The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical

The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical provides a comprehensive academic survey of British musical theatre offering both a historical account of the musical's development from 1728 and a range of in-depth critical analyses of the unique forms and features of British musicals, which explore the aesthetic values and sociocultural meanings of a tradition that initially gave rise to the American musical and later challenged its modern pre-eminence. After a consideration of how John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728) created a prototype for eighteenth-century ballad opera, the book focuses on the use of song in early nineteenth century theatre, followed by a sociocultural analysis of the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan; it then examines Edwardian and interwar musical comedies and revues as well as the impact of Rodgers and Hammerstein on the West End, before analysing the new forms of the postwar British musical from The Boy Friend (1953) to Oliver! (1960). One section of the book examines the contributions of key twentieth century figures including Noel Coward, Ivor Novello, Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Joan Littlewood and producer Cameron Macintosh, while a number of essays discuss both mainstream and alternative musicals of the 1960s and 1970s and the influence of the pop industry on the creation of concept recordings such as Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and Les Misérables (1980). There is a consideration of "jukebox" musicals such as Mamma Mia! (1999), while essays on overtly political shows such as Billy Elliot (2005) are complemented by those on experimental musicals like Jerry Springer: the Opera (2003) and London Road (2011) and on the burgeoning of Black and Asian British musicals in both the West End and subsidized venues. The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical demonstrates not only the unique qualities of British musical theatre but also the vitality and variety of British musicals today.

As Professor of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London, Robert Gordon established the first MA in Musical Theatre for writers and producers in Europe. He has worked as a playwright, director, actor and critic and is author of Pinter's Theatre of Power, Stoppard: Text and Performance, The Purpose of Playing, co-author of British Musicals since 1950 and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies. Olaf Jubin is Reader in Media Studies and Musical Theatre at Regent's University London; he has written, co-written and co-edited several books in the area of popular culture, the mass media and musical theatre, both in English and in German, among them studies on the dubbing and subtitling of Hollywood musicals for the German market and a comparative analysis of American, British, German and Austrian reviews of the musicals of Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Introduction I. Britannia Rules: the Early British Musical and Society Chapter 1. Ballad Opera: Commercial Song in Enlightenment Garb Berta Joncus Chapter 2. Between Opera and Musical: Theatre Music in Early Nineteenth-Century London Christina Fuhrmann Chapter 3. Comic Opera: English Society in Gilbert and Sullivan Carolyn Williams Chapter 4. English Musical Comedy, 1890-1924 Stephen Banfield Chapter 5. English West End Revue: World War I and after David Linton II. British or American: Artistic Differences Chapter 6. Musical Comedy in the 1920s and 1930s: Mr. Cinders and Me and My Girl as Class- Conscious Carnival George Burrows Chapter 7. West End Royalty: Ivor Novello and English Operetta, 1917-1951 Stewart Nicholls Chapter 8. The American Invasion: the Impact of Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun Dominic Symonds Chapter 9. "Ordinary People" and British Musicals of the Post-War Decade John Snelson III. New Approaches to Form and Subject Matter Chapter 10. After Anger: the British Musical of the late 1950s Elizabeth Wells Chapter 11. "I'm Common and I Like 'Em": Representations of Class in the Period Musical after Oliver! Ben Francis Chapter 12. Towards a British Concept Musical: the Shows of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse David Cottis Chapter 13. The Pop Music Industry and the British musical Ian Sapiro IV. "The British Are Coming!" Chapter 14. "Everybody's Free to Fail": Subsidized British Revivals of the American Canon Sarah Browne Chapter 15. Les Misérables: from Epic Novel to Epic Musical Kathryn M. Grossman and Bradley Stephens Chapter 16. "Humming the Sets": Scenography and the Spectacular Musical from Cats to The Lord of the Rings Christine White Chapter 17. Billy Elliot and Its Lineage: the Politics of Class and Sexual Identity in British Musicals since 1953 Robert Gordon V. Trailblazers Chapter 18. Noel Coward: Sui Generis Dominic McHugh Chapter 19. Joan Littlewood: Collaboration and Vision Ben Macpherson Chapter 20. Lionel Bart: British Vernacular Musical Theatre Millie Taylor Chapter 21. Tim Rice: the Pop Star Scenario Olaf Jubin Chapter 22. Cameron Mackintosh: Control, Collaboration and the Creative Producer Miranda Lunskaer-Nielsen Chapter 23. Andrew Lloyd Webber: Haunted by the Phantom David Chandler VI. "The Art of the Possible": Alternative Approaches Musical Theatre Aesthetics Chapter 24. The Beggar's Legacy: Playing with Music and Drama, 1920-2003 Bob Lawson-Peebles Chapter 25. Mamma Mia! and the Aesthetics of the 21st Century Jukebox Musical George Rodosthenous Chapter 26. Attracting the Family Market: Shows with Cross-generations Appeal Rebecca Warner Chapter 27. Genre Counterpoints: Challenges to the Mainstream Musical David Roesner Chapter 28. Some Yesterdays Always Remain: Black British and Anglo-Asian Musical Theatre Ben Macpherson