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1 - Performing Social Relevance in the American Musical before West Side Story

from Part I - Before West Side Story

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2025

By
William A. Everett
Edited by
Paul R. Laird  and
Elizabeth A. Wells
Paul R. Laird
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Elizabeth A. Wells
Affiliation:
Mount Allison University, Canada
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Summary

Depicting issues of social relevance has been a mainstay of the American musical theatre since its origins, and this chapter traces several socially relevant threads in musicals that appeared before West Side Story. These include immigrant experiences, race, knife violence, politics, and the allure of Latin America. Employing the notion of palimpsests, resonances of musicals as early as The Mulligan Guard Ball (1879), with its central plot point of race relations among immigrant communities, infuse the history of the American musical and help place West Side Story within this continuum.

Keywords

palimpsestimmigrant experiences in musicalsrace in musicalsknife violence in operas and musicalspolitics in musicalsLatin America in musicals
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to West Side Story , pp. 3 - 18
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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