The American Musical: From “Show Boat” to “Oklahoma!”
A Distinguished Scholar Seminar Featuring Tim Carter, David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music
June 6, 2015
Join Adventure in Ideas favorite, Tim Carter, as he brings an important era in the history of American musicals to life through four lectures. The 1930s marked a formative decade for American musical theater on the stage and the silver screen. The issue was not just how the arts might best respond to difficult economic circumstances (the Great Depression) and changing political circumstances (President Roosevelt and the New Deal), but also whether the United States might be able to forge a cultural identity separate from European models. We shall explore the issues by looking closely at four “classic” musicals, taking in others along the way. If you love the songs of George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and early Rodgers and Hammerstein—or the dancing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers—then this is indeed the day for you!
Topics
42nd Street (1933): How (Not) to Put on a Show
Show Boat (1927, filmed in 1936): Representing Race
Shall We Dance? (1937): Casting Off the Blues
Oklahoma! (1943): Cowboys Go to War
Speaker
Tim Carter is David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of Music. His research focuses on music in late Renaissance and early Baroque Italy, on Mozart’s Italian operas, and American musicals of the twentieth century. Professor Carter’s books include Monteverdi’s Musical Theatre; Music in Late Renaissance and Early Baroque Italy; “Oklahoma!” The Making of an American Musical; and, with Richard A. Goldthwaite, Orpheus in the Marketplace: Jacopo Peri and the Economy of Late Renaissance Florence.
Time & Cost
9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, June 6, 2015. The tuition is $125 ($110 by May 22). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by May 22). 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.