Arianne Johnson Quinn
HUM 2937 20th/ 21st century British Musical Theatre: Identity, Class and Difference
In this course we explore the musical style, themes and cultural impact of British Musical Theatre ranging from the 1920s to the present. As we explore musicals by figures such as Noël Coward (Bitter Sweet), Lionel Bart (Oliver!), Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera), and Billy Elliot (Elton John and Lee Hall), we will consider how the musical reflects or challenges British cultural norms. We will consider outside forces of influence on the musical, including government censorship, the economics of the musical, nationalism, transnationalism, and cultural criticism. We will also consider how these ideas are relevant to our own culture, and ponder the ways in which the West End musical has shaped theatre and culture around the world, including that of the American theatre.
[Requirements Satisfied: Diversity in Western Experience (Y), Humanities and Cultural Practice, and Scholarship in Practice.]
IDH 2133 Musical Theatre in the weimar republic: identities and Creative freedom
This course will explore musical theatre during the Weimar Republic years (1918-1933) and its relationship to politics, censorship, and collective identities such as nationalism, religion, gender, sexuality and ethnicity. Primarily focusing on the musical theatre works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill and the vibrant cabaret scene that so influenced their work, we will discover the ways in which representations of identities and freedom are expressed both on and offstage. In turn, we will see how the artistic ideals of this era resonate with our understanding of creative freedom and performative identity today.
[Requirements Satisfied: Diversity in Western Experience (Y), E-Series, Humanities and Cultural Practice.]
IDH 2130 Staging identity and difference in the american musical theatre
This course will explore canonic American musicals ranging from the 1920s- present that demonstrate evolving views of difference and identity onstage. As an artistic medium, musical theater crosses all boundaries of identities including class, race, gender, sexuality, disability, religious identity and nationalism. We will consider the historical background performance of these canonic musicals and the ways in which these performances reflect their cultural context. We will also consider the musical as a point of critique that challenges assumptions and ponder the cultural significance of the American musical more broadly.
[Requirements Satisfied: Diversity in Western Experience (Y), E-Series, Humanities and Cultural Practice, and Scholarship in Practice.]
Dr. Arianne Johnson Quinn holds a Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from Princeton University, an M.A. in Music and Women's and Gender Studies from Brandeis University, and a BA in Music from the University of New Mexico. Her work focuses on the cultural, political and musical intersections between the American and British musical in London’s West End from 1920-1960, particularly the work of Noël Coward, Lerner and Loewe, Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein. She has published articles and book chapters on the reception of the postwar American Musical in London in such journals as Studies in Musical Theatre and New England Theatre Journal, and is currently writing a book on the history of the British and American musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, one of Britain’s most significant theatres. Other research areas include Native American music of the Southwest, musical semiotics, the history of opera, and gender and sexuality. She is an active member of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Society for American Music, and the American Musicological Society. A pianist and singer by training, she also performs with local ensembles including the Tallahassee Bach Parley.