A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)
by Stacy Wolf
List Price:
Our Price: $20.99
You Save: $0.96 (4%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Stacy WolfEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-07-09
ISBN: 0472067729
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Book Reviews of A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)
Book Review: Looking at the Theatre with a Different Lens
Summary: 5 Stars
I am reminded of the old story that a man who only has a hammer sees every problem as a nail. When you view the American musical theater through a lesbian lens you come up with some decidedly different views of Maria in the Sound of Music. Professor Wolf concentrates her study on four actresses of the 50's and early 60's: Mary Martin as Nellie in 'South Pacific,' Ethel Merman as Momma Rose in 'Gypsy,' Julie Andrews in 'My Fair Lady' and Guenevere in 'Camelot,' and Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in 'Funny Girl.' Obviously she finds lesbian tendancies in these performances, and her analysis is most interesting to follow.
The musical theatre scene is constantly changing. I would be most interested in her analysis of more current plays such as Les Miz, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked -- where the two female leads are friends, but in which I do not see lesbian tendancies or messages. Can't two women just be friends?
Summary of A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)
Subverting assumptions that American musical theater is steeped in nostalgia, cheap sentiment, misogyny, and homophobia, this book shows how musicals of the 1950s and early 1960s celebrated strong women characters who defied the era's gender expectations. A Problem Like Maria reexamines the roles, careers, and performances of four of musical theater's greatest stars-Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, and Barbra Streisand-through a lesbian feminist lens. Focusing on both star persona and performance, Stacy Wolf argues that each of her subjects deftly crafted characters (both on and offstage) whose defiance of the norms of mid-twentiethcentury femininity had immediate appeal to spectators on the ideological and sexual margins, yet could still play in Peoria.Chapter by chapter, the book analyzes the stars' best-known and best-loved roles, including Martin as Nellie in South Pacific, Merman as Momma Rose in GypsyAndrews as Eliza in My Fair Lady and Guinevere in Camelot, and Streisand as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. The final chapter scrutinizes the Broadway and film versions of The Sound of Music, illuminating its place in the hearts of lesbian spectators and the "delicious queerness" of Andrews's troublesome nun. As the first feminist and lesbian study of the American Broadway musical, A Problem Like Maria is a groundbreaking contribution to feminist studies, queer studies, and American studies and a delight for fans of musical theater.
Stacy Wolf is Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance, University of Texas, Austin.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Gay Pop Culture
Queer Asian Cinema: Shadows in the Shadeby Andrew Grossman
Routledge; Published: 2001-01-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $80.91
Price in other shops:
Dirty Pictures: Tom of Finland, Masculinity, and Homosexualityby Micha Ramakers
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2000-03-16; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Complete Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terroristby Diane DiMassa
Cleis Press; Published: 1999-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.25
Price in other shops:
What Are You Looking at: Queer Sex, Style and Cinema (Lesbian and Gay Studies)by Paul Burston
Cassell; Published: 1999-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.71
Price in other shops:
The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TVby Stephen Tropiano
Applause Books; Published: 2002-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.13
Price in other shops:
Strange Sisters: The Art of Lesbian Pulp Fiction 1949-1969by Jaye Zimet
Studio; Published: 1999-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $48.95
He's All Man: Learning Masculinity, Gayness, and Love from American Moviesby John M. Clum
Palgrave Macmillan; Published: 2002-04-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.85
Price in other shops:
Widescreen Dreams: Growing Up Gay At The Movies (Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiog)by Patrick E. Horrigan
University of Wisconsin Press; Published: 1999-05-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
The Celluloid Closet (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2001-05-29; DVD
Best price: $15.79
Price in other shops:
Queer (Un)Friendly Film and Televisionby James R. Keller
McFarland & Company; Published: 2002-02-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $39.95
Similar Books and other products
Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theaterby Jill Dolan
University of Michigan Press; Published: 2005-11-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.00
Price in other shops:
Queer Cinema, the Film Reader (In Focus--Routledge Film Readers)by Harry Benshoff
Routledge; Published: 2004-08-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $32.48
Price in other shops:
Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musicalby Andrea Most
Harvard University Press; Published: 2004-02-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.95
Price in other shops:
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957 Television Production)Release date: 2004-12-14; DVD
Best price: $9.97
Price in other shops:
Boyd Gaines, Laura Benanti - Gypsy - 2008 Original Broadwa CastRelease date: 2008-08-26; Music CD
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Words and Music by Jerry HermanWGBH BOSTON VIDEO; Release date: 2008-01-01; DVD
Best price: $12.98
Price in other shops:
The Hollywood Musicalby Jane Feuer
Indiana University Press; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
In The HeightsRelease date: 2008-06-03; Music CD
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops:
Incongruous Entertainment: Camp, Cultural Value, and the MGM Musicalby Steven Cohan
Duke University Press; Published: 2005-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.00
Price in other shops:
Home: A Memoir of My Early Yearsby Julie Andrews
Hyperion; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops: