ABSTRACT
A musical, of all things, dominated popular culture and captured its imagination. For generations, and with a few highbrow exceptions, musicals were summarily dismissed by academics as too frivolous, too middlebrow, too populist, and too commercial to be taken seriously. The increased focus on the musical as a genre rich in possibilities for academic study has resulted, as well, in a significant growth in interest among young scholars. As it has developed, the field of musical theater studies has broadened in scope, approach, and perspective, but it nevertheless remains deeply rooted in the so-called “golden age” of American stage musicals, even as scholars disagree about when, specifically, this golden age began and ended. Since late in the second half of the twentieth century, many aspects of the commercial American stage musical have changed rapidly, significantly, and sometimes even drastically. This chapter also provides an overview of this book.
