March 7, 2024

Episode 135: GO INTO YOUR DANCE: The Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes, part 3

Episode 135: GO INTO YOUR DANCE: The Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes, part 3

With MAYA CANTU author of GREASEPAINT PURITAN: Boston to 42nd Street In The Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes

My guest again this week is author Maya Cantu who returns for the third and final part of our conversation about her book: Greasepaint Puritan — Boston to 42nd Street in the Queer Backstage Novels of Bradford Ropes.

In this episode we focus on Go Into Your Dance, the third novel in Ropes’ backstage trilogy which includes 42nd Street, on which the classic film and stage adaptation were based, and Stage Mother. All three of which were heavily inspired by his actual experiences as a dancer and performer on Broadway and in Vaudeville during the 1920s,

We also discuss the major themes that Ropes explores in these novels as well as the many interconnections between them.

If you missed the first two episodes in this series you may want to catch up with those before listening to this one.

May Cantu is a dramaturg and historian who teaches on the Drama Faculty of Bennington College and is also the author of American Cinderella on the Broadway Musical Stage: Imagining the Working Gril from “Irene” to “Gypsy”.

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