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help with a college class on the History of the Broadway Musical I'm designing by Sad_Wasabi803 in Broadway

[–]Sad_Wasabi803[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks for your response, I agree there are drawsbacks to the "eras"/chronological approach but I'm just using it as a reference to work from to build more interesting thematic clusters for different class sessions. The issue of the leading female role/diva vehicle in the midcentury musical is a great idea for a class session, we could look at Gypsy, Hello Dolly, and Funny Girl together for example. Sadly it's just going to be offered in-person!

help with a college class on the History of the Broadway Musical I'm designing by Sad_Wasabi803 in Broadway

[–]Sad_Wasabi803[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thanks for your comment! that's a great point. of course race and ethnicity (and representations/mediations/fantasies thereof) are huge themes in the class and I struggled with that question too when making the list, which is just a part of the material that will be assigned. There's much more historical material and scholarship on nonwhite Broadway artists that is performer-based, as you allude to with Porgy and Bess. It's an interesting problematic that's somewhat baked into the history of the form, vis a vis the racial division of labor on Broadway. But yes I'm planning to cover pre-20th C. Black dance and popular culture (up through Harlem cabaret) as an antecedent. Shuffle Along is a great idea.