Description
Book SynopsisFrom Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins''s 1879 musical
Peculiar Sam to Lynn Nottage''s 2021 musical
MJ, the ''Black musical'' does not get the credit it deserves for sustaining the genre we know and love. This introductory book is devoted to representative African-American perspectives in musical theatre from the literature of slavery and freedom, 1746-1865, to the contemporary period, offering the reader case studies of what the ''Black musical'' is, how it works, and why it matters.Based on Glover''s experience teaching Black musical theatre at a conservatory and in the liberal arts, he draws his close readings of Eubie Blake, Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins and Charlie Smalls from theory and practice. Moreover, Glover investigates how the ballet, the musical comedy, the opera, the play with music and the revue are similar and different narrative sub-genres. Finally, the book reflect on issues such as blackface minstrelsy, the Chitlin Circuit', non-traditional casting and yellowface.
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: An Anti-Racist Approach to the Study of Culture: The Black Musical as a Mode of Inquiry Chapter 2: 'Way over Jordan': Bondage and Freedom in
Peculiar Sam (1879) and
Choir Boy (2012) Chapter 3: 'Everything reminds me of you': Memory and Rememory as Narrative Techniques in
Shuffle Along (1921) and
Shuffle Along or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (2016) Chapter 4: 'Home': Initiation Rites and Other 'Rites of Passage' in
The Wiz (1975) and
Passing Strange (2008) Conclusion References
