America's Musical Stage: Two Hundred Years of Musical Theatre / Edition 1

by Julian Mates

Overview

[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

American musical theatre has developed as an idigenous art form, with a long history, amazing vitality, and a variety of expression. Julian Mates is the first to show the musical stage in all its guises--from burlesque to musical comedy to grand opera--from its beginning in pre-Revolutionary America to the present day. In addition, this book is the first to explore the relationships between the various forms of musical theatre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275927141
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/14/1987
Series:	Contributions in Drama & Theatre Studies
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Overture: Some History, an Analysis, and a Polemic
Act I
History: The Development of an Indeigenous Form
Scene 1
Companies
Scene 2
Repertory
Scene 3
Performers
Act II
Analysis of the Interrelationships Among Musical Stage Forms
Scene 1
American Opera: Comic, Grand, and Operetta
Scene 2
Minstrel Show and Circus
Scene 3
Melodrama and Dance
Intermission: The Black Crook
Scene 4
Burlesque, Revue, and Vaudeville
Scene 5
Musical Comedy
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliographical Essay
Index