Archive for March, 2008

Published Proceedings on Music Theatre

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

Michael Garber sends the following:

The complete published proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on the Arts and Humanities are available for free on-line in a downloadable pdf format, here.

The papers published by this interdisciplinary conference offer a valuable resource to researchers of all levels. Among these five-to-ten thousand page documents are several interesting complete papers on musicals (as well as some short abstracts).
Complete papers, in chronological order, include:

  • James Gifford. “Introducing Creativity and the Arts into a New Technology-Centered Curriculum: A Report on a Work in Progress.” 2004 Proceedings. (Includes a discussion of using West Side Story as part of this technology-centered curriculum for a new degree program in Web and Media Development.)
  • Eleanor M. Johnston. “’Amor Vincit Omnia’: Love in Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Life and Works.” 2004 Proceedings. (A well-focused biographical essay about this composer of film scores, opera, and operetta.)
  • Laura Hanson. “The First Modernist Musical: Sondheim’s Company.” 2005 Proceedings. (An analysis of this musical’s relationship to preceding Broadway theatre and modernist art movements.)
  • Timothy P. Kinsella. “Strike Up the Band: War, Satire, Art, and Praxis.” 2005 Proceedings. (A history and analysis of the Gershwin brothers’ 1930 Broadway musical.)
  • Candace Pfefferkorn. “America’s Transformation from Vaudeville Theater to Movie House: The Mass Dissemination of Movie Sound Technology.” 2006 Proceedings. (This historical account of the coming of Vitaphone extensively discusses the 1927 movie of The Jazz Singer.)
  • Ronald N. Bukoff. “’Here Am I, Your Special Island’: Pan-Asia on the Western Musical Stage.” 2007 Proceedings. (A survey and analysis of images of Asia and Polynesia in American, British, German, and Hungarian musical theatre.)
  • Lisa Campbell Albert, Christine Knoblauch-O’Neal, and Annamaria Pileggi. “Musical Theatre as Liberal Inquiry: The Pathway to Craft.” 2007 Proceedings. (Describes in some detail their approach to teaching musical theatre craftsmanship within a liberal arts context.)
  • David Goldblatt. “The Spiritual Violist: The Use of Improvisatory Viola in Jewish and Christian Liturgical Contexts.” 2007 Proceedings.( Discusses Fiddler on the Roof in a sub-section called “The Jewish Connection to Stringed Instruments: A Powerfully Socially Constructed Image.”)
  • Laura Hanson. “’I Could Have Danced All Night’: The Choreographic Scenery of Oliver Smith.” 2007 Proceedings. (Describes how Smith approached musical theatre set design, using My Fair Lady as a specific, in-depth example.)

Short abstracts (in chronological order):

  • Betsy Cooper. Abstract, “The Hollywood Musical and Censorship: The Dancing Body’s Subversion of the Production Code.” 2004 Proceedings.
  • Daphne Lamothe. Abstract: “Cultural Memory and the Staging of Blackness.” 2004 Proceedings. (A discussion of Katherine Dunham’s choreography, using the movie musical Stormy Weather as one of two main examples.)
  • Barbara Parisi. Abstract: “Critical Reaction to Feminism in the Off-Broadway American Musical Theatre (1970-1990).” 2005 Proceedings.
  • Paula Marie Seniors. Abstract: “The Red Moon: The Interconnections Between Theater and History and the Black and Native Americanization Program at Hampton Institute.” 2005 Proceedings.
  • Rod Hernandez. Abstract: “The Spoiled Fruit of Carmen Miranda.” 2006 Proceedings.

Music on Stage conference: Rose Bruford College

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Call for Papers:
Music on stage
An international interdisciplinary conference at Rose Bruford College,
Sidcup, Kent, UK
October 18th and 19th, 2008

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