Bigotry On Broadway

How do intellectuals and scholars feel about how members of their ethnic groups are portrayed on Broadway? How would we know? Very few of them have the power to rate which plays and musicals are worthy and which ones are flops, and above all, be heard or read. The American critical fraternity is an exclusive club. Carla Blank and Ishmael Reed invited informed and accomplished writers, women and man, who are rarely heard from to comment about how ethnic groups are depicted on Broadway. The contributors are Lonely Christopher, Tommy Curry, Jack Foley, Emil Guillermo, Claire J. Harris, Yuri Kageyama, Soraya McDonald, Nancy Mercado, Aimee Phan, Elizabeth Theobold Richards, Shawn Wong and David Yearsley, in addition to the editors. Under review are Madame Butterfly, the Irving Berlin songbook, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Miss Saigon, Flower Drum Song, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Color Purple, The Book of Mormon, West Side Story and Hamilton.All of these musicals received enthusiastic reviews from the exclusive club of media critics. With Bigotry on Broadway, readers will get the views of those who have been excluded from the club. They will find themselves asking, ?Why has it taken so long??

A critical and comprehensive exploration of the influential Broadway musical analyzes West Side Story against a backdrop of its cultural period while considering its reflection of both classical Shakespeare conflicts and modern youth issues. Original.

“A masterpiece . . . Trouble in Mind still contains astonishing power; it could have been written yesterday.” —Vulture Ahead of its time, Trouble in Mind, written in 1955, follows the rehearsal process of an anti-lynching play preparing for its Broadway debut. When Wiletta, a Black actress and veteran of the stage, challenges the play’s stereotypical portrayal of the Black characters, unsettling biases come to the forefront and reveal the ways so-called progressive art can be used to uphold racist attitudes. Scheduled to open on Broadway in 1957, Childress objected to the requested changes in the script that would “sanitize” the play for mainstream audiences, and the production was canceled as a result. Childress’s final script is published here with an essay by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, editor of TCG Illuminations.

Beautifully written...a story of nature and change. --Talkin' Broadway. A lovely play which will leave you with a lot to think about. --CurtainUp. Funny, moving and witty. --Metroland (Boston).

(Ingram Books). 2004 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical! Playbill.com describes Avenue Q, a decidedly adult puppet/human show, as a meeting of Sesame Street and South Park . Our deluxe songbook features all 20 songs in standard piano/vocal format (melody in the piano part), more than 20 fabulous full-color photos from the production, and a bio of the writing team of Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who've scored big with their first Broadway show! Tunes include: The Avenue Q Theme * Fantasies Come True * I Wish I Could Go Back to College * I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today * If You Were Gay * The Internet Is for Porn * It Sucks to Be Me * Mix Tape * The Money Song * Purpose * There Is Life Outside Your Apartment * What Do You Do with a B.A. in English * and more. PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT LYRICS. The Libretto includes the complete book and lyrics from the musical with additional color photos from the Broadway performance.