Broadway Goes To War: American Theater During World War II by Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry (review)

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:

• Broadway Goes To War: American Theater During World War II by Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry
• Fonzie D. Geary II

BROADWAY GOES TO WAR: AMERICAN THEATER DURING WORLD WAR II. By Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2021; pp. x, 290.

In Broadway Goes to War, Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry immerse readers in an oft-neglected era of US American drama. Despite the subtitle's indication that the book focuses on the war years, the text actually covers a somewhat broader period, extending from 1933 to 1946. From a playwriting perspective, this era is often dismissed as an artistic desert, caught between the fertile periods of Eugene O'Neill's ascendance in the 1920s and the emergence of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller in the late 1940s. Albert Wertheim's Staging the War: American Drama and World War II (2004) represents one of the more recent efforts to reckon with the proliferation of drama in the US during the 1940s. But overall, there is a paucity of scholarship related to this era. In this regard, McLaughlin and Parry's book represents [End Page 585] a welcome addition in extending our understanding of twentieth-century US American drama.

McLaughlin and Parry state two primary goals for their study: to understand "the role theater had in the popular-culture representation of the Second World War/" and to explore "how the theater functioned differently from other popular-culture media" (3). With these goals in mind, the authors position commercial theatre (defined strictly as Broadway) as unique in its dissemination of popular culture. Other mediums such as film, radio, and newspapers were often limited by censorship of one form or another, which was sometimes deemed necessary during wartime. Theatre, on the other hand, bore fewer such restrictions. Thus, the authors argue, it was able to offer more diverse, nuanced representations of the war and US attitudes toward it.

Following an introductory chapter wherein the authors lay out their purpose for the book, chapter 2 summarizes major theatrical fare related to European events prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. McLaughlin and Parry identify four themes under which the plays they consider cluster: 1) antiwar plays; 2) plays advocating for a strong defense; 3) plays depicting the US as a country under threat; and 4) plays centered on the existential crises of individual citizens. McLaughlin and Parry effectively demonstrate the nuance offered by Broadway theatre. For example, they juxtapose the cynicism of Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 play, Idiot's Delight, which concludes with the two main characters sardonically singing a Christian hymn during a bombing raid, with the prescience of S. N. Behrman's 1934 play, Rain from Heaven, which specifically alludes to the impending Holocaust. In highlighting in microcosm Sherwood's cynicism against Behrman's moral imperative, the authors illuminate the variance of US opinion regarding the growing threats of totalitarian regimes abroad.

Herein, however, also lies the major challenge with the book, which later chapters perpetuate. The authors are working so broadly at times, addressing so many plays, and sorting out so many categories, that readers may become overwhelmed. Furthermore, observations about performance of the plays, even in citing critical reviews, are limited. McLaughlin and Parry emphasize script analysis as their primary method of research. They are thorough in this regard, but examinations of how the elements of theatre practice influenced the audience are largely absent.

The succeeding chapters adhere to the format established in chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on plays set in overseas locales. The authors do a solid job of establishing the US' uniqueness compared to other nations involved in the war insofar as its distance from the actual conflict. Unlike the citizenry of Europe, US Americans were not subject to bombing raids or invasion. The authors thus make the case that Broadway played a key role in bringing the war home and rendering it more present and more personal in the lives of many US citizens. Chapter 4, "The Home Front," analyzes plays set in the US during the war. Attention here emphasizes the myriad ways in which the war intruded upon the...