Theatrical Liberalism under Attack
Theatrical Liberalism under Attack
In the wake of the Great Depression, World War II, the Holocaust, and the post-war Red Scare, many artists began to raise questions about the morality and efficacy of theatrical liberalism. This chapter examines the expression of this ambivalence in works that critique and reconfigure the backstage musical and romantic comedy—and the acting style that supported them—as inherently false and naïve. Rodgers and Hart's modernist musical Pal Joey, Arthur Miller's “tragedy for the common man” Death of a Salesman, and Bernstein, Laurents, and Sondheim's adaptation of a Shakespearean tragedy, West Side Story, all express deep disillusion with the values of theatrical liberalism.
Keywords: American Jews, theatrical liberalism, musicals, romantic comedy, Pal Joey, Death of a Salesman, West Side Story
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