Broadway Musicals: History and Performance

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2024

Carol Oja (Department of Music)
First-Year Seminar 34V  4 credits (spring term)

This seminar will explore a core group of Broadway musicals. Historical, musical, and theatrical discussions will be paired with student performances and staging of individual scenes; stagings will be done under the guidance of Allegra Libonati from the A.R.T. Institute. There will be a consistent emphasis on race. The seminar will touch on signal moments over the course of the “Golden Age” of the musical, stretching up to the present day: Oklahoma! (1943), South Pacific (1949), West Side Story (1957), A Chorus Line (1975), Wicked (2003), and In the Heights (2008). Blending historical study and hands-on practice, this seminar aims to offer a wide range of perspectives on the interpretation and performance of Broadway musicals.

Prerequisite: Student musicians and actors are welcome in the course, as are students who love to watch shows but not necessarily perform in them. Ability to read music is desirable but not required.

Note: This is a Radcliffe First-Year Seminar and will include optional co-curricular activities related to the seminar topic. The seminar will meet on the Radcliffe campus, Knafel Center, room 104.

 

See also: Spring 2024