— + Lint of Porformancen Cited Barbra, 1Can Get Itfor You Funny Gil: 1964; fl Hello, Doll 1969 Yet: ny 983 Other Musical Plays of Rodgers and Hammerstein Cited Carousel: 1945: ‘The King and £1951 ‘Flower Drum Song: 1958 sn an easly soene in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of .Music, a group of nuns bemoans the imepressble nature of one of ‘heir postulans, Maria. They sing to «sprightly melody that “she limbs a tee and serapos her knoe” and that “hor dross has gota tear” Maria breaks ll the rules; she sings inthe abbey and "wallzas on her ‘way to Mass"—actions that enraye some ofthe nuns and charm others, ‘nd in the spirit of the musicals delightful, ifzequired, suspension of isbolio, this frst vorse of the nuns’ song is in 3/4 tlme—a walt, Thus thy rail against what they thomselves do: sing and waltz. Mara ects the nuns in potent ways, as thoy sing in an almost a cappella, {ut-time rctative that sounds like a musical tallspin:"Whon 'm with hor T'm confused / Out of focus and bemused / And I nover know jxactly where Tam"! ca Maria, unruly and uncon Other Musicale Noted ‘Shove Hoot: 1927 ‘Babes in Arms: 1927 Gabin in the Sky: 1940 Carmen Jones: 1983 Guys and Dots: 1950 ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: 1954 ‘Kismet: 1988 By the Boautifl Soa: 1954 Damn Yankoes:2055. Candide: 1986 “The Music Man: 1957 (Once Upon a Mattress: 1959 ‘Sho Loves Me 1963 Fade Out—Fade In: 1064 Ona Clear Day You Can See Porover: 1968 ‘The Apple Tree: 1966 Hallelyja, Boby!: 1907 lable, 1s a problem. Like many of main charac- in South Pocfc, Cinderella's “in My (Ov Litle Comer” in Ginderella—the nuns’ song expresses wht the haractor Maria is. The song serves the purpose of introducing Maria's haracter quirks. ee {AF the conventions of Rodgors and Hammerstin's musical the- 0, the rest ofthe play most deal with this character's ecconteci jos. Tho charactor is usually a woman, usually needs to be taught 4 In South Paci ‘anh learns to valueAL A Problem Like Maria INTRODUCTION | Dastorcit fn the sense that it pactios what Judith Halberstam terms Sporverse presenti.” In other words, lexamine the historical con xs in which thoso leed women originally porformed but analyze jose performances using theories of gender and sexnality developed meanings and offer queer pleasures for audiences. Inthe chapters that follow, detail a range of four women's parformances to chart four df= ferent “lesbian” types that these women embody and envoice. “introduce “lesbian” In quotation marks purposefully, to empha- size that lam arguing sither that any ofthe four actors consttaling the focus ofthis book were lesbisns nor hat any of tho characters they play are lesbians.” In contrast, terming them “lesbian” sa shorthand ‘way of asertng that they can be rad as lesbian "This rhetorical ges- tue is just thet, a device employed in order to crate a persuasive eaing ofthese women a6 “lesbian. “This kind of wading is, to som wxtent, nvtod by the song, since tobe literal it snot Maria herself who i the problom: rather he Is ‘compared toa problem that the nuns must solv: “How do you solve ‘problem ike Maria?” The relationship betwoon Maria an the “rob Tem’ is one of metaphor and approximation, not unlike this auth 1 search for lesbians in musicals. And the fct that thee i a problem {elke Maria—rather than, say, the problem that is Maria—suggoss that there could be similar “problems” elsewhere. This problem has the possibilty of multiplying, much lke the contagious pleasure of Aging lesbians n mises nce ane begins tok at an har mas ‘when they appeared in the Martin, Andrews, and inated inthe cultural context ofthe ate 1940s throug erly 1960, and historical assumptions about gender and sexual fr cecil to some oftheir meanings. At the same tne, these jen ar an enduring part of American culture partially accessible vay of photographs, recordings lms, or videotapes. Thay live in tolletive cultural memory, ab their names rw well kiown to nei fens iconic, and their voirs immediately recognizable ‘aw historically significant fr their own eras and also forthe ea. Context, then, includes the present moment and the su proliferation of references tothe musical ofthese four women. i second side ofthe meaning triangle i that ofthe spectator. cat imagined hore is feminist and lesbian, a position that Ib inkaited by any spectator willing to lok and hea rm ae point of view. The tems “woman,” "eminist." and “lesbian” are poms inteschangeably to underline this hok’s primary can ih spectators‘ ases ofthe music hoover they ght denty Ives 1 do not argue that lesbians possess an idiosyncratic or viewpoint, Indeed, some lesbians might not see musicals feminist perspective tall In short. this book aims not to theo Intricacies of identity nar even to posta demonstrable com otween Mentty and Interpretive peactiogs but to made! fm Teshian readings of musicals that are readily avaiable to willing o incined o look ad hearin certain ways." The a eens ere aes jos not thei own, — iki aio of tho ang, tat of tho tot refers hr othe scala of Martin, Merman, Andrews, ad Streisand, The Ancudes scrips, interviews, ltrs, biographies, autobi videotapes, recorded sun, and the of stage seomion a locunentod by the mesa, of musi where none offclly exist. Making Meanings For musicals, as for any novel, film, musical composition, dance, or performace —any cultural work that —meanings emerge through a negotiation oF a “struggle over meaning” among text, context, and | spectator? Any reading, analysis, or interpretation of a performance, en, already incorporates all theo terms. In other words, when we say that a play means something, wo have aleady Interpreted that ‘lay; alzwady considered some aspocts ofthe context and not cease fr other; alady used particular interpretive sills of which we Imay oF may nat be conscious, to make meaning, “Text,” “spectator” ‘nd “context” are mutually interdependant terms that might be seen to constitute thoo sides of a tiangle “The frst side ofthe “meaning trianglo" concurns content. In ems ‘of contes, this book is both historical and 5 w=6 AProbiem Like Maria tors, choseographers, anu designers who collaborated t produce cach show, While there i no doubt that Rodgers and Hammerstin crested the Broadway musical as we know it, the traditional approach to musical theatar history that emphasizos the ovoluti ofthe musial’s {orm often dons sa athe expente of performance analyss. Traditional scholarship of musicals has studied the text (Ihe libretto and tho cor} above all, only occasionally dotalling elements of dosign, directing, and acting, singing. and dancing This shortcoming appears to ris fom a central mothodologicaldilamma: porformance analysis requires tho physical proximity of scholar to scene, yet theaters oot ing. However extensive the gossip notwork and however sharp agiven spectatr’s memory, Broadway musicals ofthe 1950s and early 1.605, fre no more. One ean read lok closely at publicity phos, listen to cast albums, or witness short scenes rstaged on tolevsion tributes to composnrs, One can make assumptions about the work of choreographers based on reproducible dances or Hn versions of ‘uscals Bu the specific details of Ethel Merman's Momma Ros) or Julie Andrew's Eliza are Tost. Inwriting theater histories and performance analyses of musical, we neod to acknowledge that, as with tho writing ofall theater histo ries, desi to have experionced the orginal event and the ebsenen of When an astute, prolific writer like Ethan Mordden provides a frst hand account ofthe opening night of Gall Me Madam in his book on 1980s musicals, Coming up Roses, lan only wonder how accurately be emernbersdolals about performances witnessed moro than ty years ago." While his evocative description ably provides a sono of the performanc, also be Imaginative labor ofthe thet ‘Some spectators do remember socing Mary Martin in person, ‘ying acrss the Broadway stage in 1958. Others saw her on television {in 1060, Others now own the videotape of Peter Par. Stil atharskavo heard the cast album or have seen photographs of her. Evan as Tako {nto sooount tho diferent forms of photographs, interviews, soits, tnd recorded songs do not ttompt th ftilo task of reconstructing live performann, Instoad, {am intorsted in how supraisatation, visual and aural, eaneyoke a sense of iv sone INTRODUCTION 7 Witnessed by the reader and now lodged in memory or perhaps one fly imagined. Al writing about performance i incomplete, bt use- fully so. As Peggy Pholan argues, “Performance’s only life isin the sent, Prformance cannot be saved recorded, dacmented, or oth- ‘rwise participate inthe circulation of representations of epresenta- ions: once it dows so, it bocomes something other than perfor ance." In other words, once performance is represented in some Jyay-—through rocording ae description or writen or spoken recollec- lon—it no langor counts as posformance but becomes different kind representation altogetner. Attempting to dacument the “undocu- wntable event,” Plan asserts, requis tho “rules ofthe writen doe “tracolessnes that makes performance 80 jynificant. Phelan suggests that “the document of» peeformance then only a spur to memory, an encouragement of memory to become 7 Because tho original texts—the actual live perlormances af udway musicals in which Martin, Merman, Andrews, and sand starred-—are long gone and because fans experience and lrstand musicals differently, use @ range of representations in book to examine the women's lives, careers, and performances, reconstruction equites imagination as well as research, Because so few poopl actually saw musteals during thor original nlvay runs, what counts as “memory” and as "performance" os gzeatly. For example, tho importance ofthe cast album, one of oy sourees of “ovidence" for this book, changes aver time, When Pair