The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical

Abstract

The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical. Edited by Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris and Stacy Wolf. NY: Oxford University Press, 2011. 480 pp (hardcover). Bibliography, Index, Companion website. ISBN 978-0195385946. Jim Lovensheimer's excellent essay in The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical ends with the statement "as the musical undergoes more and more serious critical interrogation, solutions to the problems posed in this essay might be forthcoming. But even if they are not, the problems make for challenging consideration." Although in this case Lovensheimer refers to the many issues raised by Barthian and Foucauldian readings on the questions of authors and texts of musicals, this statement could well sum up the central thrust of this publication, which explores the musical "prismatically" (to use co-editor Stacy Wolf's term) and raises the most interesting and pressing questions about the American musical. In a field that is full of encyclopedias, chronicles, and other reference works, the advent of yet another handbook would seem to glut an already full market of data-rich but critical-poor sources on musical theatre. However, editors Raymond Knapp, Mitchell Morris, and Wolf (all leading experts in the field) have organized the twenty-nine essays in this volume around central keywords and concepts in much the same way as one of the primary texts on critical theory, Lentricchia and McLaughlin's Critical Terms for Literary Study (University of Chicago Press, 1995). Although this allegiance would suggest that the Handbook is heavily influenced by critical theory (and some of the essays in the first section certainly reflect that focus) the volume embraces a wide variety of approaches and methodologies, with essays from film and theatre scholars, musicologists, and practitioners. Organized into six large sections (Historiography, Transformations, Media, identities, Performance and Audiences), the Handbook presents short, useful essays on practical and critical concerns and presents something of a snapshot as to where the research field stands at present. Scholars of the musical will find the first section the most stimulating, particularly Morris's essay on historiography, which lays out issues in dealing with musicals as historical artifacts as well as ideas of the impartiality of historical chronicles, questions of value, narrative, authorship and organicism. Indeed, one would wish this section were longer, so tantalizing and searching are the questions it raises. Similarly Lovensheimer's previously mentioned essay on "Texts and Authors" addresses some of the most interesting intellectual concerns of the musical. For the student or neophyte, Paul R. Laird's survey of musical style in the musical and Liza Gennaro's overview of choreography and dance allow for a broad introduction to the major periods and styles of musical theatre, and the addition of a companion website with audio and video excerpts makes this volume an excellent musical theatre textbook. At the same time, essays on audiences and the financing and production of musicals (as well as the field of amateur musical theatre production) offer practical information on the nuts and bolts of how musicals come to the stage. One of the strengths of this publication, then, is the variety of audiences it addresses and its usefulness both to the serious scholar, the student, the collector, and the newcomer to the world of musical theatre. One of the benefits of a publication of this kind is that it parses out so completely different elements of the musical, so Gennaro's previously mentioned chapter "Evolution of Dance in the Golden Age of the American 'Book Musical'" in the Historiography section is followed up in the Performance section by Zachary A. …