Description

Book Synopsis


Table of Contents
Preface

Introduction: Flash!--Splash

Jake Johnson

Part One: The Road to Vegas

1 On the Edge of the Desert

Robert Fink

2 Reimagining the Popular on the Vegas Circuit: Helen Traubel, Diva Populism, and the Labor of Publicity

Michael M. Reinhard

3 It Was Better When the Mob Ran the Town

Janis McKay

Part Two: Overheard

4 Music as Misdirection

Jason Leddington

5 Presence, Absence, and Live Virtuality: Soundscapes in Cirque du Soleil on the Las Vegas Strip

Lynda Paul

6 Pura Alegria: Young Adult Musicians Learning Mariachi in Schools and Participating in the Las Vegas Mariachi Scene

Cassaundra Rodriguez and Celine Ayala

Part Three: Second Chances

7 The Master and the Mob: Noël Coward’s Musical Identity in the Golden Age of Las Vegas

Arianne Johnson Quinn

8 Elvis in Vegas: The King of Rock ’n’ Roll and the City of Second Chances

Brian F. Wright

9 Celine Dion and Cher’s Vegas Residencies: The Envoiced and Embodied Spectacle of Feminine Aging on the Vegas Stage

Jessica A. Holmes and Michael Kinney

Part Four: Virtuoso Fantastique

10 Viva Viagra: Vegas, Elvis, and “A Little Blue Pill”

James Deaville and Kirstin Bews

11 Shall We Go for It? The Hermeneutics of Celine Dion’s Las Vegas Show

Sam Murray

12 Liberace’s Surfaces: Democratic Virtuosity, American Fantasies, and Vegas Pianism

Pheaross Graham

Part Five: Making Book

13 Comedy Tonight: Broadway Musicals on the Las Vegas Strip

Arreanna Rostosky

14 “Trouble Is, We Don’t Make the Rules”: The Las Vegas Years of Jazz and Classical Violinist Ginger Smock

Laura Risk

15 “For Adult Audiences Only”: A History of LGBTQ Performers on the Las Vegas Stage

Louis Niebur

Part Six: Leaving Vegas

16 The Real Deal: Impersonation and the American Dream in Branson and Vegas

Joanna Dee Das and Maddie House-Tuck

17 Salaciously Family Friendly: The Unlikely Porousness of Sin City and the American Boob Tube

Kelly Kessler

18 Representation and Value in Michael Daugherty’s Las Vegas Works

Laura Dallman

19 Specters of Mine: Musicological Research in the Desert of the Opera

Carlo Lanfossi

Contributors

Index

The Possibility Machine

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    £21.59

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    RRP £23.99 – you save £2.40 (10%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Sat 4 Jul 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Jake Johnson, Celine Ayala, Kirstin Bews

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of The Possibility Machine by Jake Johnson

      Publisher: University of Illinois Press
      Publication Date: 10/10/2023
      ISBN13: 9780252087530, 978-0252087530
      ISBN10: 0252087534
      Also in:
      Media, entertainment, information

      Description

      Book Synopsis


      Table of Contents
      Preface

      Introduction: Flash!--Splash

      Jake Johnson

      Part One: The Road to Vegas

      1 On the Edge of the Desert

      Robert Fink

      2 Reimagining the Popular on the Vegas Circuit: Helen Traubel, Diva Populism, and the Labor of Publicity

      Michael M. Reinhard

      3 It Was Better When the Mob Ran the Town

      Janis McKay

      Part Two: Overheard

      4 Music as Misdirection

      Jason Leddington

      5 Presence, Absence, and Live Virtuality: Soundscapes in Cirque du Soleil on the Las Vegas Strip

      Lynda Paul

      6 Pura Alegria: Young Adult Musicians Learning Mariachi in Schools and Participating in the Las Vegas Mariachi Scene

      Cassaundra Rodriguez and Celine Ayala

      Part Three: Second Chances

      7 The Master and the Mob: Noël Coward’s Musical Identity in the Golden Age of Las Vegas

      Arianne Johnson Quinn

      8 Elvis in Vegas: The King of Rock ’n’ Roll and the City of Second Chances

      Brian F. Wright

      9 Celine Dion and Cher’s Vegas Residencies: The Envoiced and Embodied Spectacle of Feminine Aging on the Vegas Stage

      Jessica A. Holmes and Michael Kinney

      Part Four: Virtuoso Fantastique

      10 Viva Viagra: Vegas, Elvis, and “A Little Blue Pill”

      James Deaville and Kirstin Bews

      11 Shall We Go for It? The Hermeneutics of Celine Dion’s Las Vegas Show

      Sam Murray

      12 Liberace’s Surfaces: Democratic Virtuosity, American Fantasies, and Vegas Pianism

      Pheaross Graham

      Part Five: Making Book

      13 Comedy Tonight: Broadway Musicals on the Las Vegas Strip

      Arreanna Rostosky

      14 “Trouble Is, We Don’t Make the Rules”: The Las Vegas Years of Jazz and Classical Violinist Ginger Smock

      Laura Risk

      15 “For Adult Audiences Only”: A History of LGBTQ Performers on the Las Vegas Stage

      Louis Niebur

      Part Six: Leaving Vegas

      16 The Real Deal: Impersonation and the American Dream in Branson and Vegas

      Joanna Dee Das and Maddie House-Tuck

      17 Salaciously Family Friendly: The Unlikely Porousness of Sin City and the American Boob Tube

      Kelly Kessler

      18 Representation and Value in Michael Daugherty’s Las Vegas Works

      Laura Dallman

      19 Specters of Mine: Musicological Research in the Desert of the Opera

      Carlo Lanfossi

      Contributors

      Index

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