Melody Rodriguez

Humanities Core

Gail Hart

5/14/15

Annotated Bibliography

Beidler, Philip D. "South Pacific and American Remembering; Or, "Josh, We're Going

to Buy This Son of a Bitch!"" Journal of American Studies 27.2 (1993): 207-22.

JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 12 May 2015.

Beidler begins his analysis of South Pacific right off the bat, throwing the

reader into his ideas while providing context. His central idea is that a musical about

World War 2 could only be made so soon after the war because it constructs the

Asian characters as the racial “other,” and that this, along with production value, lead

to the creation of an American classic. Beidler suggests that the musical provides the

audience with a familiarity. He uses historical details and details from the musical to

prove his point. I’m not sure what his purpose in writing this was, and I actually

found myself disagreeing with his reading of the musical as I read his article. I think

it’s a lot deeper than what he seems to have gathered from the surface of the

musical. This could be useful in my discussion of South Pacific nonetheless.

John Kander and Fred Ebb. Dir. Russ Forteir. Perf. John Kander, Fred Ebb, Elliot

Norton. WGBH Boston VIdeo, 1981. Theatre in Video. Web. 12 May 2015.
 This is a primary source interview with John Kander and Fred Ebb about a

variety of different things, but they discuss some of the writing process for Cabaret.

This would be useful in my discussion of Cabaret.

Knapp, Raymond. "History, "The Sound of Music", and Us." American Music 22.1

(2004): 133. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 12 May 2015.

Knapp eases the reader into his analysis in a logical way. The main thesis of

the article is that Maria and Captain Von Trapp’s wedding in The Sound of Music is a

representation of German Anschluss, and that Maria and the Captain each represent

a different version of Austria: the religious and the political, respectively. He claims

that this musical has helped rural Austria to play the part of the post-war victim of

Germany without having to deal with what Germany’s actual victims did during the

war, and that the plot serves American nationalism more than Austrian. The author

proves his thesis by extending his metaphors to the entire plot of the musical: the

family before Maria is Fascism, etc. and by providing specific details. This is intended

as a scholarly analysis of the musical. This will be helpful in my own analysis of The

Sound of Music.

Kauffmann, Stanley. "On That Town." The New Republic (1992): 50. Academic Search

Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 12 May 2015.

Kauffmann creates an interesting analysis through his use of examples and

infusion of personal experience. His main thesis is that in a modern context, 1944

musical On the Town, which never mentions war but follows three sailors, seems
oddly innocent. The author describes what life was like for him during World War II,

making it seem as if it touched every single person’s life, and then questions why

these things were left out of On the Town. This was likely intended for a theatergoing

audience that was familiar with the musical. I could use this in a discussion of On the

Town.

Leve, James. Kander and Ebb. New Haven: Yale UP, 2009. Print.

Wonderful book that analyzes Cabaret as a metaphor for the decline of Berlin

and Germany with the rise of Nazism.

Leve, James. "Impertinent Questions with James Leve." (2009): n. pag. Web. 12 May

2015.

This is an Interview with professor of musicology James Leve about Cabaret

composers John Kander and Fred Ebb. Though he touches on other subejects, the

relevant part of the interview occurs when he discusses why Cabaret was a game-

changing musical: its fragmented structure and its cynical worldview. This article

was likely intended for theatre fans. This will be useful when I analyze the musical

Cabaret.

McGuigan, Cathleen. "Theater Of War." Newsweek 151.14 (2008): 52-53. Academic

Search Complete. Web. 13 May 2015.

Cathleen McGuigan offers a straightforward analysis of South Pacific. The

article analyzes how race is handled in South Pacific and claims that it tackled the

controversial issue of race during a time that was not yet tolerant. The article
supports its claim through quotations from the musical and references to history.

The article was likely aimed at viewers of the 2008 Broadway revival, to give them

some history of the show. This article will be useful in my discussion of how race

was dealt with in popular WW2 musicals, especially South Pacific.

Mills, Nicolaus. "Reviving James Michener: The Relevance of South Pacific." Dissent

55.4 (2008): 85-87. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 11 May 2015.

Nicolaus Mills is an American Studies professor, and is therefore a credible

source of historical information about American works. This article, inspired by the

2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific, discusses the important racial overtones in

both the musical and the source novel, and claims that a lot of the more challenging

themes in the novel were left out of the musical adaptation. The article mainly relies

on comparative techniques, comparing the principle characters’ actions in the

musical versus their actions in the novel. This was likely to bring these differences to

the reader’s attention, as many people are familiar with the musical but very few

people are familiar with the novel. This article will be very useful to me, as I plan to

discuss racial overtones in the various musicals that I am examining, and South

Pacific is one of the most important works in my research paper.

Most, Andrea. ""You've Got to Be Carefully Taught": The Politics of Race in Rodgers

and Hammerstein's South Pacific." Theatre Journal 52.3 (2000): 307-37.

Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 12 May 2015.

 Andrea Most has constructed a clearly well researched essay with in-text

citations and therefore sets herself up as a credible source. This essay makes a lot of

claims about South Pacific, but namely that it’s primary focus is on differences

(emphasizing Orientalism), and that many of it’s significant plot points were

motivated by Cold War politics and the author’s Jewish heritage. The article uses

several examples and quotations from the musical as support for its analysis. The

purpose of the article was to analyze the themes of the musical in context of the

play’s 1949 release. This article is incredibly useful to me, as it covers so much of

what I wanted to discuss in my paper, namely American patriotism and racism.

"On the Town." Leonardbernstein.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2015.

How the musical came into being and broke ground from Bernstein’s website.

Roxworthy, Emily. "Revitalizing Japanese American Internment: Critical Empathy

and Role-Play in the Musical Allegiance and the Video Game Drama in the

Delta." Theatre Journal 66.1 (2014): 93-115. Web. 12 May 2015.

Roxworthy, a professor, establishes her analysis right from the beginning of

her article. Her thesis about Allegiance is that empathy and identification is

necessary in these types of narratives (critical empathy), but she believes that the

critical empathy of the musical bows to the commercial ideas of “the American

Dream.” She mostly elaborates on her own ideas but draws from history and her

own experiences to prove her thesis. This is likely meant to be a scholarly analysis,
and appears to be research based. I could use this as a contemporary example of a

WW2 musical, as this show is set to open on Broadway this summer.