Lady was playing on Broadway in the mid-1950s, the cast m was a desirable commodity that, for some peopl, sa almost able as actually having seen the musiea itself. After the mus Josod, the cast album took ona lite ofits own, separate fom the | Tho songs were memorable even out of context. The songs of {wontieth-contury musicals also have a lif outside of th show, many listonors know only the music and not the script or the For many baby boomers, the songs of 1990s muses py a fof almost unconscious knowledge. Many people know the to musical that relatively few people actually sav on Broad Dut the cast album, the musicals everavalable semtins, Joss, Owning a cast album moans that many listeners Joss: they nove :missng th play, Other aonibook is concerned with intrpreting musicals differently ‘sooing and hearing in nonconventional ways; in consciously sccount- ing forthe importence of spectators’ identifications and desires in not taking for granted hoterosoxual nreatives: in seen the lesbian inthe Steuight character: in rocontextualizin, replacing -viewing, These fro precisely the interpretive practions prompted by seeing movi, Watching television, lstning to cast albums, and participating ic a culturo that seldom explicitly represents lesbians or lesan dain The pervasive nature ofa media devold of lesbian ryprosentation ex lead spectators to so, hoar, and experiance musical theater diff. cently. querly. Histories and Context Im the mid-twentieth century, Broadway musicals lke Caroust, Guys and Dols, and Demn Yonkoos served as mainstream culture, both reflecting and sheping the conoeras and fascinations of the United Stats. With the enormously influential, almost simaltanaoae developments of tho long-playing album and of television in the 1950, musical theater bocamo available to a mass audience. The ‘roquent appearances of musical theater stas on television variety shows, which relied on many techniques ofthe stage in television's carly years, and the sales of original cast albums brought musical th ‘tr to millions of American homes. To this day, Mary Martin and Ethel Merman'sthrtoen-minute medley of Boadway show tunes on Ford's fiftieth anniversary show in 1093 is cited as a great moment in tolovision history. The album of My Fair Lady, with julia Andzews and Rex Harrison, was released three days after the show's March 1056 oponing, It sold over five million copies and was the mumbie fone album on the Billboard magazine chats for wooks. When ‘Andrews and Richard Burton appeared together on the Bd Sulliver ‘Show in 1960 and sang "What Do the Simple Folk Do?” from Camelot, ticket sales forthe recently opened show skyrocketed. Ard “Martin's 1960 filmed-fortelevision performance as Peter Pan ie stil the standard musical version of M. Barle's classe story. The adap tation of many musicals fr film. particularly The Sound of Music in 1905, which won numerous Academy Awards almost cul-tike following, continued tho INFRODUCTION 9 ymerican cultural landscape. Finely, the musical sustains its promi- place in American culture through Broadway revival, tele jon versions, and countless productions in universities, high ools, and community theaters, ‘The musical grow and was popular during the post-World War I |— period when many women who workod outside te home d= the war rturned to homemaking ater men reclaimed thet abs jon homosexuals were both pathologized and criminalizd; and on tho image ofthe white, middle-las, nuclear family in the sub 8 ryprosonted America a ts host. The musical appears lo reflect dominant values of the culture: conservative, sexist, and homo ic. Musicals aru froquentiy structured around a heterosexual ile: although the man and the woman often begin ax suspicious of| ‘nother or even as enomies, thy invariably marry by the end, as Harold Hil and Maeian the librarian in The Music Man or Annio| Jey and Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun, Women seen till, sly In love in musicals. The eventual heterosexual union jm by the musical also unifies the community, e¢ woman su fo man, nature to culture, passion to reason, body to ming. Musicals tend to end in one of thre ways. Sometimes the entire reassemblos fora rousing reprise of the show's sure-to-boa-hit er such as “Thore's No Business Like Show Business” or “Sev- ix Trombones." Or, wien the conclusion is nota literal mar 9, miusicals often end with a symbolic one that celebrates the th of the heterosexual couple and the nuclear family. Billy nv in Garousel rtuens to heaven, bis soul redeemed, 0 his lor graduates from high school; the von Trapp family in The 0f Music prevails over the Nazis and escapes Austria on fot, ifthe woman fuses to capitulate to the man, she is punished jon, which almost all musicals mark as a tragic ending. In #, Guonovere Is sent to a convent: in Funny Gir, Fanny Brice lone, her fac stained with tars. In most cases, the message of Is that hoterosexuality is both natural and mandatory and yon should know their pace. — fand ethnic politic fare no better. Except for the fow “African Amotican musicals ike Gabin in the Sky and Cor- romantic couple i almost always white. Many 1950s those n Annie20 A Problem Like Maria offensive from a contemporary perspective. A notable excoption isthe positively porteayed interrcal relationship of Lieutenant Cable and Liat in South Poofc, which caused anxdety among white theater po ducers and Broadway audiences and solidified the identification of Rodgors and Hammorssin with Iiboral politics. Stl, South Pact tnd tho other musical plays of Rodgos and Hammerstein that repre ‘ent Asian cultures in order to take on serious social isues and ara for toleance—Flower Drum Song and The King and Jl bbjectify the nonvehite characters under the guise of i ity. Although these musteal feature Asan charactors, they ease Be alike and should behave aczon specificity of Asian cultures to prove that underneath everyone to American cultural values.” ‘Bul just asthe image ofthe homogeneous postwar er belies txe ‘complexities of that time, tho ides nf the musical as simplistially ‘conservative underestimates its ability to produce a rango of mean ings, Tho postwar decades witnessed an unprocedentet baby boon; ih building of a national highay system that enabled, for some, an ‘exodus to the suburbs: and proliferation of housshold goods t Capitalized on housewives as consumers. But American culture in those yoars also sew the beginnings ofthe civil rights movement and tho women's liberation movement. Gay and lesbian communities Aourished in bars, homes, and private spaces and built a quiet momentum that would explode during Stonewall. (On 27 June 199, Hols broke out infront of the Stonewall In, a Greenwich Vilage gy bar, when customers resisted artest after a police raid, This event ‘marked the unofficial binning ofthe gay rights movement." It was also tho night of Judy Garlands funeral, and some historians ateibute ‘the ightened emotion to that event.) Siniarly, upon closer exam nation, musical theater in the 1950s and early 1960s ean be seen to 1 cousiderabla amblvalance about gender zoles and the possi {Hy of ts happy endings There are cracks inthe image ofthe musical, fas America’s fnost form of escapist entertainment Its these fssums that A Problem Like Maria explores. ‘A Problem Like Mari focuses on the period from the late 19408 ‘rough th erly 19008, the peviod of Martin's, Meeman’s, Andrww's, ‘nd Stesand’s unequaled stardom ia musicals, especially in Broa ‘way musical theater. Merman and Martin were the indispulatle ‘quoons of Broadway inthe 1950s, Julie Andrews debuted on Broa ‘vay in The Boye in 1954 (ho ‘4s Martin's Petor Pan), INTRODUCTION 13 she is best Known for hor work lator in the 19808: My Fait Lady; imolot: and on television, Cinderella, Steisand mal hor Broadway in 1962 with the small but show-stealing role of Miss Marmel- juin in J Gan Gat for You Wholesale By tho tima she achieved the stardom in Funny Gil, sho was already known asa singer, having formed in New York City clubs and cut two hit albums, When nny Gir opened on Breadwoy. Staisand was working on her fst lo telovision show, “My Name is Barbra.” Two ils that aro central this study are The Sound of Music, staring julle Andrews, and nny Girl with Barbra Stoisand. The fact that enormous soctal and tual changes wore well underay in the United States by the time js lms wore released inthe mid-1960s and the fact that they both with immense popular suecess point to te lasting, almost trans sjurical appoal.of American musicals, ‘The musicals of Martin, Morman, Andrews, and. Streisand ye during what is considared the “Golden Age” af Broadway ical, from 1943 until the mid-1960, the years of television's wih, Hollywood's strugele, nd Broadvvay's gradual transforme- fom a popular venve to anolitist one) The American mu vl the success of capitalist collaborative ventures during an ora fconomic growth. It proposed mainstream social values In an sible, crowd-pleasing package. And although Broadway stayed its goographical place in midtown Manhattan and although mach Hts audionco consisted of middle-class New Yorkers (many of 1m wero Jewish), long-playing albums made the voices of Broad- s singers widely recognizable, and television enabled Broadway to become hovsehold names Entertainment technologies made the musical mora avllable easly translatable into more accessible cultural forms, Th long Ving album, fest produced in 1948, created a desire for and sonso nership of the musical outside ofthe experience of actually sing the show. Cast albums were extremely popula, and single became hits on the pop chars." Tn 1956, for example, the same that My Fair Lad’ original cast album was number one on the id magazine chart for wooks, Eis Presley cu hs rst records ‘wont gold, an astonishing seven for the yeas. Because much of lolovision