Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

As a quintessentially popular art form, the American musical theatre has always reflected the society from which it comes. During the first part of the 20th century, the American musical theatre was frequently a forum for social and political examination. In the first twenty years of the 2000s, however, the focus of the American musical (and of much popular culture) has shifted its focus from the social sphere to the personal sphere. This paper examines the way in which musical theatre spoke to its audience through its first 100 years, what it was offering its audience, and what the sphere of examination has become in the last twenty years. Does this extend to other commercial art forms? We seem to be becoming much more personally introspective at the same time that we spend less effort examining our social/political institutions; how is this driven by technology, political/social trends? This paper examines the focus of the American musical theatre as an example and microcosm of popular culture as a whole.