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Sipscript

This document introduces Saira Umar's senior independent project examining portrayals of the American Dream in American musical theater. It provides background on the American Dream and the origins of musical theater as an art form for immigrants. The performance will showcase numbers from West Side Story, Miss Saigon, and In the Heights that represent different generations achieving or struggling with the American Dream. Songs will portray Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century, Puerto Ricans in the 1950s, a Vietnamese man dreaming of post-war America, and contemporary first-generation Americans balancing heritage and modern culture.

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72 views2 pages

Sipscript

This document introduces Saira Umar's senior independent project examining portrayals of the American Dream in American musical theater. It provides background on the American Dream and the origins of musical theater as an art form for immigrants. The performance will showcase numbers from West Side Story, Miss Saigon, and In the Heights that represent different generations achieving or struggling with the American Dream. Songs will portray Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century, Puerto Ricans in the 1950s, a Vietnamese man dreaming of post-war America, and contemporary first-generation Americans balancing heritage and modern culture.

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Background Music: A Shtetl iz Amerike/Success [Aprx.

5 min]
Saira: Good evening, my name is Saira Umar and my senior independent project is
an examination of the American Dream in American Musical Theater. Tonight, we
will perform for you numbers from the musicals West Side Story, Miss Saigon, and In
the Heights to help show the portrayal of the American Dream throughout Musical
Theater.
Roma: America is a country built on the key principles of liberty, equality and
opportunity. Encompassing all those aspects is a concept known as The American
Dream where with hard work, people of all classes could have a better life for their
families. America is also the home of an art form known as Musical Theater. Derived
from plays and opera roots and transitioning into vaudeville and follie shows in the
early days of America and finally into the Broadway Musical. Many other industries
were closed off to immigrants so they turned to theater to find success as well as
escape from their hardships through expression.
Many of the first composers, including Irving Berlin, the Gershwin Brothers and
Jerome Kern were Jewish or Eastern European immigrants. However, they did not
write about their own lives and instead wrote about happier, more assimilated
American citizens. The first major show about the Jewish immigrants in the 20th
century was the 1986 Stephen Schwartz musical Rags.
Saira: This musical centers around two families, one of which is a young woman,
Bella Cohen and her father, Avram. Bella voices her frustrations with the false hopes
her father gave her about America and their failure to find success in her solo
number, Rags
*Rags: Saira* [Aprx. 3 min]
Daniela: In the Heights is a musical about multiple generations living in
Washington Heights. The first is of a character named Abuela Claudia who came to
New York in the 1940s. She sings of her struggles and her life motto: Patience and
Faith
*Paciencia Y Fe: Daniela* [Aprx. 2 min]
William: West Side Story was a ground-breaking show and the first of its kind to
focus on the struggles of immigrants during the time it came out.
Max: In the number America, Rosalia and Anita play off each other, arguing the
pros and cons of their new life here compared to the one back in Puerto Rico.
*America: Max and William* [Aprx. 3 min]

Maria: Miss Saigon features a sleazy nightclub owner called The Engineer. In the
song The American Dream, he dreams of a glamorous life in America full of
money, girls, and glitz and a life much different than bleak Vietnam who just came
out of war.
*The American Dream: Maria* [Aprx. 4 min]
Graysen: Another generation featured in In the Heights is the one of the firstgeneration American. These are the teenagers and young adults who grew up in the
21st century, struggling to find their balance between heritage and modern culture.
Saira: Nina is a young student who was the first of her family to go to college.
However, after being unable to face the pressures of life alone at Stanford, she
returns to the Heights feeling more lost than ever.
Graysen: In When Youre Home, Ninas friend and neighbor Benny reassures her
and reminds her of who she is, where she came from, and where she belongs.
*When Youre Home: Saira and Graysen* [Aprx. 2 min]
[Total Aprx Running TIme: 25 min.]

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