LibGuides: THEA 260: History of Musical Theatre: Home

Welcome to the Library Resource Page for THEA 260: History of Musical Theatre

This guide is intended to help you locate information for your research and to complete your assignments.

If you need any further assistance, please contact your librarian, Rachel Crane, by email at:
Rachel.Crane@wichita.edu or by phone at 316-978-5078.

For more information on other musical theatre-related issues, please explore the: WSU Libraries subject guide for Theatre and the WSU Libraries subject guide for Music

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Online Resources

WSU Online Catalog
Search for books, ebooks, videos, and other materials held by WSU Libraries.

To reserve materials in advance of your library visit, place a hold using the Libraries’ online catalog at https://libcat.wichita.edu/.

Instruction for Placing a Hold through the Library Catalog

Some selected titles:

A History of the American Musical Theatre by Nathan Hurwitz
Call Number: ONLINE
Your text for the course!
The American Musical by Peter H. Riddle
Call Number: ML1711 .R53 2013 in Ablah Library
The American Musical is a unique fusion between drama and music, which has become especially important during the past 50 years. Peter Riddle provides us with a detailed exploration of the evolution and development of this form of music theatre in North America.
The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity by Raymond Knapp
Call Number: ML1711 .K6 2005 in Ablah Library
This thoughtful history of the genre, offers probing discussions of how American musicals, especially through their musical numbers, advance themes related to American national identity.
American Musical Comedy by Gerald Bordman
Call Number: ML1711 .B66 1982 in Ablah Library
Publication Date: 1982
This book traces the historical development of that quintessential American art form, the musical comedy. Full of fascinating details and telling insights, it also includes the long-lost text of the 1884 hit Adonis, the first musical comedy to run over 500 performances on Broadway.
American Musical Theatre by Gerald Bordman; Richard Norton
Call Number: REF ML1711 .B67 2010 in the Music Library
This reference book covers more than 250 years of musical theatre in the United States, from a 1735 South Carolina production of Flora, or Hob in the Well to The Addams Family in 2010.
Broadway Musicals, Show-By-Show by Stanley Green; Cary Ginell
Call Number: REF ML1711 .G735 2014 in the Music Library
Chronologically arranged, from 1866 through the early 21st century, this reference work features a wealth of statistics, inside information, cast lists, and pithy commentary about each show.
Changed for Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical by Stacy Wolf
Call Number: ML2054 .W64 2002 in Ablah Library
From Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls" to Nina in "In the Heights" and Elphaba in "Wicked," female characters in Broadway musicals have belted and crooned their way into the American psyche. In this lively book, Stacy Wolf illuminates the women of American musical theatre - performers, creators,and characters - from the start of the cold war to the present day, creating a new, feminist history of the genre.
Encyclopedia of Musical Theater by Kurt Gñzl; Kurt Gñzl
Call Number: REF ML102.M88 G3 2001 in the Music Library, Jardine Hall, room 313
ISBN: 0028649702
From the dawn of operetta in the 18th century to the present, this set offers an unrivaled amount of information on the people, the songs and shows in America and around the world.
Experiencing Broadway Music by Kathryn Sherrell
Call Number: MT95 .S55 2016 in Ablah Library
Experiencing Broadway Music: A Listener's Companion explores approximately the last century of American musical theater, beginning with the early-twentieth-century shift from European influenced operettas and bawdy variety shows to sophisticated works of seamlessly integrated song and dance that became uniquely American. It concludes with an examination of current musical trends and practices on Broadway.
Geniuses of the American Musical Theatre by Herbert Keyser
Call Number: ML385 .K485 2009 in Ablah Library
This volume collects 28 biographies of some of the greatest songwriters and lyricists of Broadway musicals.
The Oxford Handbook of the American Musical by Raymond Knapp (Editor); Mitchell Morris (Editor); Stacy Wolf (Editor)
Call Number: ML1711 .O95 2011 in Ablah library
The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical offers essays on the most important and compelling issues and topics in the interdisciplinary field of musical-theater and film-musical studies.
The Secret Life of the American Musical by Jack Viertel
Call Number: ML1711 .V37 2016 in Ablah Library
Find here how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next--by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion--from Oklahoma! to Hamilton and onward.

ABI/INFORM Collection
Abstracts and some full-text articles from scholarly journals and trade publications in business and economics worldwide. Includes industry information, regional and national newspapers, and full-text access to the Wall Street Journal. Coverage: 1971-current.
Terms of Use
Academic Search Complete
A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,400 journals.
Terms of Use
America: History & Life (EBSCO)
Indexes and abstracts articles in over 2,000 journals published worldwide in U.S. and Canadian history. Also indexes essays, books, dissertations, and conference papers. Coverage: 1964-present. 6 simultaneous users
Terms of Use
JSTOR
Online access to core scholarly journals in business, education, health, arts & humanities, life sciences, literature, physical sciences, and social sciences. Coverage begins with the first issue of each journal.
Terms of Use

Includes: Arts & Sciences 1-15, Business 2-4, & Life Sciences
Music Index
Citations to periodical articles, book reviews, and dissertations in music. Coverage: 1979-present.
Terms of Use
Project MUSE
Full-text access to current content from high quality, peer-reviewed journals in the humanities and social sciences, including literature and criticism, history, visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and economics. Coverage varies.
Terms of Use
ProQuest Research Library
Citations and abstracts of articles in thousands of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers in over 150 academic disciplines. Includes full-text access to over half of the journals. Coverage: 1971-present.
Terms of Use
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
Citations and abstracts of journal articles, books, conference proceedings, and dissertations on traditional, popular, and classical music and in disciplines such as musicology, ethnomusicology, pedagogy, psychology, anthropology, sociology, etc. Includes Web resources and audiovisual recordings.
Terms of Use

WSU Library Catalog
Search for videos, both DVDs to check out and online streamed recordings.

Streamed videos are occasionally missing from the online catalog, therefore, you may want to search the following streaming databases:

Theatre in Performance
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While the texts of plays can serve as lasting documents, the productions are ephemeral; a live performance is gone when the curtain falls. And yet the collaborative elements of theatre in performance—the work of the actors, directors, and designers—have tremendous scholarly and educational value long after a production closes. Now, faculty, scholars, and patrons of the performing arts will be able to revisit great performances again and again, and these landmark events can become a permanent part of the curriculum. Terms of Use

Theatre in Performance currently contains the following musicals:

Kiss Me Kate, Pirates of Penzance (Kline/Ronstadt), Sweeney Todd (LuPone/Harris, concert version), Company, Hans Brinker, Candide, Follies in Concert, Old Hats, The Woodsman, Daddy Long Legs, Falsettos, and She Loves Me

Films On Demand
- This link opens in a new window
A source of high-quality video and multimedia for academic, vocational and life-skills content. Includes the Master Academic Collection and the FMG Archival Films and Newsreels Collection.
Terms of Use

Films on Demand contains: Oklahoma!, (listed as "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma"), Kiss Me Kate (from 2000), Hans Brinker, the Mikado, Way Down South, and Camelot

Some select titles about American Musical Theatre: