Introduction

Belina, Anastasia; Scott, Derek B.

doi:10.1017/9781316856024.002

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 38 publications

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“…Moreover, in places like New York City, producers and theatre owners desperate to compete in a crowded market and appeal to audiences' changing tastes would regularly 'choose a label that primarily suit[ed] their marketing strategy'. 10 While audiences relished the plentiful and diverse musical-theatre offerings, this 'varied and inconsistent terminology' became a problem for critics reacting to shows, and Melinda was no exception. 11 The amorphous and permeable 'definitional lines' of genres from the period have led to 'inevitable disagreements' among scholars over 'whether a piece is best served by being called' this or that genre.…”

Section: Genre Identity In Melinda and Her Sistersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genre, Class and Gender in a Suffragist Operetta: Melinda and Her Sisters (1916) at the Waldorf-Astoria

Winter

2023

OPR

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Alva Belmont and Elsa Maxwell's Melinda and Her Sisters (1916) is a little-known work promoting women's suffrage, which was publicly performed only once in New York City. It was advertised as an operetta, a decision which minimised its overt stylistic and functional similarities to other genres of popular musical theatre from the period, namely, musical comedy and pageantry. Framed through Jeffrey Kallberg's concept of genre as a ‘gesture of labeling’, this article asks what could be gained – artistically, financially and politically – by Belmont and Maxwell's invocation of operetta and by their disavowal of other appropriate genre alternatives. I argue that the strategy reflects their fundraising priorities, the attitudes of their intended audience, and the social, political and artistic climates that constrained women's activities. This case study offers genre as a productive lens through which to interpret gynocentric musical production and performance.

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Section: Genre Identity In Melinda and Her Sistersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genre, Class and Gender in a Suffragist Operetta: Melinda and Her Sisters (1916) at the Waldorf-Astoria

Winter

2023

OPR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Introduction

Cited by 1 publication

References 38 publications

Genre, Class and Gender in a Suffragist Operetta: Melinda and Her Sisters (1916) at the Waldorf-Astoria

Genre, Class and Gender in a Suffragist Operetta: Melinda and Her Sisters (1916) at the Waldorf-Astoria

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