Customer Reviews

A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With Stacy Wolf's A Problem Called Maria, musical theatre scholarship finally grows up. Wolf's study of four female icons of the musical stage (Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, and Barbra Streisand) is rooted squarely in performance, something many musical theatre historians claim but seldom accomplish. Not only will the book fascinate musical theatre buffs, it will also appeal to a wider audience interested in twentieth century popular culture. Wolf's slant here is the exploration of these female stars through a feminist lens, which offers new insights into the appeal of the mid-century Broadway musical, a genre that until recently has often been associated with gay men, at least in terms of gender studies. Wolf makes clear that the musical, as a cherished American art form, rightly belongs to everyone. More than that, her approach extends beyond the usual emphasis on the written text and score to discuss what these great performers actually did onstage, which is a refreshing approach, to say the least. I would recommend this book without reservation to anyone interested in the golden age of the Broadway musical, and, more broadly, to those interested in the performance of gender within a cultural studies context.

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?

This isn't the most exciting book I've read but if you're a hardcore musical theatre fan, it's worth a read. Many of the author's arguments -- pretty much seeing lesbian overtones EVERYWHERE -- are a bit silly, but she also makes some good points. It's a point of view we rarely hear so that's worth something, and may get some people thinking about musicals differently, which is worthwhile...

Lots of errors; little real insight; repetitive; written like a college paper. Too bad, because the idea for the book has great possibilities. But what's presented here is often pedantic and sometimes sophomoric. (Dainty June and her on-stage cow have lesbian overtones? C'mon!)