relied on the conventions of theater, particularly tho show, scenes from musicals easily translated tothe12 AProblom Like Maxia BVTRODUCTION 4 they had not, Television readily mimicked the live show itself and lapped with those offlm and television Soon ater they premiered “meant to democratize what laud traditionally been an aristocrtic, hey wore reproduced in university and community theaters end thus ‘box-soat view of theatrical spectacle.” Tho breathtaking growth of ‘moved into the sphere of popular culture, ortho culture of the people television meant that forthe fst time, Americans had a common cl: ther high art nor mass culture noe poplar culture, the midoontry ‘ure and common points of rferencs "The musical was part of hat merican musical displays characterise ofall Ure. The musical, culture, roliorating on vinyl and through the airwaves and later embodied in ‘American popular entertalament in 1956, the middle of this untles amateur productions, sustalned national appeal throughout period, included Larner and Loowo's My Fair Lady, starring Jalio. otvontothcontury and continues ta have influence today. ‘Androws and Rex Harison, which took the theater word by storm ‘The Broadway musicals roputation as optimistic and escapist fd ran for 2,717 performances, Tho Diary of Anne Prank sson the yresponuls tothe prodominant characterization of this oa in Ameri Pulitzer Prize fr drema. In film, Elizabeth Taylor stared in Giant 1 history s these are the years known for I Love Lucy and Father Tonnesioo Williams's Baby Doll was banned at some movie thes ors nows Best, The 10503 witnessed the baby boom; the growth ofthe for being “rvolting” and “obscene” and became a smash hit at oor. shuts; an enormous increase in the production of household appl My Fie Lody won tho Tony Award for best musical, and Jaio es; and the propagation of “togetherness,” a tem coined by the Andrews and Rex Harrison won best actress and best actr in a misi= onton's magazino McCall's in 1084, asthe domestic ideal. Tho 1950s tal. Around the World in Eighty Days won the Academy Award for jo saw theaddition ofthe television set ta many Ameria homes. ‘host motion picture, Yul Brynner won best actor for The King and 1 the Years from 1949 to 1952, the average numberof television sets ‘nd Inge Bergman won best actress for Anastasio. Finally, in 1656, chased per month was 250,000, and while 9 percent of all Amen the staimy novel Peyton Place was published and soon became abost- homes owned a television set in 1950, by 1960, 90 percent did. seller. On tolovision th roarjerking daytimo show Queen for @ Bay ipcndonted aconomie expansion, espocally for whites, facilitated premiered, and Gone with the Wind was broeast for the frst te, jonse of self-confidence in the nation and in an individual's ability ‘with 52 percont of telovision awning households tuning in Aloag uke choices about whore to live, how to ive, whee to work, and with The Mickey Mouse Club, ize, and commercials far Tine ps most Importantly, what to buy. This sense of confidence watches and General Blctrlc ovens, musical theater was apart of mid ribos the spit of many midoentury Brosdway musicals, twentieth-oentury American culture. For white, middle-class, mainstmam Americans, social values ‘But musicals cannot be sean only insolation to mass eulture—that pcoat The family came to epitomize dominant America’s ea of| 1s, to capitalist, profi-eooking, mart-producid and -distibuted forms and gonored roles in the family worw not only seen as positive like movies and television, Althovgh the Broadway musical spawaod ‘wore portrayed as absolutly necessary for psychological health mash-hit albums and although its stars appeazed reguasly on tlevi- focal stability. The prevalling social script is well known, Men sian, it remained, in its original setting, available to relatively How breadwinner, husbands wo helped out at home, and rule-ms ‘people and seomingly within the realm of high art. Although popslar ‘Women marred young, married up, hed children, and became In the commonsonsa notion of tho torm-—ell liked by mny makors, aided by the numerous household appliances appearing peoplo—the musical war not mass cultrg. Ks immediate influence he market. Women wore invested in managing a well-run, spot ‘wat nocesirly moro Fimitod than the large-scale lmpectof i a le- ‘loan home and enabling the sucess of thet children. vision.* Atthe same time, Broadway musicals never aly qualified as lo many women, especially middle-class and white women, Jigh at and, to many, never earned th label “art aa A farcry fom ‘oulside the home during World War Il, they lost thoir jobs as of Arthur Millor or Tennosseo Williams 1 sgn returned hone Trends wore rors to maintain social neu writing wa that mont, and ‘Tho womanwho wanted to continue working, scoring to one 1947 journal appeared “thoughtless and greedy extravagant, a poor mate fo bi Inusband and a bad housekooper." Inthe decades folowing Werld ‘Warll, women worked in low-paying folds, their wages dropped, and fedoral support for child-care facilities ended, Tho Equal Rights ‘Amendment lacked votes. and its supporters wore characterized by a ‘momorandum of the Woman's Bureau (a government agency estab lished by Congress after World War otrack the status of women and labor) as“a small but militant group of leisure class women [venting] their resentment of not having boen born men." In his study of ‘women in US. history, William H. Chafe summarizes, “Although some change had occurred, it was within a structure of assump ‘nd valuos that perpetuated massive inequality between the sexes, In spite ofthe charectorization of tae 19508 asthe placid decile ot happy white families in th suburbs watching talovisions and mow ing their lawns twas also a time of uneasiness and anxiety, even for those who were white, middleclass, Cristian, and heterosexal The Postwar gonortion was hauated by memories of Bergen ‘Helse and Nagasaki, by the threat of annihilation by incineation othe bomb, ‘Auxiotes, fears, and contradetions—particuarly about power indie vidualism, gender, and domestic safety—ost the confidanco of te postwar aru. As Elaine Tyler May writes in Homeward found, hor {influential study ofthe culture of the Cold War, practices of eontain- ment abounded, both in actuality (in soclal policy) and metaphors ‘ally, through cultural representations.» For example, women were ‘expected to be mothers, bu thee was great anxiety about the kindof mothers that thoy shouldbe, Thay wore instructed to be involved but not too overprotective, lost they make their hoys into homorexual ‘May wates, “Mothors who noglected their children bred criminals: ‘mothers who overindulgod their sons turned them into passive, werk, and effeminate “perverts”! ear ofhiomosexuaity was pervasiv. Jonathan Nod Katz expla thatthe 1950s “were a period in-which the psychiatric communty ‘waged an extensive assault on gay people” For example, in 1953, the Stato Dopartment fired or forced the resignation of more than nine hhundsed gay mon and lesbians "bocause of what the government ‘alle thei ‘perversion. In the 19408 and 1950s, according to Le lian Federman, “Every aspect of same-sex love... came tobe defined as sick." Unlike other periods in US, history when wonien, partic mTRODUCTION 25 inlddle-lass, o upper-class women, eld form alten ic arangoments, the 1950s “mandated that women Inara lead a double existonco if they wanted to live as lsbians and yot inintain the advantages of middle-class American life."™ Furthermore, the "homosexsal ted to the feat of communis, as Stephani Coontz exp jormal’ family and vigilant mother became the front lin’ of defense inst treason; anticommunist linked deviant family or sexual Jo proce society from the threat trom within. Chalo expla: chiro, patriots, be lof thn Redshese wore the deations of true Ameren. °° Tho "witch hunt” of senator and anticommunist crusader soph McCarthy—the House Un-American Activites Commitee intended ro out any int of polities! Mberalsm, whether essed through poles, ror sexual.” Manwl,stil and cultural struggles tat would Tad o Rest re and tothe cil rights and women's liberation movements forming While the nuclear fanly was fundamental for stan tus of the population and while conservative policy makes posi the ned for America to maintain ts tabi, atone and its borders many women and Aim Amoreane wer atic na eiferent vision of American society. The Kinsey report on en was published in 1058; Bown v. oan of Bacaton took in 1954 the Montgomery bus boyeot happened tn 193; the conto pil was invented in 1060; Bott Feedan’s Famine My vas published in 1963; he tree speech movement accrred in Th mage was boing et for the explosive socal changs of th 104 al ay 1970s Tn the postwar decades, popular culture and theater, of which cals were pr, perptasted the tus qu. recta wera es, and flea ow i oten contradictory possblitin for ge eeu ies ad elations.™ Wore were frequently por amorous temptresios (Marilyn Monro), a8 mane Ge or assent door (Doris Day). Welized images of women. proliferated, fom June Clava to Molly Goldin. Pa. Millr and Tennosiea Willans dinate tho noAon in thatil fom, Dra eon iinet, dentetoryspecatrstip rn recogni the characters poy cou ther rl women: andcond hin thet lied tectypes, ugh eee thn evident Wh th toon sam Gee ae SELES tt stone ly rs and tt woman were to be ovarda forte pla Ele Pa Mis sad cong cies ited fs, ees aoe ree sexual dss. Th tage of thos ne ay ‘oc vales and rfitod divergent expaaane’ ah “wPPaned Tpeshtions of wore Show inns cure an and a ew msi i ch as Lola in Damn Yankees, jst as any antan strong, dominating women liks Annan The Kingond he Dolly Lovi in Hello, Dolly! Even women ce wy do bods thnk af Mesmaa eg Marin Anno Get You Gun Merman in py Metin a on Sound of Mase Andows In My Pale Lay aa Se, Girl, to name only a few." eae aan in contrat tthe 4 many penalise tars ca Islvson an l,i musical notiriond ms Hnkoica ca tae seldom represen, lag the metaphor ino nother a carne Gahran sisal males a aly suck misao Ras an Hamman Soa he ‘The King and {, and The Sound of Music. In each inst > oman tk onan any tha acs onc nusicals 008 guns! tho rain” snusicals.Bven i its heyday, the mus tonsidored to be the quintessential, sentimental, nostalgic ‘ar form, In Broadway Babies Say Goodnight, Mark Steyn that Okcar Hammerstein If inveated many ofthe clichés af the lemporary American English vornacular—"T'm as corny as Kansas gust; “climb every mountain, ford every stream"; “goting to you" He adds, “And it's not his fault he did itso well that sis what they've bacome."