Transposing Broadway Jews, Assimilation, and the American Musical

Over the last hundred years, musical theatre artists--from Berlin to Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim--have developed a form that corresponds directly to the Americanization of the increasingly Jewish New York audience; and that audience's aspirations and concerns have played out in the shows themselves. Musicals thus became a paradigm which instructed newcomers in how to assimilate while correspondingly envisioning "American Dream" America as democratic and inclusive. Broadway musicals still continue to function today as "cultural Ellis Islands" for fringe populations seeking acceptance into the nation's mainstream--including women, blacks, Latinos, and gays--all essentially modeled upon the Jewish example. Stuart J. Hecht offers a fascinating examination of the relationship between Jews, assimilation, and the changing face of the American musical.

Stuart J. Hecht is a professor in the Theatre Department at Boston College, where he teaches and directs. He is the long-standing editor of New England Theatre Journal and formerly served on the artistic staffs of both the Goodman Theatre and the one-time Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago He has also written extensively on Chicago theatre history.

Introduction: Broadway as a Cultural Ellis Island * Hello, Young Lovers: Assimilation and Dramatic Configurations * The Melting Pot Paradigm of Irving Berlin * How to Succeed * Cinderellas * Turns of the Century: Dreams of Progress, Dreams of Loss * Fiddler’s Children * Epilogue: Loveable Monsters