Musical Theatre Histories

This foundational textbook provides a transatlantic set of ‘histories’ of musical theatre, considering the form as neither solely British nor American, but a series of interactions between the two centres.

Musical theatre is often perceived as either a Broadway based art form, or as having separate histories in London and New York. Musical Theatre Histories: Expanding the Narrative, however, depicts the musical as neither American nor British, but both and more, having grown out of frequent and substantial interactions between both centres (and beyond). Through multiple thematic ‘histories’, Millie Taylor and Adam Rush take readers on a series of journeys that include the art form’s European and American origins, African American influences, negotiations arounddiversity, national identity, and the globalisation of the form, as well as revival culture, censorship and the place of social media in
the 21st century.

Each chapter includes case studies and key concept boxes to identify, explain and contextualise important discussions, offering an accessible study of a dynamic and ever evolving medium.
Written and developed for undergraduate students, this introductory textbook provides a newly focused and alternative way of understanding musical theatre history.