Creating America on Stage

Musical theater has long suffered the reputation of being unrealistic and unsophisticated with no real social significance. However, musical theater has been an integral part of American culture since the early Twentieth Century. Specifically, it was Jewish composers and lyricists who created and defined America on stage. These writers were immigrants themselves, came from immigrant families, or grew up as second-generation Jews in a land troubled by anti- Semitism; still, they were the ones who considered America a worthwhile topic for the stage. This book defines the unique attributes of ¿Jewish¿ music and lyrics, focusing on the major works of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Embedding condemnations of America¿s social weaknesses into natural images of the landscape, they created a revolutionary depiction of America for the musical stage. Especially useful for scholars of American Studies, Jewish Studies, Drama, Music, and Popular Culture, and for Broadway aficionados, this book illustrates how what was initially considered mere casual entertainment actually became a renaissance in American theater.

Jill Y. Gold Wright, Ph.D. in English, Claremont Graduate University, California; Birmingham University, England; University of California, Irvine. Tenured Professor at Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, California.