Royal Holloway, U of London

Please outline the course aims and content, max 300 words. Please do not use bullet points. The musical emerged at the end of the nineteenth century to become one of the most popular and commercially successful theatre forms in the world. This course will look at the long history of the musical, its many varieties (from musical comedy to the integrated musical, from the concept musical to the rock musical, from Showboat to Hamilton); considering its pleasures and its politics, its representations of gender, race and sexuality, the relationship between the stage and film musical. The course will look at the artistic achievements of the music theatre form and the peculiarities of its cultural form, the role of narrative, the relation between song and story, etc. The course will examine whether musicals are appropriate vehicle for serious content, whether its apparent frivolity might be of significance and value, and the political significance of kitsch, camp, escapism and excess in the musical’s formation. The course will make reference to the contemporary musical, film musicals and some from outside the United States but will focus primarily on the ‘Golden Age’ of the Broadway stage musical from the 1930s to the 1960s, taking in such landmarks as Oklahoma, Kiss Me, Kate, Annie Get Your Gun, Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Gypsy, Hello Dolly, Sweet Charity, and Cabaret. Learning Outcomes: 1. Describe, interpret, theorise, and evaluate performance events from a range of critical, theoretical, or philosophical perspectives; 2. Follow and engage in cross-disciplinary conversations about theatre and related subjects; 3. Work independently and autonomously to develop skills in research, the gathering of appropriate evidence, and the communication of ideas; 4. Show awareness of, appraise, and critique a range of musicals; 5. Understand and assess the history, aesthetics and politics of the musical ; 6. Debate the significance of the musical for particular identity groups (e.g. national, racial, sexual, gender) .
Required Materials: Click here for the reading list system
Technical Requirements: The total number of notional learning hours associated with course are 150. These will normally be broken down as follows: 20 hour(s) of Seminars across 10 week(s) 130 hour(s) of Guided Independent Study Formative Assessment: Portfolio (1 page) Essay plan (2 pages) Summative Assessment: Research report (oral or written) (up to 1500 words) - 20% Essay (2500 words) - 80%