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A provocative and critical look inside the phenomenon of the megamusical

Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgments

Introduction
1. "Why'd You Choose Such a Backward Time and Such a Strange Land?": Jesus Christ Superstar
2. "Humming the Scenery": The Megamusical Ascending
3. "Well, the Theatre Is Certainly Not What It Was": Cats
4. "To Love Another Person Is to See the Face of God": Les Misérables
5. "The Angel of Music Sings Songs in My Head": The Phantom of the Opera
6. "A Model of Decorum and Tranquility": Other Megamusicals in the 1980s
7. "New Music": The Megamusical in the 1990s
8. "Everything Is Show Biz": The Megamusical and Broadway in the Twenty-first Century

Appendices
A. Jesus Christ Superstar Plot Summary and List of Recurring Musical Material
B. Evita Plot Summary
C. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Plot Summary
D. Cats Plot Summary and Table of Recurring Musical Material
E. Sources of Lyrics in Cats
F. Les Misérables Plot Summary and List of Numbers
G. List of Recurring Musical Material in Les Misérables
H. The Phantom of the Opera Plot Summary and List of Numbers
I. List of Recurring Musical Material in The Phantom of the Opera
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Jessica Sternfeld is a lifelong musical theater fan and performer. She holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Princeton University, and teaches the history and cultural contexts of musical theater, opera, pop genres, and Western Classical and Romantic music. She is Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she lives.

Reviews

"Stern's scholarship is at its strongest as she renders a rigorous definition to the term 'megamusical' itself . . . The Megamusical offers broad discussions of production history, commecial success, social environment and, especially, the compexity of the scores of these plays."Aug. 2008
*Studies in Musical Theatre*