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With author Grace Barnes
Today’s episode is the second half of my recent discussion with author Grace Barnes whose fascinating new book it titled:
National Identity and the British Musical — From Blood Brothers to Cinderella.
In this conversation we explore how British national identity has, and often has not, been dramatized in British musical theater, and among the topics that we discuss are the musicals Blood Brothers, Mama Mia, Billy Elliott, The Last Ship, Bend It Like Beckham, and the current smash hit SIX, and, of course, the tremendous impact and domination that the mega musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh have had on the British musical theatre industry.
We also discuss why UK critics so seldom give any serious consideration to musical theater , the near complete absence of female voices in British musical theater, and the future of British musicals.
Grace Barnes is an independent scholar, director, and playwright who has worked as an associate and resident director on productions of My Fair Lady, Fiddler On the Roof, Into The Woods, Sunset Blvd, The Witches of Eastwick, Martin Guerre, West Side Story, and Guys And Dolls in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia. She has a PhD from the University of Technology in Sydney and her previous book is titled Her Turn Onstage — The Role Of Women In Musical Theatre.
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