"It was good enough for grandma, but it ain't good enough for us!" Women and the nation in Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's "Bloomer Girl" (1944)

Description

<p> The Broadway musical <i>Bloomer Girl</i> (1944) with score by composer Harold Arlen (1905&ndash;1986) and lyricist E.Y. Harburg (1896&ndash;1981) was the first book musical to follow in the footsteps of Rodgers and Hammerstein's <i> Oklahoma!</i> The obvious parallels between <i>Oklahoma!</i> and <i>Bloomer Girl</i> led critics and scholars to compare the musicals at the expense of overlooking the contributions the latter made to the genre. This thesis moves <i>Bloomer Girl</i> out from the shadow cast by <i>Oklahoma!</i> and situates it within a richer historical context. It begins with a brief history of <i>Bloomer Girl.</i> It then focuses specifically on both the dramatic and musical representation of women in the work. Using a comparative methodology, this study examines how the women in <i>Bloomer Girl</i> deviate from the model for the Golden Age musical to create a controversial political commentary about the United States in the World War II era.</p>

Links & Downloads

1. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1543591

Tags

Music|Women's Studies|Theater

Additional Fields

Identifer	oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1543591
Date	20 September 2013
Creators	England, Sarah Jean
Publisher	University of Maryland, College Park
Source Sets	ProQuest.com
Language	English
Detected Language	English
Type	thesis