Chapter 6: Difference and the Musical

Unit 6 - Women in MT.png

“In other words, men — white, heterosexual men — are the yardstick against which everything else is measured.”

“Adelaide’s Lament” - Guys and Dolls

“How Lovely to be a Woman” - Bye Bye Birdie

“How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria” - The Sound of Music

“My White Knight” - The Music Man

“Musical Theatre has very clear ideas — embedded in this vision of men as strong and women as weak — on how women should behave and approach life. It is hard not to make the connection between this patriarchal vision of women onstage and the fact that men control the genre.” - pg. 138, Her Turn on Stage

 Is author’s Grace Barnes comparison between how Broadway deals with gender vs. race, an equitable comparison? What ways is the argument substantiated and in what ways does the argument fall short?

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Chapter 5: The Influence of Gay Culture on Musical Theatre
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Chapter 7: Revivals and the Contemporary Audience