Course Offerings

courses > 2020 fall

American Musical Theatre

THAR 271.401

instructor(s):
Monday & Wednesday 2:00pm to 3:30pm

The American musical is an unapologetically popular art form, but many of the works that come from this tradition have advanced and contributed to the canon of theatre as a whole. In this course we will focus on both music and texts to explore ways in which the musical builds on existing theatrical traditions, as well as alters and reshapes them. Finally, it is precisely because the musical is a popular theatrical form that we can discuss changing public tastes, and the financial pressures inherent in mounting a production. Beginning with early roots in operetta, we will survey the works of prominent writers in the American musical theatre, including Kern, Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers, Hart, Hammerstein, Bernstein, Sondheim and others. Class lecture/discussions will be illustrated with recorded examples.

This course will be taught remotely in Fall 2020, with some synchronous classes on Zoom, combined with asynchronous sessions and assignments.