The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater (Glbtq Encyclopedia)
Readers will find it difficult to put this book down. The editor clearly states that it "has no pretensions to comprehensiveness" but is intended to be "an important beginning, not an end"--and what a wonderful beginning it is!The volume covers primarily the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, and the subjects included are predominately, though certainly not exclusively, North American and Western European. Little Richard and Tchaikovsky, Dusty Springfield and Dame Ethel Smyth, Hildegard of Bingen and Cris Williamson, Maud Allan and Rudolf Nureyev, disco and vaudeville, divas and directors: all may be found here. It's easy to negotiate the more than 200 alphabetically organized, signed entries and essays throughout the text. AnA-Zlist of entries is provided, as are two very helpful indexes. A topical index will prove extremely useful to people searching for broad categories, such asAIDS, andDrag shows and performers. Also, the well-developed index of names, located at the end of the book, assists in locating all sorts of diverse individuals who do not have separate entries: Condoleezza Rice (in the entryVan Cliburn) is an example.Entries average half to three-quarters of a page, sometimes longer. The essays may extend for multiple pages and flesh out larger topics, such asconductorsandSet and costume design. For example, the subtopics "Composers and Lyricists," "The Broadway Diva," "Representations of Gay Characters," "Musicals Written for Gay Audiences," "The Revue," and "Musical Films" are all found within the entry Musical theater and film.Theencyclopediabelongs in public libraries of all sizes, and it will be welcomed by students in high-school libraries, where it will be quietly, if not openly, read.Scottie WallaceCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved