My guests this week are Millie Taylor and Adam Rush, the authors of a very interesting new book titled, Musical Theatre Histories: Expanding the Narrative.
Musical theatre is often perceived as being either a Broadway based art form, or as having separate histories in London and New York. This new book, however, presents the Musical as neither American nor British, but also both of those, and more!
Through their use of multiple thematic 'histories', Millie and Adam take readers on a series of journeys that include the art form's European and American origins, African American influences, discussions centering on diversity, national identity, and the globalization of the musical, as well as revivals, censorship, and the relationship of social media to the Musical in the 21st century.
As you can hear all of that intersects very directly with the focus and subject matter of this podcast so I was, of course, very captivated by the book and very eager to sit down with Mille and Adam and learn more about their unique and fascinating approach to musical theatre history.
Adam Rush is a Senior Lecturer in Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester in the UK and his research has been published in Studies In Musical Theatre and in several edited collections.
Millie Taylor began her career as a freelance music director and for almost twenty years toured the UK and Europe with a variety of musicals including West Side Story, Little Shop of Horrors, Rocky Horror Show and Sweeney Todd. She is now Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester, and Special Professor of the Musical at the University of Amsterdam. She is author, co-author or editor of 7 books, including British Pantomime Performance and Singing for Musicals: A Practical Guide.
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