Class in British Musical Theatre

Class and British Musical Theatre takes as its starting point an understanding that concepts of class structure the UK cultural landscape and consequently impact the musical theatre sector. Class discourses influence the form and content of musicals and underpin the methods by which musicals are positioned within the ‘market’ in order to appeal to particular demographics. This volume offers an analysis of specific examples of musical theatre practice through the lens of class. It also addresses how productions are marketed to particular groups: that is, how audience segmentation practices feed into a classed discourse that comes to shape how musical theatre as a genre is received.

Beginning with an analysis of the 2001 London production of My Fair Lady as an example of class representation, the book argues that intimately classed social and cultural mores around issues of taste, politics and consumption can be mapped onto musicals themselves (in terms of production and cultural positioning), and also help us to think about the role musicals have played in communicating new and existing classed discourse to their audiences. Although the argument comes to focus on working-class representation, the book also thinks though how notions of upper and middle-class culture are represented and catered to through the musical.