*? Not ony is the language of Broad tho language of America, but the bappw escapism af the musical ‘nd German at i about pow -vhich explains why our only major narative invention is the scala fantasy form."* The “dishonest” fantasies hat muslals perpetuate operate oa two os, the Individual and the societal. On te level of individuals—tho jncipals or the musicals main charactrs—Boy gots gil. On tho lovel tho ropesentation of socioty—the choruss-everyone is united atthe i. Miétwentioth-contury musicals promote tolerance and offer a ul whiteflk—got along, primarily through m a But the Golden Age musical’s origin story roquires a more com- cst telling, because these American fantasies were produoed pi vil by Jowish artists who were influenced by the music of Afcan juny of whom wera fest generation America funtury production of the musical. Jewish composers and Iricists Included Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, scar Hammer sein I, Alan Jay Lerner, Fritz Loewe, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, Jocry Herman, Sheldon Haenic, and Jerry Bock Richard Rodgors's owlogendary story recounts how the non-Jewish Cole Portar told Dh that be had found "the secret of writing hits” In ie sutobiogr phy, Rodger relates:AProblom Like Maria As [breathlessly awaited the megle formula, he leaned over and confided, “Til write Jewish tunes." I laughed at what took to be a joke, but not only was Cole deed serious, he ‘eventually did just tat Just hum the melody that goos with ‘Only you beneath the moon and der the sun” from “Night and Diy.” ... These minorkey melodies ara unmistakably caster Mediterranean, It is surely one of the ironies ofthe ‘musical theater that despite tho abundance of Jowish com. posers, the ono who has writen the most enduring “Jesh usc should be an Episcopelian millionaire who was born ‘ona farm in Peru, Indiana How did Jowish men in particular—historieal ostiders—create ‘one ofthe most quintessentially American forms of culture? Although ‘ant-Somitism was lss overt ater World War I Jews, many of whom ‘had liberal politic, wore suspoct. As Victor. Navasky writes in ‘Naming Names: “Congressman John Rankin (HUAC) linked liberal Jewish interests and Hollywood's ‘pro-Soviet’ agenda. On Noverbar 14, 1947, ho read alist of actors and their given names—June Have! ovick, Danny Kaye/David Daniel Kaminsky, Eddie Canto/Edwerd Fsskowita"” Rankin addod: “Thero are others too numerous to men tion. Thay ae attacking the Comittee for doing its duty in trying to protect this county and savo the Amerlean poople fom the horible fate the Communists have meted out to the unfortunate Christian people of Burope."® Not surprisingly, givan the rhetorical end polit cal slippage between communists and Jes, most nd-twenteth-oe tury musicals do not directly reflect the identities of their makers, Andree Most explains: “CantistJows, i order to protect ther harde ‘won status as loyal American, therafore needed ta disoctate Jowish- nass from communism and establish ther own anticommunist cre dntials, while critiquing the methods and shetorc of anticommunist \__emagogues.*# One way of doing this was to racast the “fight for racial ‘equality asa way to ight communism,” protecting the United States from “revolution from below” by an Alcan Ametican underclass ‘This strategy translate artistically into positive characte of colo, as South Pacific. Jaws man could assimilate into white society by | writing “American” charactors in an American idiom, domonstating ‘heir patriotism and not pushing the, UNTRODUCTION 19 all boi ovrsh mon in musical thea ‘consciously attempted an tho bls, Berard Holand oes, “Tha Batra io ie eee ee ee arte ee ee ae ee te Pring Ec mpl es" Tim pope ois uc of Un eee ey sarees eee iT he 1800 an O40 the lus Inner Tin Pan Alloy Sas ae eine Ceasar ates oc y ta tf tho ste Aca Anna tng oko he Tare, Fats Domino, Chek Bory, nite icin pcr th wt hc ad Elvis rs cae cw the a white pefomes. ezrang to Devi Halbert, ie rata eee ee icc pan cin enue oc black asuiand ea Ga re ig Back Sacer rpc a See ee Ree a rae mere) ca caus likely influenced by African American woman bie lor in the twentieth contury. The strength, singularity, and pas nate oxprossivencss of tho Broadway musicals fomae star aro rom. ont of women blues singers these qualities are not found else m in midctwentieth-century American culture. Angels Davis yzes the Iyrcs of women blues singors of the 19205 and 1980s, jn that the women almost never characterize thomse¥ves as wives others in thoir songs end that thor aro fow rofarencas at all to ago or domesticity. As Davis explains, tho reality ofthe lives of fan American women in the Bist docadesof th twentieth century red from that of middle-class white women, whose “plac! was the domestic sphere." As in the musical, women blues singers ‘up visual and ural space. They reclaim their experionces and ‘haos through song Like the women stars who dominated the try musa, tho fest sucossfl professional bluos prformers Including Bossio Smith ead tho “Empress of the20 A Problem Like Maria myrropuction 2 bisocual.! Ma Rainey, although marred, often wore men’s clothes 1nd wes open about her women lovers, In “Prove It to Me Blues,” she sings: ‘of camp. Inthe films Chueles (1095), Beoutful Thing (pley 1098; fn 1996), and Out (1997), and The Next Best Thing (2000) and the tole Vision sitcom The Nanny, a charactar’s knowledge of musicals actu- ally signs is gayness Those characters occupy that ideologically ‘complex position of the stereotype by simultaneously drassing on ality"perpetuating the image of the show quoen in both its pos tive and negative manifestations—and reproducing that image, mak: Ing t available tobe usefully emulated and taken up. Michael Warner | notes thet gay culture i often practiced at material sites through con: sumption of, for example, theater, film, museums, food, household] toms, and elothing Musical theater and lm qualify as such matar Jal sites fr many gay mea, Their affection for and support and knowl ‘ge of musical theater lore facts, and trivia serve. cultural capitals fs communiy-building practices sand ax markars of identity Gay tnale cultures produced in prt though engagement with musicals. “ ‘Many gay men the nonJevssh Cole Porter foremost among thom, jv ben important in the production history of musicals. Othe clude Lorene Hart, Moss Hat, Arthur Laurent, Jerome Robbins. Sondheim, toname only a fw*! Goal Mast attests that or Hanmerstein I frequented gay bars, and he suggests that iit {in Hammerstein's musicals ean be rd with @ gay sub Ha notes, for example, that “We Kissin @ Shadow" from The and I, a song of forbidden heterosexual love conates meaning. lly when sung by a gay male chorus, many of whose members likaly rienced similar pains off ove lor poetically evokes the personal history ofa gay man asi intr ‘with his desirous fescination forthe “somehove gay genre" the rdveay- musical Miller asserts hot vieualy all 19508 1 gy subtext, Musicals have long offered personal lr validation for gay men. 2 Hits olalionship to gay masculinity is not enough to ~prove" the ss of musicals, thon the gandered formal conventions ofthe ortoborate ts queer status. For example, the spectacle of must Tong attract say male spectator who see thei own beh ‘They say I doi, ain't nobody caught me Sue gol to prove it on me ‘Went out ast night witha crowd of my fiends Thoy must've been women ‘cause I don’t ike no men, Tes true f wear a collar and ate Make tho wind blow all the while ‘They say doit, ain't nobody caught me ‘They sure got to prove iton me COthor women singers during the Harlem Renaissance were known to bo bisexual but wore less public about it ike Bessto Smith, Jackie “Moms” Mabley, Josephine Baker, and Ethel Waters. Davis explains ‘hat with “thir provocative and pervesive sexual (and not always et rosexual imagery. luvs yries deviated from that era's established popular muste cultuw."" Like the Brosdvway performers i this hook, «07, womon blus singors maintained wel-knawn on-and offstage ent. 222° | tes an they performed musi that could be head, depending on the listeners and the context, as ether maintaining the status quo oF pro- | foundly challenging Spectators Aside from the mainstream popularity ofthe musical, historically and caulturelly, gay men have buon its most visible devotees, and thle fs- ination is woll documented in autobiography, history, and criticism Inpopalarcultre, th chaeactr ofthe musical theater aficionado staple in representations of gay mon. Thaso include, on stage, the pest in the off-Broadway play Party (1008), who furiously borates the ‘youngest man in the group when ho mistakenly rfors toa {movie Soundtrack whom he moans to describe an “original cat album,” and Buzz in Torranco MeNlly's Lovet Volor! Compassion! (play 1998, ‘im 1887) Both of these roles are flamboyant, their rolationship te 3s both constitutive of sintered i ts char# (spectacular! docor and costuming. intricate choreogr Tg sens occ ‘yearning and fullment).” Like ‘Doty, Miller ses the musical as fominine and feminiing. Hi argue ‘hat pat