America's Musical Stage

Two Hundred Years of Musical Theatre

America's Musical Stage cover

America's Musical Stage

Two Hundred Years of Musical Theatre

Description

"[This book is] a comprehensive illustrated history of the U.S. musical from its colonial origins to the present, tracing the connections and influences of the minstrel show, operetta, burlesque, melodrama, revues, circus, dance, musical comedy, the Broadway opera, the book musical and other forms. . . . Further, Mates introduces readers to inside stuff--the various types of musical performers." Variety

Mates shows the musical stage in all its guises--from burlesque to musical comedy to grand opera--from its beginnings in pre-Revolutionary America to the present day. He deals sensitively with the recurrent aesthetic question of popular versus highbrow art and also looks at critical reactions to popular theatrical forms of musical entertainment. He introduces the reader to various types of theatrical companies, the changing repertory, and the many kinds of musical performers who have animated the stage. Mates focuses on the creative relationships between the different forms of opera, the minstrel show and circus, melodrama and dance, burlesque, revue, vaudeville, and musical comedy.

Product details

Published 14 Aug 1987
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 264
ISBN 9780313389702
Imprint Praeger
Series Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Julian Mates

JULIAN MATES is Professor of English at C.W. Post…

ONLINE RESOURCES

Bloomsbury Collections

This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.

Related Titles

Environment: Staging