Overview

Bringing together scholars from musicology, literature, childhood studies, and theater, this volume examines the ways in which children's musicals tap into adult nostalgia for childhood while appealing to the needs and consumer potential of the child. The contributors take up a wide range of musicals, including works inspired by the books of children's authors such as Roald Dahl, P.L. Travers, and Francis Hodgson Burnett; created by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lionel Bart, and other leading lights of musical theater; or conceived for a cast made up entirely of children. The collection examines musicals that propagate or complicate normative attitudes regarding what childhood is or should be. It also considers the child performer in movie musicals as well as in professional and amateur stage musicals. This far-ranging collection highlights the special place that musical theater occupies in the imaginations and lives of children as well as adults. The collection comes at a time of increased importance of musical theater in the lives of children and young adults.

Full Product Details

Author:   Donelle Ruwe ,  James Leve
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9781472475336

ISBN 10:   147247533
Pages:   264
Publication Date:   10 March 2020
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"1. Children, Childhood, and Musical Theater: an Introduction James Leve and Donelle Ruwe 2. Beginning with Do Re Mi: Childhood and The Sound of Music Ryan Bunch 3. Walt Disney, Dr. Benjamin Spock, and the Gospel of Ideal Childrearing: Creating Superlative Nuclear Families in Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks William A. Everett 4. Saving Mr. [Blank]: Rescuing the Father through Song in Children’s and Family Musicals Raymond Knapp 5. Dickensian Discourses: Giving a (Singing) Voice to the Child-Hero in Oliver! and Copperfield Marc Napolitano 6. Ghetto Chic: Utopianism and the Authentic Child in The Me Nobody Knows (1970) Donelle Ruwe 7. Little Girls, Big Voices: Annie James Leve 8. Urchins, Unite: Newsies as an Antidote to Annie Marah Gubar 9. Agency, Power, and the Inner Child: The ""Revolting Children"" of Matilda the Musical Helen Freshwater 10. Children’s Musicals for Educational and Community Settings Lauren Acton 11. Broadway Junior Stacy Wolf Bibliography of Scholarly Sources"

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Author Information

James Leve is a Professor of Musicology at Northern Arizona University. Donelle Ruwe is Professor and Chair of English at Northern Arizona University.

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