of the musical’s magnotism is due to its seductive ability Take gay men want to be—that i, perform as women. Describing 0 utopia of female preeminence on the musical stage,” Miller argues that its “a form whose unpublicizable work i to idle men ‘nthe thls of femininity become their own." Jolt M. Clam, in Something fr the Boys, also angus that mus ‘il thoateri apart of gay male culture, especially the performance ef the clive, with whom gay men identify, Chim finds camp sensibility, 'aonse of artifice fundamontal tothe power ofthe feminine in muse cals He asserts that the “diva” is preeminent in the musical and that ‘sey men identify with her overshe-op randition of femininity. He Also sees many performances by the great women perfrirs of mus. als as camp, I agsve with Doty, lum, and Miller that musicals aro striking in their dependonco an women as performers and thelr fe. ‘quent placement ofa woman as the strong, ative center ofthe show ‘But while gay men identify with the leading lady across gender ‘women spectators can finda strong gure in an actor and character of {or own yond, The Golden Age of musical theater was the golden age of femal stars and characters. In the 1950s andl early 19605 a female saz could ‘guarentee a show's profitability. Ia addition to Martin, Merman, ‘Andrews, and Stvisand, many other women performers ac Stardom in the mideentury Broadway musical. These include Barbara ook (Candide, The Music Man, She Loves Mel Carol Channing (Gen temen Prefer Blondes; Hello, Dolly}: Shtley Booth (A Tre Grows in Brooklyn By the Beautiful Soa): Carol Burnett (Once Upon a Mattress, Fade Out—Fade In; Barbara Harts (Ona Clear Day You Gan Soe For, ‘wer, The Apple Tree}; and Leslie Uggims (Hallelujah, Raby’ ‘Tho very action of singing and dancings-the foundetion of per formance fn. musieals—roquires an athleticism that demonsiatos ‘women’s physical and vocal strength. The female principal i nost ‘musicals is visually and aurally dominant. Sho stands center stago, the story is built around her, andthe songs are written fr hor as Drosantations "Before the advent of body microphones, a woman's volco had to cary in lago Browdway’ house, and or acing haces ‘needa! toe lage and clan in ada I INTRODUCTION ony. (t bacomes clear why so many women performers in Brosdway Inusicals, like Martin and Merman, found it difficult to shrink thle styles to fit the intimacy of lm.) What Carolyn Abbato writes of ‘omen singing in opera applies hore: “Aull, she is resonant; her ‘musical speuch drowns out everything in range, and we sit as passive ‘objets, battered by the voice." Many songs celebrete the character erself and exhibit what may be called an autoerotic quali. ‘The tharacter often takes pleasure‘n her own melifiuousness, her own, Singing, inher own voic, and she exprésses delight autonomously Mideentury musicals; however sel-consciously audience oriented, sill obey the convention ofthe fourth wall where the audience imag nes they are looking through a Keyhole or an invisible fourth wal of the room in which the charactrs meet and where the actors talk to ‘ach other as though the zudionc isnot there, Thus a character sings Joss to the audionce thon to horse And even whes the charecter Sings song of being in lve with a man) of when the implied listener Js. man,the female perfonmer “owns” the song the performance sot Is all about her. The midcontury American mustcal i a feminine yet fctve culture form that doss not locate a woman a8 a passive, to-be- Jooksd-at objoct but allows her to take up the position of self pects le. Women in musicals look back, Lenbian Spectators I this book, the presumed spectator is “Tesbian,” Lass an identity than a viewing and listening position, the feminist/esbi spectators [point of view can be practiced by virtually any willing, wilful poeta: for: conversely an actual lesbian spoctator may be unwilling to read Anusicals in this way. My perspective here links an aggrossivel Pooching “queer” viewing and listing practice with alesbian-femi Ais politics. By entering the singing and dancing stage dominated by. Hwinstroam American and gay male cultures, this metaphorical la. Dion spoctator intervenes and performs musical theater. erm this Dactice “lesbian” but acknowledgo that i i markedly inflected by theory and quoor practices. “Queer” privileges any *Quoer.” as Alexander Doty ofall aspects of non- Quen”24 A Problem Like Maria, nrRopuction 25 also captures colloquially the sonso that these readings are nt always straight on. “Queer” connotes that bodies, gonder, and sexualities don’t always line up.” J Losbian desire reads bodies and behaviors playflly, aggressively, {sand qm sng give up he ploanrs f missIno all audiences’ rocoptions and interpretations are always a negotiation of A ( text and context: of the past and the present: of memory nostalga, fn futuro use. As Cherry Smyth writes of ims Asn oof oun wan oak what be mine from Hollywood, put myseltn Ur pitre a tore in vent the story of th gaso, Wish fullest, you may anya ‘rest thehomo-subent om i Ey eterna fad make it the major discourse, Maybe so, but then roading hogan a8 wish for inclusion by margin: ls, many fans have identifestry fantasies and many enact ifcatory prectces in thee own performance, ether on stage or ir bedrooms. Saoay’s hook Star Gazing documents and analyzes ows with elk professed heterosexvalfomale fans of mldentary le film stars who, in letes and interviews, declare. the shed, passionate adoration ofthese lm stars. Staceys prec at dsavows lesbian identities and opens up possiblities for sl ited heterosexual woman spactatrs oti labenly.” A spoctta's identifications are exible snd can shit across ides Positions, even within the socal situation ofa single prtr-| 02. Spectators can alto identify with more than one character at ime. Additionally, disidentication or distancing onset from a acter or a representation ean provide.» pleasurable fo performance." The range of identifications cons that, as ass puts “thoes n0 “ata” way to road a tox: ways of wing are historically specific and culturally variable, and reading sitions are always constructed." t entiation is but one mode of engagement with representa- ns In addition to wanting to bo oF wontng to have a character, « tar might simply adit achat sympathie with er find objectionable, funny. or strange. Tanya Kreywinska finds a range possibilities in meaning-meking. She explains that “engagement th any text is dance with desire—the deste to appropriate, iron to ejct meaning, Our desire and fantasy is, undeni- ly always cast though the ideological msnings that rw inherent the sytoms of signification available tous at any givn ime."* The cat might not dent at all ut stl fee emotionally involved in 9 sor touched by the character, involved fn the plot, amazed by lane or in love withthe sound ofcertain melodies. fa reception tho musicals form, these other proceses and ofa peasurs re ta ‘ho spectators interpretive bubits and cultural compotonciss damental delimit, deternsin, and enable her interpretation of a formance, Cultural competencies are developed in everyday lie ‘an include lett positions of gender, race, clas, and sexual ts wall as othr kinds f know ed. Inher foundational essay on rocaption of the women's sports Aim rene inter alised, underropresenod people and endod up a state Tor four survival” r lings rw gonorated through quoor desire mah thom no les valid. More conventional or “straight” readings simply rely on different, if naturalized, assumptions about representational practices and, by extonsion, social ations. ‘deotifcaion, a primary exercsa of interpretation and seception, {s @-muliply Inflected spectatorial practice, It can rafer to "ego. libido"—sceing oneself as or wanting to be the object ("ike her, therefore 1 want to be like het"}—or fo “objectibido"—dosiring or {wanting to have tho object soxually (‘Ike her; therefor 1 deste thor, Teresa de Laurtis argues thatthe latter frm of dentfeation “characterians adult, post-oodipal, lesbian homosexuality.” while ego- LUhido is narcissistic identification that is relly “homosocal, that i ‘woman-identifid female bonding "”* 1 would suggest, though, that both forms of idantifcation play 9 part in lesan engagements with sscas, While thoro aro distinctions emong diferent modes of identi ‘atory sires, there are also different practices that emerge from dontiication. In hor study of women's fandom-of film stars, Jacko ‘Stacay distinguishes “identifiatory fantasies,” which remain on the level of articulated imaginings, from “identficatory practcns {involve a conscious ffrt enact on26 AProblem Like Maria : no wontith contry, thor was ite difrence between the mus tnd he late nineteen and carly twenteth-oentury popular ertinment form from which i developed~minstrelsy, vaudo Jp and bsleaq, Although the msieal distinguished isl by the| co of plo, continious characters, anda uni sare writen \ ‘nse compar and Iyrcist, Keen imine total ertvork. Kora) his dens on Richard Wagner's Gesomtkunstwerk, othe notion ans—must, visual af poty,dance—should be ryntosizd ith noone element taking proce vas the most i wanted The tory to sTLETRD lire show, supported by and developed with songs and dances. ile Show Boat sucoseded by all accounts not only a musical for- lly intepated bt also as one that dal with seins cial nuns, no tl Oklahoma! that ha nw" form ely eat on. Before i War I, some composers and iyriss worked to link losly the snl dances with th book (ha sth spt, the spoken txt) one mustcals presented increasingly elaborate plots, but stil, ranatic action stopped frequently to allow the str her wal the dancing girs tir pace or the comedian his bits ‘Okichoma!