A problem like Maria: gender and sexuality in the American musical

Abstract

Subverting assumptions that American musical theater is steeped in nostalgia, cheap sentiment, misogyny, homophobia, this book shows how musicals of the 1950s early 1960s celebrated strong women characters who defied the era's gender expectations. A Problem Like reexamines the roles, careers, performances of four of musical theater's greatest stars-Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand-through a lesbian feminist lens. Focusing on both star persona performance, Stacy Wolf argues that each of her subjects deftly crafted characters (both on offstage) whose defiance of the norms of mid-twentiethcentury femininity had immediate appeal to spectators on the ideological sexual margins, yet could still play in Peoria.Chapter by chapter, the book analyzes the stars' best-known best-loved roles, including Martin as Nellie in South Pacific, Merman as Momma Rose in GypsyAndrews as Eliza in My Fair Lady and Guinevere in Camelot, Streisand as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. final chapter scrutinizes the Broadway film versions of The Sound of Music, illuminating its place in the hearts of lesbian spectators the delicious queerness of Andrews's troublesome nun. As the first feminist lesbian study of the American Broadway musical, A Problem Like Maria is a groundbreaking contribution to feminist studies, queer studies, American studies a delight for fans of musical theater.Stacy Wolf is Associate Professor of Theatre Dance, University of Texas, Austin.

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