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WOMEN IN AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE: ESSAYS ON COMPOSERS, LYRICISTS, LIBRETTISTS, ARRANGERS, CHOREOGRAPHERS, DESIGNERS, DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, AND PERFORMANCE ARTISTS. Edited by Bud Coleman and Judith A. Sebesta. London: McFarland, 2008; pp. x + 282. $45.00 paper.
In their introduction to Women in American Musical Theatre, Bud Coleman and Judith Sebesta emphasize two main points: first, that the genre of American musical theatre has historically received little attention within the larger context of theatre scholarship; and second, that the role of women in musical theatre has received even less attention in any context. In this collection of essays authored by eleven featured scholars, Coleman and Sebesta seek to correct these deficiencies; for the most part, the collection fulfills this goal effectively.
Each scholar addresses both a specific time period and a specific area of musical theatre practice; each then focuses on several pioneering women who have contributed significantly to one or more aspects of their field. Thus Korey Rothman opens the collection with women lyricists of the early to mid-1900s, delving into the careers of Rida Johnson Young, Anne Caldwell, and Dorothy Donnelly. Barbara Means Fraser follows with an exploration of women producers during the 1930s, particularly Hallie Flanagan and Cheryl Crawford. Anna Wheeler Gentry addresses the work of early twentieth-...