—vehich was immediately noted forthe interdepen tolationship among all the elements of dialogue, must, Ives ist and Tesbian spectators aro an “interprtive commun Elsworth shows that lesbian spectators often sn lesa lt ship in the Blm not because the spectators wore lesbians but because daly spectating practic tag them tose fs erent, to look for diferent encoded slationships between women, ferent As Caroline Evans and Lorraine Gama Wt “Taian viewers may bring catan subcultural experience and owledgo to tho reading of spocfc texts." Given our daly exper 5 sual, wo acquire skills of reading culture Looking “a a labia sat ance learned ait ane an ative practice. Any ropresentaton canbe “lesbianizd” by the seats Rathor than understanding reception practioes as based solely on ‘entity, then, iis usaf 10 atach interpretation to cltral compe tenses. spectators cultural competencies, which may ar maj Tot coincide with identity, effectively structure hor interpretative pre tices, While remption studies have omphastzed cultural competen- es. that come. from identiy-orinted exporences (of geen race, clas, ablebodienass, sexuality and 0 on they've toned to ignore sgieane of other areas of ealtral competonce and experence Anotbe.positio of cultural competence tat is significant to this root or examplo, shaving knoveledge af conventions of in. {ury American musicals. And ike any mpretentatonal gene, mus cals cary the history of having been interpreted in certain ways Understanding some of the formal conventions end favorite subjects of midtwentith-century musieals ean clarify both tho meanings of ‘uusicals that are taken for granted al he eas with which musiests am o wad against he gran = 1s and Hammerstein bogan with the story often one originating yolhor source: James Michener's Pulitzer Priza-winning collec ‘ules ofthe South Pacific for South Pacific, Margaret Landon’ Anne end the King of Siam for The King and J the nonmusical Laliom by Ferene Molnar for Carousel, the memoir of Maria von for The Sound of Musie® Tho techniques pectic by Rodgers American Musicals Marnmorstein wore developed, expanded, and conventionalized ao 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s by Alan Jay Lerner and Fritz ‘The “Golden Age” of musicals refers as much to a set of formal and 1 Betty Comden and Adolph Groen, Jey Herman, Jule Styne, Bernstein, and others n addition to making the various ff the musical work together, Rodgers and Hammerstein aro ‘with formulating @ more serious and sophisticated form, esthetic conventions as it does to time period, Rodgers and Harm ‘morstein's Oklahoma opened the era with the fist “integrated” mis. and vstually all of the musicals of the later 1940s, 1950s, and ‘arly 19005 followed thoirsteuctural innovations, Comes Jarome Kem fist articulated the notion ofthe integrated musical whan hicol. Inborated with Haramerstein om Show mrRODUCTION 27avrRopuction 29 ffteawsed musical sxguos, crossovers (musical pssoges during set anges when some ection takes plac) and Ives tht are spoken bsfore ne are sung to move th alge into musk ‘although thy bul musical from the story Rodgers and Han- tnortin privileged charactors above al. They crested charactors with Jpcholopical doth and wrote characordrven song is, songs fro ach character's point of view so that charactors could be delin= ted musically. For example, in South Pac the songs of Nellie Forbush. the outofpace American “hick” sound diferent an those ‘nile the elgant, wealthy reach planter, who sgs the majestic “Simo Enchanted Evening.” and dren stl than Bloody May's Ipuntng “Bal H's” Nels songs, in contrat, contain right, clear ticlody lines and heavy downbat that undorlnes her eatbines Moroover, Nello sings the silly phrases and nonsensical metaphors that one would expect slighty diay but Ingen character ong: ll he otters, Rodgers and Hammostsin wrote the songs th cea, ecto, choreogrephors and gna ha goa. Dising this peed fr example, tele horveper” snes, replacing the fof dance G9 Dolor Wort Wari, danc wasnt cen slated NOI rates atcr'vn tnctescnty es toa tap which ware al the mge inthe Hellyaocd msec Susy Berle nth 1a and 190s For OUehoma! ough Agnes so Mile red dans frm bal and folldanc voesbelay tak ‘So le msl stg, peielag rough anB Kce that Now York wu defy Oklahoman. The musical ‘wos and ls plata for produce la Nev York. And Jal Nulono args persuasively he dca tp In Bondy mnt Irinning nth aly 190s ws one of th tors a contd sie "wbionng of he Brosvaysagsant saree "dane Jn musta of th Calon Age ivan evokes pace, te sod at choreoaBats rough ir awn moveSent alin atl styles tothe Broadvay sae. Jerome Robins coed hw aound,nynopatad Joe suber for Wes Side Stos New York Stets and tacky tap dances and burasque urs for Gypy's ‘nuvi tages: Jack Cole fashianod dances tnluenced by Rate Americas, Cartean, and Soh American eats for Kismat Lik dance, th tog of Golden Age tuseals opreeid tie, lac, and character, Pool, scresal muse ba alsa sumer songs that chad stand on tlroen oad ote Shs Nt evryone elias tha! he clase Radeon Hat soa tc ballad "My Punny Valentin,” fom Bobs Arms, wat, he ‘sla, scaly sng toa carts anned Valeting Many a the songs writen Dy Irving Bern, tho Gers, Cale Pot, srl Rovers and Har became bits ols oft evga shows, and ‘many wore social danco songs in nightclubs an at parte, at Rodgers and Hammortin wrote ongs thn steal exon Sot, ing and chaser, heme and mood Some ofthe songs om South Paci, or sxnplo, ae matte by rhytme an cont propane that cute a sent of thet plc, an sand in the South Pcie Ad ence, th songs coma droly-ou ofthe ental vane th story; misc sin alien ment ar bch sans, than before Roger and Hema le Ghai a log, i 3 comy as Kansas in August.” Rovigors and Hammerstein's pacts has become so accepted and ho expected of midentury musical theater that we sokdom consider how, a6 Stephen Bonfield series, music and ries “do not merely fxplain themselves”simultaneously, they explain each other.” He ‘ffs that we should “hear the song ae a single aasthotic entity in Which the stratogios of similarity and difference, of repetition anc ontrat fn sylable and note aro matualy illuminating” Otten, lyries fxpres what the musi is doing-—forexample, when songs begin with words that are about beginnings: “Starting hore, starting now” from [Gypey: or "Lot's start at tho very beginning” from The Sound of ‘Masic! The songs of midcentury musical tend tobe easy on thee ffien with hummeblo, memorable molodies; straightforward har- nies: and an AABA structure, with iymes ending the Jn fourth tines ofthe stanza. Analysis, then, considers both the rl jonshipofyrics to music andthe cretion of character through song, / ‘what PoterKivy calls “textual oalism." (Other structural or formal eanventions ofthe musical include the nce ofthe first actin terms of plot development and the num: fof songt—firt acts sometimes have vin ae many songs and slong as second acts. In addition, a strong number ends act one the audience excited for at two, Solo and ensemble numboes th audionce ad tho performers. Roprises of songsMaria Aotable and recognizabie to tho audience, Finally, the “eleven o'clock Tas song ofthe show, Which was sung around 1:00 i when Broadway shows began at 6:30 rather than at 6:00 #at— brings the house down, The midtwentieth-century musical holds {oat appeal in large part bocause of this combination of the pre. ictable and the naw. So, while Nellie Forbush Maria von Trapp, Momma Rose, and Fanny Brice wete new on the Broadway stage ny formal elements of the musicals that told thelr stories were familie and welcoming, ‘The main characters of musicals, the principal, tend tobe intro: ‘luce in the very beginning, and the principals’ first songs dane ‘their characters in lyrics and music. In nonmscal plays, as Lehman Engel observes, a principal may or may not be fatraduced at once, an ‘often the entre play is about that character's development and change. He writes, “One of the chiof differences between most pla ‘and most musicals inthis respect) is that characters in plays ar often not wha they soem; in musicals, thoy invariably must be.™® Because ‘the musical values song asthe most sincere and kionest form of expres sion, It privileges charactors who sing, and nonsinging ones are us ally evi, dull, or dispensable, ‘Most musicals are structured in binaries: two characters of the ‘opposite sex who lifer tomperamentaly and musically meet wary in the musical. As soon a6 the principals are introduced, ‘ously a schism arses between thom. while the audience is made to want to seo itemoved or resolved." Before the end, they are untted and coupled together, singing a duet, often In 3/4 time—the meter of the walt, the dance of romance—which signifies their attachment !? n other words, colshration of heterosexuality isthe raison d'tre of ‘he musical. Engel nots the “ubiquity of roman irthe musical. Ho “Cbserves that many differnt events can take place around romance— tho boy may or may not get the girl, songs may contain the word Tova” or not there may be a subplot or not—but love is neaded. be ‘says, to evoke “fooling. Feeling, as expressed through song, Engel ‘writes, isa ey eloment of tho musical, as “romance is at the contr. This does not mean that its treatment ie a single-track aff: Never tholess love is atthe coe. This isa fac, and it need or reason also ‘seems quite clear.” Boik musicals and eric aro unsel-aonsciously ‘terosoxual in thee orientation and heterosexual In thi sngy sng acres of pele lng nm ri htroeral presunplon wi ce, Wo ally om our way out he thetrs oore — Tage HRC AU Uy preven omance” Beceem Brey defintionsuetacment for maintean Ametic, ch mldontry end lo chelengs to st goo nat ee ae ee ‘their liberal political messages, sexual politics before, during, and gr Redgr dart wee sciny invert P re the onan cople ial mpi mor than sa Iwo peopl ling ahve, Ti eat cat essere the ed to mstea ens hoealing of the coup, which eves x nacdoce forthe anton ofthe community ofthe word a rT elation hat atest ale af