Theater, Performance, and Music History

American musical theatre is a performing art form that emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from the collision of European operetta, melodrama, vaudeville, and popular song, eventually crystallizing into the Broadway tradition recognized worldwide. Scholars study how productions negotiate questions of race, gender, class, and national identity—treating the stage not as mere entertainment but as a site where democratic ideals and social anxieties are rehearsed in public. Active research examines how specific shows encode or challenge dominant cultural norms, tracing the genre's long-running tension between commercial ambition and artistic or political ambition. Open questions include how musical theatre both reflected and shaped American identity across different historical moments, and what the genre's global circulation reveals about the export of particular ideas about democracy and belonging.

Works

66,867

Total citations

105,819

Keywords

American Musical TheatreMelodramaBroadwayThe WireOperettaIdentity