57-611 Musical Theater on Stage and Screen
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
Defining what musical theater "is" is no easy task. The genre/form/phenomenon as we know it today represents an evolution of embodied practices and interdisciplinary creativity spanning cultures, geographies, traditions, media, and time. Similarly, the history of musical theater—or, more appropriately, the histories of musical theater—should not be reduced to simple narratives or linear chronologies. This course fuses lectures and discussions to supply information and stimulate the exploration of an ambitious range of topics. Our scope is certainly venturous, but only out of an earnest affection for the material. Throughout the semester, we will explore case studies of stage and screen through a variety of sources and artifacts, first surveying essential musical and dramaturgical components before examining geneses, contexts, and legacies. The course also introduces significant trends in academic and popular historiography of musical theater, especially those that problematize and reevaluate Eurocentric (and "Broadway"-centric) notions of canon, aesthetics, cultural distribution, and appropriation. In addition, we will examine the process of developing musicals from page to stage, the function and labor involved in production and performance, and interpretive concerns in reviving established works and producing new ones. Questions and answers in this course navigate concepts of identity, performance, and artistic agency in musical theater history and practice. Ultimately, students will learn to ask questions about musical theater creators, creations, and consumers based on the student's unique disciplinary strengths. You don't need to be a musical theater buff to take, enjoy, and/or profit from this class. No performance component is required. This course counts as Music Support for Music students. Graduate students need to register for 9 units of this course.
Prerequisites: none listed
Offered: Fall 2026, Fall 2025
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