mule syboloy ont of clas wd labor Rodge an als Imistotly connect romance to soil once at by wey of tu oterseal Couple, avy anu fr Bick, Fis miceae of betray tn mei wee a nor inital On the conty it chica conforms fo pt repreentatns, cholo ln produces sly doa ren sna fece hone th power of dominant ology, ut ie ono pak aba Uratly enpowe ly polit Ase Seeder eee ee ons tho istry of hr mas a Its procsely tho musics muialiy, th element hat mail form's popular appeal tat lo opens ip to ques appropri Assumption of saightvlues in sca lave thom open ta) David Van Lor ells “uaa evel Van Lon shows tho musi inspite of ts mast popularity and the atten ooervtvogondor,soxnl and rail police oft content Donailes for qunee spectral ntrsations. Simultano- li miscal often exchanges ono problemate representation for rogrsive gander poles tequently actmpany racist ‘Ava fom of popular etry, thr mis by dition vy culture. At the sameshaves to do wit th chactr andthe naretive ane more (G secre cre ea eg ee eT cal onl tht oy gt te gi ar they sng bo Lo. patos of the maa ot hat se Tonge rs ut it 3 it die Wnt dg th i od ly seus wey of soog ear ene, by overt loplyn of ea hd opal pate y town lyin Becca pret vitiligo par Basal pecs SpeemtOSHTP a muses gro boyoud camp, gendercrosog fetcaton a yond antic pprecation to, qt rly. ¢ atete ee eee aac nia its nd chnearby~tt th Bl exaises patching and Tcng fre mae ly. is spectoshp of mts Tem ny tn sens ep a ay, vt dey, ss ans tan many he a. Wht 69 Of minsream culture oven though that culture trlssy OH thats ages dcologos, and roading lal always ele © out hotersesaatity. aad From @ lesbian perspective, the apparent contradiction of the Broadway muscal—tho presence of eget, song, charismatic jyoman performer in hsterosoxulizing narativ ht severly late arts resolved bythe musical’ own siructure. Because musicale Brivlge theft at, the heterosexual romance thet concludes may 1) stale nota sguitcan as the woman's Individual sauinod {Lprsence throughout the musical. Sacond ats are shore: have fewer ong: have fo naraiv tums bosdes resolving the romano the fabpot and aro, ais always noted by echolas and cite, much weaker than frst acs. Tho longer fest act means that more stage tia 's spent in a charactors development and musical expression hoc self than in the working ont of the romance, This stucture ncesay deemphasis tho heterosexual rsoltin. sony bcmuso of a, stmam culture's heterosexual presumption that romance carro sch an interpretive wight in these shows.” {soe futtermor, inspite ofthe recsived history of sical theater the form is hardly “insgrated a al. though comport, leit, anu ibrar a to have sucessfully integra the book the numbers, musicals are figured around what might be call Brochtian pauses. gaps, absences, tnterruptions and “allesatee effects." Audiences nove foge that thoy aro watching amd performers move in and out of song, in and out of dance, However ‘much dialogue bonds ology an “naturals” into song and ow ‘ver much composers and ict sive to have characte sing ke they spook. musicals operate in two al modes, spars and ng Andrea Most argues tht those two very diffrent ianners of tiene, sion. the “psychological realism” ofthe dialogue andthe “caebrecey ‘nergy ofthe musical numbers, crate tension that ellows the mas alto grapple with socal probloms and issues and eppaenly senor cile thom into a community celebration of must and dancs™ ho ‘fragmented form of the musical invites extavagant idenfeations, ‘gressive reapproprations, and elaborate forays at fantasy Experiencing musical is unlike any other spedtating event Some claments of musicals are the smo thos of aoa log ‘wo witness characters and observe naratve, Bul ni an The pra spectarsip invoked by Ue mus penta, nonin axpot complicate IntNeton and ofr jr sate of engagaen hese itent, sometime nonidenth yoda alow and ge he wre, aaah ol © at, ml ny be nm Bos Pe ie Malacca! wth valu =a ingering effects in memory and the Temple ec mel wt wer etal nal Hptimence, Tho pvoenos [sl noe eenberd inthe la conte mompien. Wil nook no iin ny Aan so or nnn nn De INTRODUCTION 33fees, is « vay tinous pn, « er, wht oryy sas a prot a,b acng’! Cos oat ser pertmsnc, Asti at Pr proenane nd "rea ag "ba rma” caso mind hee, ek Hines Boga’ fry ele then, eon Gat «Kick et of Yo ans idol Porr sor snger who dee Isonimy ttt pen tsp endo go? arene ea Isr-tom th piss te prnal othe eects ee Aipborne~conpre he gue a Mea Th wr persorn publ fue wh dino, ote com. ble and fen with contaetons In elon ene ce fee and oil pce of erin Theta moa ea ea | be popu yet b itgusl enought boone ea stew neve af cgi fr many pena ea Sonaing extort allow ha cepnon fa i, epprecion,afulato, and ond Rak a ‘rt Te elebity inage i cll ldo of mulple meanings ined ris symbole monancr and, sma Signs vated vith ial nota soa lng a alata "he vr Hn fr ack yledg tangata Son who works san ocr wh porte chant Thera oh ‘ales te dant ong es faa ses ee one by art star ntl the ftom aoe na ‘eb al tien, Th om a" en, come saben tering tothe mapa oxo ofeach os th Cored ith hse donations of pe that cere eo th he mulipewayn in which “ype neonate food itepraton ofl though angigand dana ae fu. Theatr ismor than he crest mea ae hart rou th sc Cooling eth wotan a «a ou an plot ofr ayy ether nally poland rato ee calpain thre mprenattons it a a Donptfmancsoafstgh isan ni “candid” interviews, for instance. The myrRopucrion 35 iluding her marslages and her rlationshipe with frends and ch ren and coworkers, is inseparable from its media representation, her than sharply distinguishing the actor's work frm her life or her bjocts of publie fascination, their so-called private lives wera wll sumented by intaviews, articles, and photographs, Audiences erpeet their on and stage performances together, When Matin layed Poter Pan, she also caried hor image of the wealthy grand- other who—aceording to Theodore Bike, her costa in The Sound of fsic—took texto the theater without knowing mxactly where i ws, Just as significant asthe representation ofa star's private life ls W impression that tht representation Is natural and sinmediatd, words like "sincere, immediate, spontaneous, rea, direct genuine” 14 “by te uso of markers that indicate lack of eontral, lack of pre JModitation and privacy." Thus, through performance off stage, the ur seems authentically herself. Each ofthe four women considered Dore creates a sense of authenticity and immediacy but with con otly differant inflections: Martin i effusive, grateful, gushing: Mer nn is direct, to-tho-point, dasorving: Andrews is cheery, doggedly msstent, polite Streisand i at once temperamental and ontepoken i solFetacing Dffstage performances bond with on-stage ones because both eompass the same body, fae, and von. In publicity sil from The und of Music, for example, we can ste Mary Martin's face as she ys Mara. In ono photograph she has an expression of affection for childeen in another, sho has a look of confusion about her attrac to the Captain. In each of thosa evanescont moments of peta mptured only in still life, the ecor and the character are diserence lng von as we havo no idea what Martin a feeling atthe ime Show sho arsived at that particular expression of emotion, the emo- ook real that eultrlly and bistriallyAProblem Like Maria iewer cannot porcive the distinction betwoon actor and character, ‘nd the viewer's response i entirely tied into the eherater portrayed: all the Information avallable to that viewer is contained within the photograph itself, For the star, though, spectators experience | uniquely multidimensional rosponse evoked by the stars various rep- resentations and appearances on stage, ‘A sar plays more than ono character; thus, certain characters ‘become identified with her, andthe repetition other badly across chat- ‘ctor theo links the characters, Conversely, a star carries the history ‘of her characters as part of her star persona. This repertoire encom ‘bases the emotional as well asthe physical, as actors are also assoct ted with characters beceuso they are believed to have personality tualtsapplicabloto thelr eharactoes that i, "ype" is physical, ut iis also emotional. For example, Ethel Mormen played Reno Sweeney, Annio Oskley, Sally Adams (Call Me Madm), and Momma Rost ‘among others. All ofthese characters ace haunted by Merman’s orig ‘ty performance; they ara ber ereaton, and in cultural memory, they all Took like Merman and sound lke her. Her image, oo, retains shed ‘ms of each ofthese characters—Rono’s nightclub pizzazz, Annie's aguileloss selF-confidance, Ms. Adams's uninhibited brashness, Rose's aggressive mothering, We know how thal Morman looks bacause of visual products Uke photographs or videotapes oF ins of performances; we know how she sounds because of cas albums: we know about the characters she played by wading lbretos or watching Alms we know about hor personality beeauso of written dacuments such os interviews, biogra- Dhies,thster reviews, scholarly books, and gossip, A star study lik this one considers all ofthoso materials. Tho star “Ethel Merma femenges by accretion from these various sources. Journalists and reviewers repeat descriptors; photographers capture slnllarposos or expressions; the actor repeats tho same quotation, abservation, or sory; Merman plas similar kinds of roles and sings similar kinds of songs. The images build on each othe to create publicly a sense of on “dentity." The repatiton of the same stories of stars reminds us how ‘arrow and constructed these personas are, At the sate timo, the rep tition ofthe sume stories provokes the sonse of knowing. We hear sto rics that we'vo hoard before, wo fool that wo know something about her, and the sta seems accessible, "he sar persona, the INTRODUCTION 37 son that emerges from words and phrses, images and sphors that coalesce in th sense Thal sh is womisone ws