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This critical introduction to British musical theatre since 1950 is the first book to discuss its post-war developments from the perspective of British - as opposed to American - popular culture. The genre is situated within the historical context of post-war British society in order to explore the range of forms through which significant sociocultural moments are represented. Introductory chapters analyse the way British musicals have responded to social change, the forms of popular theatre and music from which they have developed and their originality in elaborating new narrative strategies since the seventies. A key feature of the book is its close readings of twelve key works, from (1954) and Oliver! (1960) to global smash hits such as Les Miserables (1985) and The Phantom of the Opera (1986) and beyond, including the latest critical and box-office success Matilda (2011). Also analysed are British favourites ( Blood Brothers , 1983), cult shows ( The Rocky Horror Show , 1975) and musicals with a pre-existing fan-base, such as Mamma Mia! (1999).>
Table des matières
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Part I: Musicals and Social Change (Robert Gordon)
1.1 British Theatre and Society after the Second World War
1.2 Innovation and Nostalgia: Camp in the Post-War British Musical
Case Study 1:
Salad Days 1.3 Rock and Roll and the Theatre Revolution
1.4 The Play with Music: Political Theatre and Working-Class Culture
Case Study 2:
Blood Brothers 1.5 The Impact of
Oliver! 1.6 After
Jesus Christ Superstar: Globalization and Cultural Specificity
Case Study 3:
Billy Elliot 1.7 Global and Local: The Family Musical
Case Study 4:
Matilda - The Musical Part II: British Popular Culture and Musical Theatre (Millie Taylor)
2.1 Nostalgia in Character and Dramatic Form
Case Study 5:
Oh What a Lovely War! 2.2 Reflecting Multiculturalism
Case Study 6:
Bombay Dreams 2.3 Changing Signification in Popular Music
Case Study 7:
Oliver! Case Study 8:
The Rocky Horror Show Conclusion to Part Two
Part III: Narrative and Story-Telling in the British Musical since 1970 (Olaf Jubin)
Preamble
Introduction
3.1 Concept Recordings: When What You See is What You Have Heard
Case Study 9:
Jesus Christ Superstar 3.2 Sung-Through Shows: When the Spoken Word is Shunned
3.3 Stage Adaptations of Novels: When the Written Word Becomes Theatrical Action
Case Study 10:
Les Misérables Case Study 11:
The Phantom of the Opera 3.4 Original Stories: When the Content is Unknown
3.5 Jukebox Musicals: When You Know All the Songs
Case Study 12:
Mamma Mia! 3.6 Stage Adaptation of Films: When the Cinematic Becomes the Theatrical
Conclusion
Timeline
Notes
Selective Bibliography
Discography
Filmography
Index
A propos de l'auteur
Robert Gordon is Professor of Theatre and Director of the Pinter Centre for Performance and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, where in 2003 he introduced the first British MA in Musical Theatre for producers and writers and a new BA in Musical Theatre in 2018. He is author of The Purpose of Playing: Modern Acting Theory in Perspective (2006), Harold Pinter’s Theatre of Power (2012) and, with Olaf Jubin and Millie Taylor, British Musical Theatre Since 1950 (2016). Edited collections include The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies (2014) and, with Olaf Jubin, The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical (2016). He has acted and directed in South Africa, the UK, Ireland, the USA, Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. In 2013, he directed the European première of Kander and Ebb’s Steel Pier in Brno, while his musical version of Five Children
and It with composer Nick Hutson, received a professional workshop in 2015. He is currently engaged as a writer and actor of Shylock Speaks, which premiered in February 2020.
Olaf Jubin is Reader in Media Studies and Musical Theatre at Regent’s University London and a Visiting Lecturer on the M.A. in Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. He has written and co-edited several books on musical theatre and the mass media and is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of the British Musical.Millie Taylor is Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester, UK. She worked as a freelance musical director and, for almost twenty years, toured Britain and Europe with a variety of musicals including West Side Story, Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors and Sweeney Todd. Recent publications include British Pantomime Performance (2007), Singing for Musicals: A Practical Guide (2008), Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment (2012), and with Dominic Symonds the edited collection Gestures of Music Theatre: The Performativity of Song and Dance (2014).
