Rodgers and Hart. George and Ira Gershwin. Cole Porter. Lerner and Loewe. Revisit the favorite melodies that have both delighted and helped mend the broken hearts of Americans for decades. However, these 16 lectures are far more than just an immersion in musical nostalgia. Professor Bill Messenger of The Peabody Institute explores the entire culture of which music is a part, teaching you some of the intricacies of musical composition and song construction - and how they were used to create specific effects - as well as the social and historical backdrop against which musical theater needs to be considered.
Much as we often concentrate on the so-called "golden age" of the 1950s, American music theater spans the history of two vibrant centuries: the era of the minstrel show, whose contributions to American music were immense, in spite of the embarrassment we still feel at many of its images; vaudeville; ragtime; the revue; and the age of fully integrated book musicals launched by the 1927 production of Show Boat.
Whether you are a music or theater major, a casual musician, or simply a patron of the arts, you will find this course to be an insightful and sublimely enjoyable learning experience that will forever change the way you experience musical theater.