know. In le ofthis "knowledge," the project of star sty takes the gente of phy and tums i around. A biographer wants to get as close to subject as possible to create the world from the star's point of v-1,0n the other hand, am primarily concsned with reception and ctatorship. Rather than asking, for example, why fulie-Andsows je 10 play Guenevero so ironically, I ask about the cultural iicance of her playing the mythical queen in this way and the ps of hor irony fr differently positioned spectators, Visible and Audible Lesbian: Lesbian like Maria von thatthe musical presents strong women charactors and that omen ectors in musicals are active and athletic, how do I make the ap from strong women to lesbians?" In thie book, the lsbian is jver solf-ovident. What is "perverse" about this project that thore e- And yet, we can find “the lesbian Higulfy“osbian"? ‘The spectatorial pacticos inthis book involve both what is avail lable in musicals tobe soon and cortain ways of sing then. At times, he spectator might respond to a moment at ofits content, or she ‘night placo emphasis on a relationship that seems minoe in the muse fall asa Whole. In othor words, the lesian spectator is ged to inten: pret creatively and unconventionally, ¢ well as to note what is clearly Dvsent in musicals. In this way, the method is imaginative, not Wisity literal, as Chorey Smyth asserts: "The exercise of harnessing the txt for piuposes for which it wae not intended alsa involves @ Jovel of whimsy, of ironic lavoring and deconstructing." As sds {used aalior in thie chaptor, a character (ike Mara) can ony be seen n or not, who are allow "isbian knowledge” to ‘lpeth Probya| thoToon images and oder“ my es"! My purone sn part Bp ht cual qutesuy tnd please our women andthe sls ey played fusing model his eaingrategy to open ap oe fen tha have nen tatonly overlooked and ako isis font a patty pg Th sy of pertormsnco—an vet Stes and vies Speieandtino, wheter in hse fm ortovnon meee ‘of multidimensional signifiers of “Iesbi a the impoty af noms ee ong ply hw as ee i ie otic a ‘say, In theory, cla leg Bender og masculine ofeinin) reso a nicity (e.g, Jewish or Chicana), and cls 8 (eg. upper-class ee to this study because each of our four stars performs ther a ‘an. upper-class fame; Merman’s blunt, Queen: New York, s vemninge If abounds with stereotypically racist representations of island lives,” such asthe manipulative, conniving Bloody Mary (played anita Hall Some of the Images discussed in this book—particulary the jarance of butch and fommo {masculine lesbian and feminine les | rexpectvely)aze out of fashion in some communities (but nat es) and they cartainly do not capture the wide range of hov los nin the United States dress, et, and Interact toda. Infact, many jnon who self-identity as lesbian would not bo visible under the explored in this book; sexuality is by no means en identity that p}vays and immediately visible. But for representation to work pos oly, we need toe able to find wat might look or sound lesbian i signs—on television, in ln, in thester—tond to be marked ich oF Femme. |ontifying charecters or actors who are butch or femme is neither algc eal no a rejaction of butchfemme arrangements today. It ier way to onto presentation, a way to make sense of what Is boon stage, on an actor's body, on her face, n her voice. All intr aon depends on previous representations and the toTind of to construct the I upon other, already existing ropresonations of lesbians, both his- jal and contemporary." Markers of butch, in particular, and of| mo continue tallow the lesbian tobe dentable. When the ator on alone, her gastures, intonations o expressions make it almost o identify er es lesbian without indications of mascalin fr signs of the butch, as is discussed in chapters 2 and 3. Chapter Jon Julio Androws, identifies ways of secing the femme without the ha leben ‘Tho danger invoked by identifying the butch othe femme, the he schoolmistos tho varpir, the buldyko tho tomboy, or that such images serve pi azo pitfall in provon in tho twanty-Brst century, ve fof (but not at all identically with) ian rpresentations wil prolifera, Ho useful. But for nove, viewing and fand Streisand a6 variations of othetcal lesbian heroine” can gtvy 7 E cuca eo ai ouplo- nothing els, wha al lesbians havo comes ak Gea ‘The expression of desire between yaad that canbe sana lesan. Bre xpi loere—and in hee mies of couse en et relationship 7 = au convey “lesbian aia." Fane Menties“wope of isblan aon” In opener ne tenalng inflected with a dynamic of “nurturance” or' “dominane co nf00 won ppan igh a fend eomptioe seeks 3 they nover ane ‘oomatis, mother and dager oralstes fey ‘euler Vil rail irencusbowens he wo a fre a ca, fan, of experince af pe cana waz maton Soni th accor fen ‘wih anoter woman, who smashed “horaetel thee se dpe nay, Contr cag ane ne ter Pan and Wendy, and Rose and Louise. Often the ‘ ‘carry an undercurrent of eroticism, ame The sting, conten “lesbian” A womaneat connotations. In reprosentation, f Music) tho backstage of 's:0ups of women together and i uvrropuction 441 ‘What looks and sounds like a hterosexual couple ina musical— Ihatis, man and a woman—ean also denote quoerness, as ender and Iyendored behaviors got coded in musicals. Mon are often eminized find defied in relation to women: they ate secondary. Women sing nore (and more interesting) songs: they take up more stage space. [Even apparently heterosexval couples in musicals often don't appoar lo bo straight a all, since many men in musicals aro constructed as Feminine, if not gay. When « woman forma couple with such a man, queer coupling ensues, Petr Pan and Captain Hook, Momma Rose fn Herbie, Guenavere and Arthur, and Fanny Brlee and Nick are all, ‘mpresentationally heterosexual relationships. Sil, each of thes ol tionships looks quoee, and narrative, they ara rendorod more so Iyecanse each dissolves by the end of tho musical ‘A woman, when sho is notin a couple, can signify a “lesbian ‘with markers of unconventional gonder performance. Although gender fd sexuality are different aspects of kdeatity, they are mutually deter Inining. So pervasive i heterosexual prosumption that a woman is might unless she i overtly marked athorise. till any evidence of onder wnconventionality can call up lesbian connotations, whether fxcossively feminine, excessively masculine, or distinctively tinmarked. Any woman who dofies gender norms Isao in a conta Aictry relationship to heterosexual femininity and ean appear lesbian, Gulturally dominant, “commonsense” understandings of fr nity weave heterosexuality into femininity. Because society impels women to please mon and make thomsolvos attractive t© men, a oman who eschews such bebavior can signify as lesan. A charac- {or who takes on stereotypically masculine qualities ar expresses mas- line desires (or the desire to be a man}—something as simple as ‘woaring her hair short—can signify as lesbian. A lesbian-seeming {character can be boyish or bute, or sho can engago in activities under- ood culturally ae masculine. A character who is a “ad gil” of who lows rot do what a girl should do can invite lesbian zecognitons. Sho might bo too active, too axsortve, oo outspoken, too uncontaned, ‘As osider or somone who is separate and individualized can have an appeal, expocially & woman who changes the world around esses sense of agoney, action, and influence." ortain signs of heterosexualitytke we ym Like Maria sting ras we ie on na ie owt es roe ns “voices. Part of the project of each chapter is to describe : pas what kind of Sepphonlc vlc teh woman hs Fro a mn Baris ese anes ees alicarirey See Spe iia mui Pe oS eee Ee ee ee Set emmy cn vais op rns nig atau eho a sh i cn, nl es in ie rn! yh se 9 sn rn rn tae ae aca age oe crs ia cw mee se a eg eh he eS OR eee cetera ‘clic odd as mal ot fmao like Peter Pan, who is “socal deviant” (ke Momma Rose, whois “abnormal” in some way (i Fanny Brice), or who is “asexual” like Eliza) suggests lesicnlon, {tough such markers are often intended misogynsticly they cea ‘bo fnterpreted diffrntly and positively by lesan spoctaoen While librettos provide textual evidence and fis or television Showsaffordviual sign, mustesungby each woman aso les eae of hearing “lesbian.” The singing voice, or what Abbete calls ig olcw-objec.” matters immensely here because so many fans mer have never seen the led women perform." Furtharmor, song i Imusicals work as concise exprossiona of charactar three rset of | musi are considered quivaent offen minutos of dilogne Music's ability o affects stoners emotionally relienon ela: al historical condions—the kinds of musial sounds eresec tr altro at any parila histovical moment—and the litoner' aad ompetonce—how she comprehonds the way music works ae Decause songs in musical theater are sung, they always seem tne co tod andl protuced by a specif singer. Simon Frith writes {mn songs, words are the sign ofthe voice. A sung is always a Performance and song words are always spoken out hewn fomoone's scent. Songs_ant. nore like plays than poems, sang words works spowch and speech acl, bearing meaning ‘not just semantically, bt alo as structures of sounds that are Aiet signs enon aid marks of charac He continues, “Tho vols {son apparently trasparent rection of Keling i the sound ofthe voice, nat the words sung which sug, fests what singer rally means.""™ The voice singing a song, tae, becomes another olement ofeach woman's star persona, The vices of Martin, Merman, Andrews, and Strisand areas recognizable oo an bles Bach womans voice emerges from her boy yt Is separa bythe orginal voices. Each of the four women ta A Problem Like Maria exemplifies wat musicologist Ellzabeth Wood theorizas asa "Sepphonie ates gone that “ravers orange of sonic possblitos wid yaya] sonic boundaries.” A woman with such a voien, We "