The Mikado to Matilda
The Mikado to Matilda

Author: Thomas S. Hischak

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-05-29

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 1538126079

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In The Mikado to Matilda: British Musicals on the New York Stage, Thomas Hischak provides an overview of British musicals that made their way to Broadway, covering their entire history up to the present day. This is the first book to look at the British musical theatre with reference to those London musicals that were also produced in New York City. The book covers 110 British musicals, ranging from 1750 to the present day, including the popular Gilbert and Sullivan comic operettas during the Victorian era, the Andrew Lloyd Webber mega-musicals of the late twentieth century, and today's biggest hits such as Matilda. Each London musical is discussed first as a success in England and then how it fared in America. The plots, songs, songwriters, performers, and producers for both the West End and the Broadway (or Off Broadway) production are identified and described. The discussion is sometimes critical, evaluating the musicals and why they were or were not a success in New York.

The Wednesday Club
The Wednesday Club

Author: Kjell Westö

Publisher: MacLehose Press

Published: 2016-05-05

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1848667817

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1938. Hitler's expansionist policies are arousing both anger and admiration, not least in Helsinki's Wednesday Club. The members of this relaxed gentleman's club are old friends of lawyer Claes Thune. But this year it is apparent that the political unrest in Europe is having an effect on the cohesion of the group. Thune has recently divorced and is at something of a loss, running his law practice with no great enthusiasm. Luckily he has the assistance of an efficient new secretary, Matilda Wiik. But behind her polished exterior Mrs Wiik is tormented by memories of the Finnish Civil War, when she experienced horrors she has been trying to forget ever since. And one evening, with the Wednesday Club gathered in Thune's office, she hears a voice she hoped she would never hear again. She is suddenly plunged back into the past. But this time she is no longer a helpless victim . . .

Singing Utopia
Singing Utopia

Author: Ben Macpherson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-12-03

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0197557635

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Singing Utopia is an original study of voice in musical theatre. Rather than focusing on how actors sing or analysing voices using established approaches found in opera studies, this book offers readers ways to understand musical theatre voices from a cultural perspective. It argues that musical theatre singing allows listeners and audiences to escape their everyday lives; and that voices can 'be' utopian. It then considers what this means and uncovers some paradoxes and difficulties in this idea. Introducing a new set of terms, it provides a way to listen to, think about, and even perform, voice in popular musical theatre.

The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia
The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia

Author: Thomas S. Hischak

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-03-15

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1538152401

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Thornton Wilder is one of America’s greatest writers, and the only author to win Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and drama. Equally well known for his plays and novels, his unique and diverse body of work also includes essays, journals, lectures, and film and television scripts. In The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia, Thomas S. Hischak exhaustively covers Wilder’s life and extensive career. Entries not only contain every one of his novels, plays, and scripts, but also his letters, journals, and all other existing works by Wilder, published or unpublished. In addition, this valuable reference features entries on the individuals who worked with Wilder and friends and family members who were a great influence on him. With a biography of Wilder to introduce the work and a chronology and selected bibliography to augment the entries, The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive reference available on one of America’s greatest playwrights and finest novelists.

Song of the Season
Song of the Season

Author: Thomas Hischak

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-03-21

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 1350423734

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What links the popular songs "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Send in the Clowns", "Memory" and "I Am What I Am"? They all originated in Broadway musicals. Song of the Season is for those who believe that the score is at the heart of a musical and is the essential building block on which the rest of a show is built. Through a systematic historical survey from 1891 to 2023 it argues that the best musicals survive because of their songs, from early 20th century classics such as Show Boat and Oklahoma! through to the contemporary sound of Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton. looking at outstanding songs from each Broadway season, the development and history of the musical is illustrated with a fresh perspective. As song styles and popular music tastes changed throughout the decades this structure charts the progress of American showtunes alongside popular music forms as songs evolved from the waltz and ragtime to jazz, rock, rap and hip-hop. Factual analysis and historical context combine to offer a rich picture of the American songbook from Irving Berlin to Elton John. Song of the Season paints a fresh picture for musical theatre students and fans alike, illustrating significant changes in the form through the music. Analyzed in an accessible and engaging way that doesn't rely on music theory knowledge, and including a link to playlist where all the 'songs of the seasons' can be listened to, it is a must-have for those looking to expand their knowledge of the form and trace the social history of the American showtune.

