This conference topic is intentionally wide in its appeal as it is
hoped papers will cover all aspect of performance as well as the
creation of the music and its composers. The following strands are
anticipated: historic performance practices; design; production;
individual composers and works. The conference organisers are working
closely with Studies in Musical Theatre, and papers presented at the
conference will be invited for submission to the journal and possible
publication.

Further details to follow.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Papers are invited of 20 minutes duration (plus question time) and
abstracts of 200 words should be sent to Dr F Jane Schopf at
Fiona.schopf AT bruford DOT ac DOT uk or Rose Bruford College, Burnt Oak Lane,
Sidcup, Kent DA15 9DF, England
Deadline May 31st 2008

Call for Papers information is located at:
http://www.wpunj.edu/SondheimSymposium/papersstudies.html

This Symposium is designed for academics, theatre professionals, as well as music, theatre and musical theatre aficionados. Highlights and options include:

• Opportunity to hear Stephen Sondheim (He’s bringing Anthony Rapp of Rent and Sean Patrick Flahaven, associate editor of the Sondheim Review)
• Panels, Presentations, Performances – two days of Sondheim-related academic activities 
• Opportunity to see a preview performance of the Broadway revival of Sondheim’s Pulitzer-Prize winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George
• Continuing Education Credits available
• College Credit available
• President’s Day holiday on the following Monday – Extend your trip into a long NYC weekend
  

A significant discount is automatically available to those registering prior to December 1, 2007.

Please look over the information at http://www.wpunj.edu/SondheimSymposium. If you have questions, please feel free to e-mail me.

-Phillip Sprayberry, convener

sprayberryp AT wpunj.edu

William Paterson University Media Relations Coordinator

-Diane Nottle, convener
Assistant to the editor, culture news, The New York Times

The Sagacious Stephen Sondheim
William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey

CALL FOR PAPERS
2008 National Popular Culture & American Culture Associations
Conference: March 19 – 22, 2008
San Francisco Marriott
55 Fourth Street
San Francisco, California
The National PCA/ACA invites submissions and abstracts for its 2008 Conference, to be held at the San Francisco Marriot.
Paper topic areas are broad and many, encompassing business, entertainment, fashion, gender, the body, ethnography, technology, science fiction, and many more. Political, historical, literary—essentially all approaches are welcome. See http://www.pcaaca.org/areas/areas.php for a list of all subject areas and the area chairs’ contact information.
For more specific and detailed information about the conference and the organization, please visit www.pcaaca.org
If you have further questions, please contact Delores Rauscher, the Conference Coordinator, at rausche5 AT msu DOT edu

PANEL DESCRIPTION:
Today, when a musical is flown across the Atlantic (in either direction), a few minor changes are sometimes made to the text and score to “translate” the piece for the new culture. In the 19th and early 20th century, on the other hand, exported musicals were often so completely rewritten that the new piece would share little more than a title with its original. This panel will examine what the differences between the Broadway and West End productions of pre-1930s musicals reveal about American and British cultures and about the attitudes of each towards the art form of the musical. I would also like to invite discussion of the reasons why, in the later part of the 20th century, texts and scores became far more stable across international productions.

A Conference at Goldsmiths College, London, April 10-11th 2008

We are inviting papers on any aspect of the academic study of West End Musical Theatre, 1880-1930. We are also looking for panel leaders and ideas for panels. Among the broad topics we have considered are:

Musical theatre and the idea of modernity
West End musical comedy
Early British musicals in musical theatre historiography
Revue
Music Hall
The economics of West End musical theatre
Gender and performance
Musicals and the idea of cultural value
Musical theatre as ‘popular culture’
Musicals and national identities

The ambition is to illustrate lectures with student performances – of scenes, songs, dance routines etc – where this is possible and appropriate. It would be helpful if proposals could indicate where there is congruence with this aim, advising us on the availability of texts and scores where necessary.

Ideas for lectures and panels, and offers to chair panels, should be sent to l.platt@gold.ac.uk by July 31st, 2007.

Music in Gotham, in collaboration with Song, Stage and Screen III, invites proposals for presentations on topics in American musical theater, to be held on April 2-5, 2008 at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. We encourage abstracts of up to 250 words on 19th-century musical theater, the musical from 1900 through World War 1, and the musical from 1920 through the present. Proposals on other aspects of musical theater, including the issues of critical editions, revivals, and textual and musical problems are also welcome. Abstracts should be sent to MusicinGotham AT gc.cuny.edu by August 30, 2007.

Song, Stage and Screen is the annual conference of the academic journal, Studies in Musical Theatre, which is published by Intellect Press. Previous Song, Stage and Screen conferences have been held at the University of Portsmouth, UK (2006) and University of Leeds, UK (2007). We are delighted to be bringing the 2008 conference to the USA, to be hosted in collaboration with Music in Gotham at the Graduate Center of City University of New York. It is expected that a selection of papers from this joint conference will be invited for submission to the journal and publication.

Dr. Dominic Symonds

Senior Lecturer in Drama

University of Portsmouth

Editor: Studies in Musical Theatre

http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals.php?issn=17503159