Skip to main content
Palgrave Macmillan

British and American Musical Theatre Exchanges in the West End (1924-1970)

The “Americanization” of Drury Lane

  • Book
  • © 2024

Overview

  • Provides an in-depth history of American and British musical theatre at one of the UK's most significant theatres
  • Allows the reader to gain a more complete portrait of the musical’s cultural significance in Britain
  • Considers the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane as a site of significant cultural exchanges

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in British Musical Theatre (PSBMT)

  • 212 Accesses

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

eBook USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (9 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

This monograph centres on the history of musical theatre in a space of cultural significance for British identity, namely the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, which housed many prominent American productions from 1924-1970. It argues that during this period Drury Lane was the site of cultural exchanges between Britain and the United States that were a direct result of global engagement in two world wars and the evolution of both countries as imperial powers. The critical and public response to works of musical theatre during this period, particularly the American musical, demonstrates the shifting response by the public to global conflict, the rise of an American Empire in the eyes of the British government, and the ongoing cultural debates about the role of Americans in British public life. By considering the status of Drury Lane as a key site of cultural and political exchanges between the United States and Britain, this study allows us to gain a more complete portrait of the musical’scultural significance in Britain.  

Authors and Affiliations

  • Tallahassee, USA

    Arianne Johnson Quinn

About the author

Dr. Arianne Johnson Quinn is an archivist, librarian, and scholar. She is currently the Music Special Collections Librarian at the Warren D. Allen Music Library, Florida State University, USA. She holds a  Ph.D. in Musicology from Princeton University, and has worked as Digital Archivist and Research Associate for the Noël Coward Archive Trust. Arianne has been on the faculty of the Florida State Honors Program, South Georgia State College and Tallahassee Community College. Her research focuses on the intersections between the American and British musical in London’s West End from 1924-1970, particularly the works of Noël Coward, Kurt Weill, Lerner and Loewe, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein.  

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us