| Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America Contributor(s): Johnson, Jake (Author) |
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ISBN: 025208599X ISBN-13: 9780252085994 Publisher: University of Illinois Press OUR PRICE: $23.70 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2021 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Music | Genres & Styles - Musicals - Performing Arts | Theater - Broadway & Musicals |
| Dewey: 782.140 |
| LCCN: 2021005311 |
| Physical Information: 0.63" H x 5.91" W x 8.9" (0.66 lbs) 192 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The local and regional shows staged throughout America use musical theater's inherent power of deception to cultivate worldviews opposed to mainstream ideas. Jake Johnson reveals how musical theater between the coasts inhabits the middle spaces between professional and amateur, urban and rural, fact and fiction, fantasy and reality, and truth and falsehood. The homegrown musical provides a space to engage belief and religion--imagining a better world while creating opportunities to expand what is possible in the current one. Whether it is the Oklahoma Senior Follies or a Mormon splinter group's production of The Sound of Music, such productions give people a chance to jolt themselves out of today's post-truth malaise and move toward a world more in line with their desires for justice, reconciliation, and community. Vibrant and strikingly original, Lying in the Middle discovers some of the most potent musical theater taking place in the hoping, beating hearts of Americans. |