Our Musicals, Ourselves—A Social History of the American Musical Theatre

Abstract

Our Musicals, Ourselves-A Social History of American Musical Theatre John Bush Jones. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2003. There are several factual misstatements in John Bush Jones's Our Musicals, Ourselves-A Social History of American Musical Theatre. On page 159, Bush Jones alleges that Lindsay and Grouse were authors of Arsenic and Old Lace. Joseph Kesselring wrote Arsenic and Old Lace. On page 153, he declares that Jerome Robbins both directed and choreographed original Broadway production of The King and I. Robbins only did choreography for show. On page 162, Bush Jones states that 1950s television Studio One and Playhouse 90 put on productions of Broadway plays. Studio One and Playhouse 90 did original programming, with Playhouse 90's most celebrated production perhaps being The Plot to Kill Stalin, a play that so rankled government of Soviet Union that it kicked CBS correspondent out of Moscow. Such factual errors cast hardly a blemish on Bush Jones's exhaustively researched, richly detailed social history of American musical. Bush Jones begins at beginning, with an account of what happened to ill-fated, aptly titled show The Disappointment, first musical comedy written in America. He then jumps ahead to a discussion of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore., whose American productions influenced plotlines of American for decades afterward. Bush Jones writes about melodramatic of turn of century and of techno-pride of very early twentieth century, in which cars often figured prominently in plot. He writes about revues of Florenz Ziegfield, whose shows, while purposing glorification of the American girl, also revealed a concern for contemporary news items such as opening of Panama Canal. He writes about patriotic of multitalented George M. Cohan, of racist, anti-Asian gunboat musicals that were put on prior to World War I, and of development of black musical. He how of twenties glorified prosperity and consumer values of decade. Bush Jones informs us that Cinderella shows and leisure-time musicals of 1920s persisted into 1930s because these shows, while no longer mirroring what was going on in society, provided escapism for audiences eager to forget about Depression. He points out, however, that Depression also gave rise to satiric of 1930s, like Strike Up Band, Of Thee I Sing, and The Cradle Will Rock. He explains why World War II virtually destroyed topicality on Broadway. He discusses Rogers and Hammerstein of 1940s and 1950s, which launched a revolution in American musical by showing that integrated that dealt with social issues and promoted tolerance could be hits. Bush Jones talks about increasingly liberal attitudes present in American after war, devotes a full chapter to black and Jewish of 1960s, and describes issue-driven of 1960s and 1970s, which grew up in response to civil rights and anti-Vietnam War agitation of those two decades. Bush Jones goes on to draw a correlation between political scandals and economic hard times of 1970s, disenchantment many Americans experienced with government, and inward-looking, fragmented that came on scene in 1970s and persisted into 1980s and 1990s. He talks about nostalgic musicals, like Grease, that grew up in 1970s and have persisted to present day as an expression of longing for an earlier, supposedly more innocent time. He discusses techno-musicals of 1980s and 1990s that relied for their appeal on technical effects rather than on plot or character. Bush Jones concludes his book with a consideration of contemporary that have dealt with women's issues, homosexuality, and decadence and divisiveness of American society. …