As the Broadway musical morphed from musical comedy to musical theater, many important shows not only entertained us, but acted as a commentary on society, culture, community, as well as universal social and global problems. This reading and discussion program will feature five musicals that all deal with race relations, the role of women and American Society. Filtering source material through the lens of James Baldwin’s “On Carmen Jones”, each sessions will discuss how the musical adaptations are accepted in present day society and how they reflect our ever changing society.
Details for place tbd. Please check my website: http://mcourtade.com/index.html
Selected bibliography:
Life Straight in de Eye: Carmen Jones film Spectacular in Color by James Baldwin
Show Boat by Edna Ferber
Chapters VII (miscegenation scene)
Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener (Pulitzer Prize 1948)
(excerpt) “Our Heroine”
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Act III
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Chapter 31
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Pulitzer Prize 1983)
Chapter 7 (p164 -185)
I was able to find all of the readings online. You may already have these at home to get them from a library. Reading the bibliography is an integral part of this discussion.