Each chapter concludes with a brief consideration of available scholarship on related subjects; an extensive appendix provides information on each show discussed, including plot summaries and song lists, and a listing of important films, videos, audio recordings, published scores, and libretti associated with each musical.

List of Figures xi
Explanatory Note about Audio Examples xiii
Preface xv


Part One INTRODUCTIONS 1


Chapter 1: Contexts and Strategies 3
Chapter 2: Nineteenth-Century European Roots: Models and Topics 19
Paris (and Berlin) 20
The Black Crook (1866) 20
London: W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) 29
H.M.S. Pinafore
or,The Lass That Loved a Sailor (1878) 34


Chapter 3: Early American Developments: Minstrelsy, Extravaganza, Pantomime, Burlesque, Vaudeville 47
Minstrelsy 49
Extravaganza 59
Pantomime 60
Burlesque 61
Vaudeville 62
A Gilbert and Sullivan Postscript on American Minstrelsy 63


Chapter 4: American Song through Tin Pan Alley 67
Minstrel Songs 67
The Early Tin Pan Alley Era 70
Classic Tin Pan Alley 77
Anything Goes (1934) 88


Part Two DEFINING AMERICA 101


Chapter 5: Whose (Who's) America? 103
Little Johnny Jones (1904) 104
The Cradle Will Rock (1938) 110
Chapter 6: American Mythologies 119
Oklahoma!(1943) 122
Guys and Dolls (1950) 134
The Music Man (1957) 144


Chapter 7: Counter-mythologies 153
Hair (1967-68) 154
Assassins (1991) 162


Part Three MANAGING AMERICA'S OTHERS 179


Chapter 8: Race and Ethnicity 181
Show Boat (1927) 185
Porgy and Bess (1935) 194
West Side Story (1957) 204
Fiddler on the Roof (1964) 215
Chapter 9: Dealing with the Second World War 228
The Sound of Music (1959) 230
Cabaret (1966) 239


Chapter 10: Exoticism 249
The Mikado
or, The Town of Titipu (1885) 250
The King and I (1951) 261
Pacific Overtures (1976) 268
Chapter 11: Afterword: Other Directions, Other Identities 282


Appendix A: Art and Commerce: The Business of Making Musicals 285
Appendix B: Additional Resources 289


Notes 319
Bibliography 341
Index 351