbstractFairy tales have provided a rich supply of sources for direct adaptation in musical theatre, however they are also the source of many of the tropes that are found more widely in musicals. This article focuses on the tropes that can be identified in the Beauty and the Beast tale and how they can be found in a range of musicals which are not direct adaptations of the tale itself. The particular musicals explored are the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast (1991) from the perspective of direct adaptation, and The Phantom of the Opera (1986), Passion (1994), Wicked (2003) and Shrek the Musical (2008) which are analysed on a tropic level. These four musicals are indeed all adaptations of other source material, and such works might be said to interpret tropes of fairy tale rather than adapt the tale. Frameworks from narratological study are used to explore the topic, particularly Lévi-Strauss’ synchronic – diachronic method of analysis proposed in ‘The structural study of myth’ and Greimas’ semiotic square as a means of considering the meaning behind binary opposite pairs of themes.
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Oz and the musical: The American art form and the reinvention of the American fairy tale
By Ryan BunchAbstractMuch as the musical is touted as an American art form, L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz (1900) has been called the American fairy tale. Since its publication, the book has been eclipsed in popularity by a series of musical–theatrical adaptations, which are also among the most popular shows in the canon of musicals, suggesting an affinity between musicals and Oz. Close analysis of four Oz musicals, the Broadway extravaganza of 1903, the MGM film of 1939, The Wiz (1975) and Wicked (2003) shows how the conventions of musical theatre translate the already powerful symbolic national mythology of Baum’s book into participatory expressions of American identity through embodied performance. In return, Oz gives the musical a signal national text which, through adaptation, allows the musical to reassert its own American pedigree while rearticulating the meaning of American identity at significant moments in the history of the genre.
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Jane and Jerusha: Finding a voice on the musical stage
More LessAbstractIn 1994, American composer/lyricist Paul Gordon started to work with British stage director and writer John Caird on the musical Jane Eyre, which finally opened on Broadway in 2000 with Caird writing the book, additional lyrics and co-directing the production. The two artists again collaborated on Daddy Long Legs in 2008, also with book and direction by Caird. Both musicals feature a female protagonist and are adapted from novels written and set in earlier times – 1847 and 1912, respectively. In addition, the novels have been adapted to the screen with varying degrees of faithfulness to the source material. This article explores how screen adaptations have interpreted the two novels and compares these to the stage musicals. I argue that by being more faithful to the source material, Gordon and Caird make the characters and relationships modern, passionate, and relatable to twenty-first-century audiences.
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Deaf West Theatre and the Broadway musical: Big River and beyond
AbstractIn February 2014, UCLA hosted a reunion of the cast and production team of Deaf West’s Tony Award-winning production of Big River from 2004. In front of a public audience, participants in the original production reflected on the challenges and rewards of putting together a piece of musical theatre using deaf and hearing actors and incorporating new ideas about how to use American Sign Language (ASL) as the basis for choreography. The panel was introduced by Raymond Knapp and moderated by Jeff Calhoun, and included Michael Arden, Linda Bove, David Kurs, Steve Landau, Bill O’Brien, Tyrone Giordano, Michael McElroy, Gwen Stewart, and Ed Waterstreet. Performances by members of the cast were supervised by Steven Landau and supported by singers and instrumentalists drawn from student ensembles at UCLA, including the UCLA Singers (directed by Rebecca Lord) and the Department of Ethnomusicology’s Bluegrass Band (directed by Scott Linford). The interpreters for the event were Elizabeth Greene, Robbie Sutton, Bob Loparo, and Diana MacDougall. The event was co-sponsored by UCLA and Deaf West Theatre, with funding provided by UCLA’s Department of Musicology, Department of Music (Nelson Fund), Arts Initiative Fund, School of the Arts and Architecture, Division of Humanities, Disability Studies, and Herb Alpert School of Music. The transcription is by Arreanna Rostosky and David Kurs.
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Disabling privilege: Further reflections on Deaf West’s Big River
More LessAbstractDrawing on observations of Michael McElroy, Tyrone Giordano and Ed Waterstreet I consider the difficult role of Jim in Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which involves reliving the institution of slavery, onstage, night after night. What made it possible and rewarding to play this role, for Michael McElroy, was the Deaf West production, which involved both hearing and deaf actors, the former signing and the latter voiced. I consider how the performance difficulties, the need to connect with deaf performers, and the thematic interweaving of the story with its performance mode, among other factors, contributed to a rich experience that reflects and intensifies fundamental aspects of musical theatre.
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Book Reviews
Authors: Laura MacDonald, Helen Lewis and Ray MillerAbstractThe Great White Way: Race and the Broadway Musical, Warren Hoffman (2014) New Brunswick, NJ and London: Rutgers University Press, 264 pp., ISBN: 9780813563343, p/bk, £21.95/$33.78
The Politics of the Pantomime: Regional Identity in the Theatre, 1860–1900, Jill A. Sullivan (2011) Hertfordshire: University of Hertfordshire Press, 288 pp., ISBN: 9781902806884, h/bk, £25.00/$50.00; ISBN: 9781902806891, p/bk, £14.99/$29.95
Directing in Musical Theatre: An Essential Guide, Joe Deer (2014) London and New York: Routledge, 250 pp., ISBN: 9780415624909, p/bk, £21.99/$33.84
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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)