1st Edition

Children, Childhood, and Musical Theater

278 Pages

by Routledge

278 Pages

by Routledge

278 Pages

by Routledge

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Description

Bringing together scholars from musicology, literature, childhood studies, and theater, this volume examines the ways in which children's musicals tap into adult nostalgia for childhood while appealing to the needs and consumer potential of the child. The contributors take up a wide range of musicals, including works inspired by the books of children's authors such as Roald Dahl, P.L. Travers,... Read more

1. Children, Childhood, and Musical Theater: an Introduction

James Leve and Donelle Ruwe

2. Beginning with Do Re Mi: Childhood and The Sound of Music

Ryan Bunch

3. Walt Disney, Dr. Benjamin Spock, and the Gospel of Ideal Childrearing: Creating Superlative Nuclear Families in Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks

William A. Everett

4. Saving Mr. [Blank]: Rescuing the Father through Song in Children’s and Family Musicals

Raymond Knapp

5. Dickensian Discourses: Giving a (Singing) Voice to the Child-Hero in Oliver! and Copperfield

Marc Napolitano

6. Ghetto Chic: Utopianism and the Authentic Child in The Me Nobody Knows (1970)

Donelle Ruwe

7. Little Girls, Big Voices: Annie

James Leve

8. Urchins, Unite: Newsies as an Antidote to Annie

Marah Gubar

9. Agency, Power, and the Inner Child: The "Revolting Children" of Matilda the Musical