British Musical Theatre since 1950

Robert Gordon is Professor of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK and Director of the Pinter Research Centre in Performance and Creative Writing. He has published books on Stoppard and Harold Pinter, on modern acting theories and edited The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies; he is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical. Olaf Jubin is Reader in Media Studies and Musical Theatre at Regent’s University London, UK, and a Visiting Lecturer on the M.A. in Musical Theatre at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. He has written and co-edited several books on musical theatre and the mass media and is co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical.Millie Taylor is Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester, UK. She worked as a freelance musical director and, for almost twenty years, toured Britain and Europe with a variety of musicals including West Side Story, Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors and Sweeney Todd. Her publications include Singing for Musicals: A Practical Guide (2008), Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment (2012), and with Dominic Symonds the edited collection Gestures of Music Theatre: The Performativity of Song and Dance (2014).

Pleasingly, although each of the authors is an academic, they do not wear their learning to[o] heavily and this volume could easily please a general reader as well as students ... All in, this is a readable overview of its subject and a welcome addition to the bookshelves of anybody with an interest in British musicals.

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction Part I: Musicals and Social Change (Robert Gordon) 1.1 British Theatre and Society after the Second World War 1.2 Innovation and Nostalgia: Camp in the Post-War British Musical Case Study 1: Salad Days 1.3 Rock and Roll and the Theatre Revolution 1.4 The Play with Music: Political Theatre and Working-Class CultureCase Study 2: Blood Brothers 1.5 The Impact of Oliver! 1.6 After Jesus Christ Superstar: Globalization and Cultural SpecificityCase Study 3: Billy Elliot 1.7 Global and Local: The Family Musical Case Study 4: Matilda – The Musical Part II: British Popular Culture and Musical Theatre (Millie Taylor)2.1 Nostalgia in Character and Dramatic Form Case Study 5: Oh What a Lovely War! 2.2 Reflecting Multiculturalism Case Study 6: Bombay Dreams 2.3 Changing Signification in Popular Music Case Study 7: Oliver! Case Study 8: The Rocky Horror Show Conclusion to Part Two Part III: Narrative and Story-Telling in the British Musical since 1970 (Olaf Jubin)Preamble Introduction 3.1 Concept Recordings: When What You See is What You Have Heard Case Study 9: Jesus Christ Superstar 3.2 Sung-Through Shows: When the Spoken Word is Shunned 3.3 Stage Adaptations of Novels: When the Written Word Becomes Theatrical Action Case Study 10: Les Misérables Case Study 11: The Phantom of the Opera 3.4 Original Stories: When the Content is Unknown 3.5 Jukebox Musicals: When You Know All the Songs Case Study 12: Mamma Mia! 3.6 Stage Adaptation of Films: When the Cinematic Becomes the Theatrical Conclusion Timeline Notes Selective BibliographyDiscography Filmography Index