A Fine Romance

Adapting Broadway to Hollywood in the Studio System Era
Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-0-19-750173-3
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 237 mm, Gewicht: 771 g

How do we compare a Broadway musical to its Hollywood counterpart? A Fine Romance: Adapting Broadway to Hollywood in the Studio System Era answers this question by exploring the symbiotic relationship between a dozen Broadway musicals and their Hollywood film adaptations. From enduring classics like Oklahoma!, Brigadoon, and West Side Story to lesser-known gems such as Cabin in the Sky, Call Me Madam, and Silk Stockings, author Geoffrey Block examines some of the best loved stage and screen musicals of all time as well as neglected works that deserve our attention and respect.

Block delves into what happens during the transfer of stories from stage to film, the critical criteria that motivates decisions to alter or preserve stage elements when adapting to film, and the dramatic and musical consequences at play in these artistic and commercial choices. In telling this story, A Fine Romance engages with aesthetic and critical concerns while also considering the social issues around Broadway and Hollywood film through the lenses of race and ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual identity.

Beginning with the stage debut of Show Boat in 1927 and concluding with the release of Bob Fosse's cinematic re-envisioning of Cabaret nearly a half century later in 1972, the romance between Broadway and Hollywood was frequently turbulent. Differing commercial and aesthetic models and goals of Broadway and Hollywood created both conflicting and harmonious collaborations. Attempts at economic and artistic domination, irreconcilable differences, and occasional broken promises ensued. At other times, the screen and stage creative teams aligned, resulting in well-crafted, much admired, and frequently breathtaking films.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Block, Geoffrey

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmproduktion, Filmtechnik
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Preface

- 1. The Hollywood Studio System and a Brief Survey of Film Adaptations from Show Boat to Cabaret

- 2. Surviving in the 1930s Movie Studio Jungle: Jerome Kern and Show Boat, The Cat and the Fiddle, and Roberta

- 3. Challenging the Hollywood Studio Model: On the Town vs. Call Me Madam

- 4. 1940s Stage Musicals and Their Screen Adaptations: Cabin in the Sky, Brigadoon, and Oklahoma!

- 5. More Than a “Chemical Reaction”: The Romance between Ninotchka and Silk Stockings on Stage and Screen

- 6. Something to Dance About: West Side Story on Stage and Screen

- 7. A (Mostly) All-Asian American Musical: Flower Drum Song on Stage and Screen

- 8. Stretching Boundaries in the Wake of the Studio System Era: Cabaret on Stage and Screen

- Appendix 1: a) Stage Musicals Discussed in A Fine Romance; b) Screen Musicals Discussed in A Fine Romance

- Appendix 2: Stage and Screen Sources Discussed in A Fine Romance

- Appendix 3: Selected Stage Musicals and Their Screen Adaptations (1920-2021)

- Appendix 4: Selected Screen Adaptations of Stage Musicals (1930-2023)

- Notes

- Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Geoffrey Block is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music History and Humanities at the University of Puget Sound. He is the series editor for Oxford's Broadway Legacies and has published widely on American musical theater and film. His previous titles include Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from “Show Boat” to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber and The Richard Rodgers Reader.