Changed for Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical
"I found Stacy Wolf's book fascinating and surprising. It not only gave me a fresh perspective on the history of musical theatre, it revealed things to me about my own show I didn't know were there." --Stephen Schwartz"This book is absolutely brilliant on many levels. Wolf manages, in one stroke, to place the musical's feminine fan base-long recognized but rarely valued-on the same critical plane that its gay male fan base has long occupied. This book truly defies gravity!" --Raymond Knapp, Professor of Musicology, UCLA, and author ofThe American Musical and the Formation of National IdentityandThe American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity"This beautifully written - and desperately needed - feminist history of the Broadway musical is filled with exciting insights, humor, and great affection for the American musical.  It's an important and interesting book, one I will read again and again." --Elizabeth L. Wollman, Assistant Professor of Music, Baruch College, The City University of New York, and author ofThe Theater Will Rock: A History of the Rock Musical, from "Hair" to "Hedwig""A valuable work with a strong and captivating feminist point of view. Scholars and serious fans of theater as well as those concerned with women's issues and studies will especially enjoy its detail-filled and imaginative perspective." --Library Journal(Starred Review)"Carefully researched, elegantly written, and methodologically innovative...A rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable book that should appeal to a broad range of readers, especially those interested in the intertwined histories of gender, sexuality, and popular entertainment." --The Journal of AmericanHistory"Impressively broad in scope...Wolf is a worthy champion of the feminist scholarly approach to musical theater...The book as a whole represents a microcosm of convincing overlaps between "gender and genre" (p. 20)." --Notes"Reflect[s] a superior level of scholarship that is user-friendly and content-substantive,providing narratives that students will genuinely enjoy reading...[A] welcome addition to the ever-increasing literature on musical theater." --Journal of Music History Pedagogy"A brave, forthright attempt to engage critically and imaginatively with aspects of American musical theatre that matter." --Text & Presentation"This book gives a fresh voice to Broadway's female writers, characters, performers, and audience members." --Journal of the Society for American Music