December 9, 2009
This is the second of a two-part series exploring racism in musicals. The first post included Finian’s Rainbow, Showboat, South Pacific, and the King and I. This post will discuss West Side Story, Hairspray, and Ragtime. West Side Story West Side Story premiered on September 26, 1957, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by [...]
Read the full article →
November 18, 2009
At the end of October, I heard a fascinating segment on NPR about the revival of the musical Finian’s Rainbow. The revival has been 60 years in coming, and a big part of the reason why is because of what many consider to be an outdated view of racism. This got me thinking about the [...]
Read the full article →
