MAKING AMERICANS: Jews and the Broadway Musical

The Broadway musical is a unique American art form, and many of its creators and most famous practitioners were Jews. Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein and George and Ira Gershwin, among others, defined this illustrious medium. Most, a University of Toronto English professor, reveals how Jewish artists established a new sense of what it means to be Jewish in America and a new understanding of the meaning of America. She shows how one must appreciate the subtext behind classic songs and love stories: the assimilation of outsiders into a community and the utopian dream of America as a liberal meritocracy. Superbly conveying sociopolitical history between 1926 and 1951, Most notes how current events affected the American Jewish psyche. The succinct overview dovetails with her in-depth analysis of seminal classics such as Girl Crazy , Babes in Arms , Annie Get Your Gun , South Pacific and Oklahoma! But the book is not an uncritical love letter. For example, Most honestly tackles the complex messages about race in South Pacific , comparing the words of "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught," which promote racial harmony, with characters who are ethnic stereotypes. Of special note is her talent for interpreting lyrics, illuminating deeper significance in "Doin' What Comes Naturally" from Annie Get Your Gun and "She's So Fair" from Babes in Arms , reminding readers that language helps to construct identity. For lovers of musical comedy as well as those interested in the Jewish contribution to the cultural life of America, this well-researched effort is an invaluable read. Illus. (Jan.)