A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works By, About, or Involving African Americans - Hardcover

by Bernard L. Peterson (Author)

This comprehensive reference book provides succinct information on almost thirteen hundred musical stage works written and produced from the 1870s to the 1990s involving contributions by black librettists, lyricists, composers, musicians, producers, or performers or containing thematic materials relevant to the black experience. Organized alphabetically, they include tent and outdoor shows, vaudeville, operas and operettas, comedies, farces, spectacles, revues, cabaret and nightclub shows, children's musicals, skits, one-act musicals, one-person shows, and even a musical without songs. In addition to the hundreds of shows independently created, produced, and performed by black writers and theatrical artists, it presents hundreds more representing a collaboration of black and white talents. An appendix organizes the shows chronologically and highlights those that were most significant in the history of the black American musical stage. An extensive bibliography and indexes of names, songs, and subjects complete the work.

Author Biography

BERNARD L. PETERSON, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of English and Drama at Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC. The author of Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays and Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers (Greenwood Press, 1988, 1990), both of which were named Outstanding Academic Books by Choice magazine, he is planning additional reference books on black achievement in American theatre.