A Problem Like Maria : Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)

Rating:
Summary: Who fact-checked this book?
Review: Lots of errors; little real insight; repetitive; written like a college paper. Too bad, because the idea for the book has great possibilities. But what's presented here is often pedantic and sometimes sophomoric. (Dainty June and her on-stage cow have lesbian overtones? C'mon!)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting for hardcore musical fans
Review: This isn't the most exciting book I've read but if you're a hardcore musical theatre fan, it's worth a read. Many of the author's arguments -- pretty much seeing lesbian overtones EVERYWHERE -- are a bit silly, but she also makes some good points. It's a point of view we rarely hear so that's worth something, and may get some people thinking about musicals differently, which is worthwhile...

Rating:
Summary: Musical Theatre Scholarship Grows Up
Review: With Stacy Wolf's A Problem Called Maria, musical theatre scholarship finally grows up. Wolf's study of four female icons of the musical stage (Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, and Barbra Streisand) is rooted squarely in performance, something many musical theatre historians claim but seldom accomplish. Not only will the book fascinate musical theatre buffs, it will also appeal to a wider audience interested in twentieth century popular culture. Wolf's slant here is the exploration of these female stars through a feminist lens, which offers new insights into the appeal of the mid-century Broadway musical, a genre that until recently has often been associated with gay men, at least in terms of gender studies. Wolf makes clear that the musical, as a cherished American art form, rightly belongs to everyone. More than that, her approach extends beyond the usual emphasis on the written text and score to discuss what these great performers actually did onstage, which is a refreshing approach, to say the least. I would recommend this book without reservation to anyone interested in the golden age of the Broadway musical, and, more broadly, to those interested in the performance of gender within a cultural studies context.