From the pre-Gilbert and Sullivan 1860s to the 1980s, this important reference surveys more than a century of British light musical theatre, including its writers and composers. Ganzl provides a wealth of information on the book, lyrics, and music of over 800 London musicals, including contemporary reviews, cast lists, performances, plus pertinent notes gleaned from a study of surviving scores and libretti. Volume 1 traces the development of the genre between 1865 and 1914, describing its roots in burlesque and opera-buffe, and discussing the comic opera tradition and the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, the flowering of the so-called musical comedy under George Edwardes, and the important influence of the British musical theatre around the world, particularly in America. Volume 2 covers, among other topics, the reciprocal influences on the British musical theatre of the American style, the advent of the dance-and-laughter musicals of the 1930s, the rock operas of the 1970s, and the subsequent development of the modern British musical in its second period of international prominence, highlighted by such hits as Evita and Cats."

From the pre-Gilbert and Sullivan 1860s to the 1980s, this important reference surveys more than a century of British light musical theatre, including its writers and composers. Ganzl provides a wealth of information on the book, lyrics, and music of over 800 London musicals, including contemporary reviews, cast lists, performances, plus pertinent notes gleaned from a study of surviving scores and libretti. Volume 1 traces the development of the genre between 1865 and 1914, describing its roots in burlesque and opera-buffe, and discussing the comic opera tradition and the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership, the flowering of the so-called musical comedy under George Edwardes, and the important influence of the British musical theatre around the world, particularly in America. Volume 2 covers, among other topics, the reciprocal influences on the British musical theatre of the American style, the advent of the dance-and-laughter musicals of the 1930s, the rock operas of the 1970s, and the subsequent development of the modern British musical in its second period of international prominence, highlighted by such hits as Evita and Cats."

This book examines the performance of ‘Britishness’ on the musical stage. Covering a tumultuous period in British history, it offers a fresh look at the vitality and centrality of the musical stage, as a global phenomenon in late-Victorian popular culture and beyond. Through a re-examination of over fifty archival play-scripts, the book comprises seven interconnected stories told in two parts. Part One focuses on domestic and personal identities of ‘Britishness’, and how implicit anxieties and contradictions of nationhood, class and gender were staged as part of the popular cultural condition. Broadening in scope, Part Two offers a revisionary reading of Empire and Otherness on the musical stage, and concludes with a consideration of the Great War and the interwar period, as musical theatre performed a nostalgia for a particular kind of ‘Britishness’, reflecting the anxieties of a nation in decline.

A comprehensive study of economic theory in relation to the development of nineteenth-century British theatre.

Musical Women in England, 1870-1914 delineates the roles women played in the flourishing music world of late-Victorian and early twentieth-century England, and shows how contemporary challenges to restrictive gender roles inspired women to move into new areas of musical expression, both in composition and performance. The most famous women musicians were the internationally renowned stars of opera; greatly admired despite their violations of the prescribed Victorian linkage of female music-making with domesticity, the divas were often compared to the sirens of antiquity, their irresistible voices a source of moral danger to their male admirers. Their ambiguous social reception notwithstanding, the extraordinary ability and striking self-confidence of these women - and of pioneering female soloists on the violin, long an instrument permitted only to men - inspired fiction writers to feature musician heroines and motivated unprecedented numbers of girls and women to pursue advanced musical study. Finding professional orchestras almost fully closed to them, many female graduates of English conservatories performed in small ensembles and in all-female and amateur orchestras, and sought to earn their living in the overcrowed world of music teaching.

The 1910s shaped the future of the American musical. While many shows of the decade were imports of European operettas, and even original Broadway musicals were influenced by continental productions, the musicals of the 1910s found their own American voice. In The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz covers all 312 musicals that opened on Broadway during this decade. Among the shows discussed are The Balkan Princess, The Kiss Waltz, Naughty Marietta, The Firefly, Very Good Eddie, Leave It to Jane, Watch Your Step, See America First, and La-La-Lucille. Dietz places each musical in its historical context, including the women’s suffrage movement and the decade’s defining historical event, World War I. Each entry features the following: Plot summary Cast members Creative team, including writers, lyricists, composers, directors, choreographers, and producers Opening and closing dates Number of performances Critical commentary Musical numbers and the performers who introduced the songs Numerous appendixes include a chronology, discography, filmography, Gilbert and Sullivan productions, Princess Theatre musicals, musicals with World War I themes, and published scripts, making this book a comprehensive and significant resource. The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals will captivate and inform scholars, historians, and casual fans about this influential decade in musical theatre history.