Theatre as Human Action
Theatre as Human Action

Author: Thomas S. Hischak

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-10-17

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1538163454

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Theatre as Human Action is the ideal textbook to introduce students to the various aspects of theatre, especially for those who may have little or no theatergoing experience. Seven diverse plays are described to the reader from the start, and then returned to throughout the book so that students can better understand the concepts being discussed. Both the theoretical and practical aspects of theatre are explored, from the classical definition of theatre to today’s most avant-garde theatre activities. Types of plays, the elements of drama, and theatre criticism are presented, as well as detailed descriptions of the different jobs in theatre, such as actor, playwright, director, designer, producer, choreographer, and more. The book concludes with a look at where and how theatre is evolving in America and the latest changes and innovations today. This fourth edition has been greatly expanded and updated, including: The introduction of four new plays—Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Fences; Angels in America; and Hadestown—in addition to Macbeth, You Can’t Take It With You, and Hamilton A discussion of the rise of social media in raising awareness and replacing traditional review outlets An entirely new, enhanced section on diversity and inclusion in theatre An updated selection of playwrights featured, including Terrence McNally, Lynn Nottage, Tony Kushner, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, to better reflect the diversity of those writing for the theatre today. Featuring full-color photographs, updated discussion questions, new topics for further research, and potential creative projects, the fourth edition of Theatre as Human Action is an invaluable resource to introduce students to the world of theatre.

Broadway Decoded
Broadway Decoded

Author: Thomas S. Hischak

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023-09-01

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1493074334

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A lively guide to fifty popular musicals from the comedy classics of the 1930s and 1940s to the frequently produced darlings of modern theater. Broadway musicals are set in a variety of different places and periods of history, so they are filled with references, expressions, names, objects, and slang that might not be familiar to modern audiences. Thomas Hischak guides us through these oddities of classic musicals in Broadway Decoded.

Fifty Key Stage Musicals
Fifty Key Stage Musicals

Author: Robert W. Schneider

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-03-30

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1000555186

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This volume in the Routledge Key Guides series provides a round-up of the fifty musicals whose creations were seminal in altering the landscape of musical theater discourse in the English-speaking world. Each entry summarises a show, including a full synopsis, discussion of the creators' process, show's critical reception, and its impact on the landscape of musical theater. This is the ideal primer for students of musical theater – its performance, history, and place in the modern theatrical world – as well as fans and lovers of musicals.

Queer Trades, Sex and Society
Queer Trades, Sex and Society

Author: Jeffrey Meek

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-06-01

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1000888924

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This book is the first scholarly work to explore male homosexual prostitution in interwar Scotland. The male prostitute occupies a contested position within interwar society – depending on the perspective he was representative of a descent into turpitude, of tenacious organised criminality or of exploitation. The book explores connections between male prostitution and criminal gangs prevalent during the interwar period, by detailing the emergence and activities of Glasgow’s notorious ‘Whitehats’, a gang composed of a number of queer male prostitutes and led by William Paton. This book discovers that although Paton’s activities were representative of a career criminal, the young men who joined the ‘Whitehats’ were often driven by poverty and social isolation. This book explores the experiences of Edinburgh police detective William Merrilees and his war on homosexuality in Edinburgh during the 1930s through examining the tactics used to regulate homosexual trade and the implications this held for the men involved. The book not only explores the attitudes, opinions and actions of police officers, politicians and the legal process but also uncovers fragments from the lives of the men involved, through personal reflections and letters. The book explores the anxieties that the trade in homosexual sex provoked, not just for understandings of sexuality but also of gender and nationhood, and offers a comparative perspective of the forms of homosexual trade in Scotland, England and major foreign cities. This book will have broad appeal to academics and students in the field of social, sexual and gender history as well as the social and criminal histories of Scotland and Britain.

For One Week Only!: The Norfolk and Norwich Operatic Society, 1925-2025
For One Week Only!: The Norfolk and Norwich Operatic Society, 1925-2025

Author: Adrian Wright

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2025-01-07

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1837652155

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Explores the 100 year history of the Norfolk and Norwich Operatic Society and celebrates the company's relationship with the Theatre Royal Norwich, one of the most successful major provincial theatres in the country. For One Week Only, published in time for the Norfolk and Norwich Operatic Society's centenary in January 2025, celebrates the company's relationship with the Theatre Royal Norwich, one of the most successful major provincial theatres in the country. The book charts the development of the Society over a hundred years of musical theatre, British and American. Each of the almost 100 productions has its own lively, informative and socially aware essay, accompanied by photographs revealing the development of the company from its origins in 1925, as well as showing the changing faces and styles of musical theatre throughout the century. The early years of the Society favoured such continental operettas as The Marriage Market and the bewitching Sybil before a long dalliance with Gilbert and Sullivan from which it broke free after World War II, although Iolanthe returned for her third outing in 1955. The Society's fascination with operetta continued through the 1960s with such sturdy favourites as The Student Prince, The Merry Widow and Rose Marie, with an occasional recognition of the British musical, notably in the 1975 production of Ivor Novello's King's Rhapsody and in the hugely successful Betty Blue Eyes of 2024. For One Week Only explores the history of the N&N and its ongoing contribution to the arts in Norfolk. Warmly and wittily, it lifts the curtain on a story of theatrical endurance and adventure.