F112Z Spring 2024 Transatlantic: American Composers of London Musicals

F112Z Transatlantic: American Composers of London Musicals
Wednesday, 2:15—3:40, May 8
One session
Instructor: Daniel B. Moskowitz
Many times, London theatre producers have turned to American songsmiths to concoct musicals specifically aimed at British audiences. Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, and others responded with lively shows, some big hits with lilting songs. None ever got to Broadway, and, in fact, are virtually unknown to American audiences. We will focus on those shows: why they came into being, what stories they told, and what their scores tell us about both the composers and their target audience. And we’ll hear lots of the songs from those shows (a few familiar ones, a few obscure gems) sung by such members of the original casts as Gertrude Lawrence and Jack Buchanan and such American artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Bobby Short, Doris Day, and Frederica von Stadte.
Dan Moskowitz is a magazine writer with an avocational interest in American popular music, who has given courses on multiple aspects of the subject at the OLLIs at both George Mason and American University.