Get a 1-hour sampling of the power of a Notre Dame liberal arts education with the College of Arts & