Tell it to the World

Abstract

Abstract Tell It to the World: The Broadway Musical Abroad studies how the Broadway musical has traveled the world, influencing and transforming local idioms and traditions. It focuses on the ways the musical has been indigenized in South Korea and Germany, two nations occupied by the United States after World War II that have become key commercial centers for Broadway musicals. By the 1990s, Broadway imports were all the rage in both, while home-grown musicals transformed the US prototypes. Part I of the book considers the fundamental questions: What is a musical? Why is it the great success story of US theatre? How has it been assimilated to musical theatre traditions around the world? Part II focuses on musical theatre in South Korea, studying the import/export business in large-scale musicals about Korean history and innovative experiments that mix local performance traditions with the Broadway style. Part III moves to Germany to survey the history of musicals from 1945 until the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reconfiguration of musical theatre conventions by experimental directors, and the groundbreaking German-language productions of Broadway classics by Barrie Kosky and other innovative directors.