Women in American Musical Theatre: Essays on Composers, Lyricists, Librettists, Arrangers, Choreographers, Designers, Directors, Producers and Performance Artists
Throughout the twentieth century women have made significant contributions to the creation of American musical theatre. Directing, choreographing, writing, arranging, producing and designing musicals in a variety of venues throughout America, women have played a significant role in shaping the development of musical theatre both on and off Broadway and in regional, educational, and community venues. The essays in this book examine the history of women in musical theatre, providing biographical descriptions of the women themselves; analyses and interpretations of their productions; and several accounts of how being a woman affected the artists' careers.
Topics include the similarities among the careers of successful but neglected lyricists Rida Johnson Young, Anne Caldwell, and Dorothy Donnelly; the Depression-era productions of Hallie Flanagan and Cheryl Crawford; the transformation of the classic "showgirl" image through the dances and stage movement created by prominent female choreographers; and a survey of numerical data highlighting the discrepancy between the number of men versus the number of women hired to direct professional musical productions in various venues across the United States.
Bio
Anna Gentry has been teaching--as Honors Disciplinary Faculty at ASU, both at the School of Music and CISA--since 2005. As an musical arts historian and professional performer, Anna Wheeler Gentry made her Lincoln Center [New York] concert debut in 2003 on the concert series Autumn in New York: Vernon Duke at 100. In April 2011, she presented her research and concert performance entitled “Vladimir Dukelsky: Russian Undertones with American Overtones” during the Prokofiev Festival at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music, Moscow, Russia (broadcast on Radio Russia).
Gentry's projects have garnered support from the American Multi-Cinema Foundation, Yip Harburg Foundation, American Music Research Center, and the Society for American Music. She is a fellow with the American Music Research Center (AMRC) at the University of Colorado-Boulder, a member of Southwest Liederkranz, as well as [American] Actors Equity, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Her research has been published by Johns Hopkins, Gale, McFarland, Continuum UK, Bloomsbury Methuen, Music Library Association, and others. She is editor of, and contributor to the book In Search of Inspiration: Interviews with Notable Choral Conductors (GIA, 2021), and author of Politics on Broadway: Controversy in Red and Black (Great River Learning, 2013).
As a soprano soloist and crossover artist, she has performed operatic roles (Mozart, Britten, Gilbert & Sullivan, Persichetti), musical theatre (Sondheim, Bacharach, Gershwin, Lerner and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein), as well as concert works (Stravinsky, Charpentier, Saint-Saëns, Brahms, Haydn) in cities across the country. As a stage director and production dramaturg, she has done work for the Phoenix Symphony, University of Colorado's College of Music, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Black Theatre Troupe, Arizona State University, University of Alabama, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and the former ASU Sundome. Gentry has studied voice with Michael Cousins of the Metropolitan Opera, Arlene Augér at the Aspen Music School, and Randi Marrazzo of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, coached repertoire with Tom Jaber at the Academy of Vocal Arts, conducting with George Lynn, and studied jazz piano and improvisation with Bob Arnold of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
Praise for this book
Bud Coleman and Judith Sebesta’s essay collection, Women in American Musical Theatre, delivers exactly what it promises: a wealth of information about female figures in the history of American musical theater that provides an impressive step forward in reinstating these important figures into the male-dominated narrative.
Dr. Jessica Sternfeld, Musicology faculty from Chapman University The Bulletin of the Society for American Music, 2012-04, Vol.38 (2), p.63
Clearly, Women in American Musical Theatre offers a wide-ranging examination of significant contributions made by twentieth-century women working within this genre.
Dr. Diana Calderazzo, Theatre faculty, Fordham University Theatre Journal, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Mar., 2009), pp. 153-154 (2 pages)
