Artistic Principles: What is this Unit About?
American musical theater is one of the major contributions the United States has made to the world theater community. As it evolved from its foreign influences, the American musical has developed into a performance style that uniquely reflects the growth of the American people and their country. Gaining prominence in the twentieth century, the American Musical served not only as a historical lens but also a system of engagement for United States citizens. In an era that brought the U.S. five major wars, the Depression, the Civil Rights movement, women's suffrage, and the Digital Age, musical theater was ever-present, tracing the perspectives of such principles as "freedom" throughout this tumultuous time in history. Notably, as the century passed, increasingly distinct voices were heard within the confines of a physical space that united everyone in the act of spectatorship. Despite the diversity of ethnicities, classes, and sexualities, American musicals engaged all audiences in a negotiation of national identity. Raymond Knapp comments:
Musicals eventually proved to be a particularly effective place to [define and re- fine what it meant to be American] since what happened on stage not only brought a specific audience together within a constructed community, but also sent that audience out into a larger community armed with songs to be shared, providing at least some basis for achieving a sense of unity among the increasingly varied peoples of a country. 1
The musical's variety of historical perspectives provides the ability to investigate how Americans' sense of "freedom" has changed according to the social and political landscape. Eric Foner writes, "The history of freedom offers a unique vantage point from which to probe the depths of American culture, and to view the interconnection between changing patterns of thought and social experience in American history." 2 Primarily, this unit aims to investigate these patterns at different points in American history and how musical theater contributed/responded to these patterns. Most importantly, this unit calls into question the materiality of our own culture in the works we produce. How much of our culture is embedded in the mere expression of our needs, desires, and ideals? What are the ideals that have persisted and evolved throughout American history, and how might these ideals be central to our definition of America?
This unit will focus on the historical contexts of the American musical and how these musicals were related and responsive to the times in which they were created. Specifically, it will use the evolving concept of "freedom" to reflect the needs, wants, and ideals of Americans at different points of the twentieth century. Finally, it will challenge students to evaluate their own place in history by determining which freedoms they feel should be represented in musicals today and in years to come.
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