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Damn Yankees and The 1950s Man: You Gotta Have (Loyalty, An Escape Clause

The document summarizes and analyzes several musicals from the 1950s including Damn Yankees, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and The Music Man. It discusses how these musicals explored themes relevant to their time periods such as the role of women, immigration, race relations, and nostalgia for a simpler past. In particular, it notes how Damn Yankees reflected social issues in 1950s America, how West Side Story and The Music Man both dealt with race and youth culture but presented different views of American identity, and how My Fair Lady portrayed a stronger feminist message through the character of Eliza Doolittle.

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Amy Bianchi
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847 views

Damn Yankees and The 1950s Man: You Gotta Have (Loyalty, An Escape Clause

The document summarizes and analyzes several musicals from the 1950s including Damn Yankees, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, and The Music Man. It discusses how these musicals explored themes relevant to their time periods such as the role of women, immigration, race relations, and nostalgia for a simpler past. In particular, it notes how Damn Yankees reflected social issues in 1950s America, how West Side Story and The Music Man both dealt with race and youth culture but presented different views of American identity, and how My Fair Lady portrayed a stronger feminist message through the character of Eliza Doolittle.

Uploaded by

Amy Bianchi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Damn Yankees and the 1950s man: you gotta have (loyalty, an escape clause,

and) heart
JESSICA STERNFELD
Sternfeld gives a thorough synopsis of the musical Damn Yankees. In the show, a
typical middle aged man, Joe Boyd, is persuaded by the Devil (Mr Applegate) to
sell his soul and become a baseball star. In doing this, he must leave his wife
Meg. Mr Applegate tries to tempt him further with the help of one of his other
targets, Lola, but she doesnt manage to seduce Joe and he states his
faithfulness to his one wife. Sternfeld suggests a number of issues within the
show which particularly reflect social feeling at the time. She says that to a
1950s audience, Joes decision to not aim too high (this is reflect as selfish
ambition) may be more a resignation than anything else. To play-it-safe has
arguably been the outcome of a troublesome war. She suggests the show does
not resonate in the same way with modern audiences because it is so heavily
rooted in the time of production. Sternfeld suggests that Damn Yankees has a lot
to say about the role of women, about duty to ones country, and about acting
practically rather than out of selfish desire.
The Musical Play Expands
LARRY STEMPYL
Stempyls chapter charts important moments within what he perceives to be the
evolution of Musical theatre. He describes the innovations of various shows and
composers, following three main headings: The Play-Musical; Broadway Opera;
Broadway Ballet-Opera.
Stempyl writes about My Fair Lady as a serious attempt at conveying the true
qualities of a straight play through the means of musical theatre. He comments
on Lerner and Loewes musical (which takes its form from the 1913 play
Pygmalion) and its ability to replicate the plays sincerity and importance of
words, articulation and grammar. Commonly accepted rules of musical theatre
were adjusted rather than adjusting Shaws play and this was innovative.
Professor Higgins character is much more concerned with speech than with
singing and his songs emulate this: his lines are purposefully centred on his
speech and dont require necessary melodious value. The most significant
adaptation of the play was the inclusion of the confirmed love of Eliza and
Higgins at the end of the show. Perhaps musicals are dependent on a love plot to
some degree.
Stempyls term Broadway opera describes musicals with often sparse libretto
and a heavy focus on virtuosic, technical singing and emotional vocal power.
Loessers The Most Happy Fella is included by Stempyl in this category because
of its more classical-style singing and emotional, tear-inducing content.
Broadway Ballet-Opera describes musicals which infused dance more seriously
into the general movement, narrative and necessity of the plot. Jerome Robbins
both choreographed and directed West Side Story this is important, highlighting
that dance is not an add-on or an extra, but thoroughly embedded in the set-up
of the show.
Iowa Stubborn: Meredith Wilsons musical characterization his fellow Iowans

ROBERTA FREUND SCHWARTZ


Schwartz article is about Meredith Wilsons The Music Man. She explains that it
is a play which characteristically and musically emulates the typecast
stubborness of Iowan people.
High importance is played on speech in this musical. Wilson wanted his music to
accurately reflect natural speech and he widely rejected metre or forced rhythm.
He incorporated speak songs into the piece works which include recitativelike, rhythmicised speech. Often, speech isnt set to melodic pitches, other than
perhaps natural inflections and intonations.
West Side Story and The Music Man: whiteness, immigration, and race in the US
during the late 1950s
CAROL J. OJA
Oja explains that West Side Story and The Music Man, with only 3 months
separating their premieres, were both extremely succesful in the 1957-58
Broadway season. According to Oja, both shows emphatically explore race,
nostalgia and youth/teen culture. Both aim to present a notion of the everyman.
In West Side Story, the incorporation of youth gang violence resonated with the
release of frequent news stories describing fights at the time. Director and
Choreographer Jerome Robbins wanted his dancers to embody street-gang
youths accurately and he thus did sight-specific social research. West Side
Storys premier occurred the day after the forced intergration of Little Rock
Central High School which is significant because, as Oja highlights, Bernsteins
view of West Side Story was that it be a lesson in social acceptance and
intergration.
The Music Man has, within its cast, a stronger white presence. It appears to
nostalgically reminsice a whiter past and accepts a traditional american-ness.
There is a notion of the progression of the outsider however. Marian, the female
librarian, is considered to be a non-conformist in regards to typecast gender roles
of women. This is important due to the steady progression of womens rights at
the time.
My Fair Lady: A Voice for Change
MARCIE RAY
Rays chapter is about the film version of My Fair Lady and its nod to the feminist
movements at the time of its release. Ray explains how it is unlike other
makeover dramas which focus on beauty and romance. For Ray, Eliza Doolittle
portrays a strengthening and progressive woman who improves herself on the
basis of education and determination. For Ray, it is significant that Eliza does not
marry and that romance is only hinted at this defies a stereotypical musical
theatre format, but paves the way for others with similar messages.
Audrey Hepburns replacement of Julie Andrews is analysed intruigingly by Ray.
She believes the fact that many of Hepburns songs in the film were dubbed is a
sort of metaphor for the strengthened inner voice of Eliza which Proffessor
Higgins cannot reach or tamper with. This, she aligns with published literature at

the time which speaks heavily of the nurturing and empowerment of womens
inner voice.

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