In Times of War and Peace: American Musicals of the 1940s

Tim Carter returns to the Adventures in Ideas stage with the second installment of his decade-by-decade examination of American Musicals. This fall he takes on the 1940s. Whether and how American musicals on stage or screen should respond to World War II was a matter of some debate at the time. Some argued in favor of morale-boosting propaganda, while others preferred escapist entertainment. But the return to peace forced dealing with new social realities, whether reintegrating the military into civilian life or putting the Rosie the Riveters liberated by the war back in their domestic place. Professor Carter will explore in particular how stage and movie musicals of the mid-1940s adapted song-and-dance conventions to establish a post-war future.

TOPICS

Broadway Goes to War

Carousel (Broadway, 1945): Trauma and Widowhood

Anchors Aweigh (Hollywood, 1945): Dancing into Love

Annie Get Your Gun (Broadway, 1946): Where Women Now Belong

Tim Carter is a David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music. His books include Music in Late Renaissance and Early Baroque Italy, “Oklahoma!” The Making of an American Musical, and Rodgers and Hammerstein: “Carousel.“

TIME & COST

9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, October 28, 2017. The tuition is $125 ($110 by September 1). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by September 1). Teachers can also receive a $75 stipend after attending (click here for more information) and 10 contact hours for 1 unit of renewal credit. The optional lunch is $15.00.

For information about lodging click here.

Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.

For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.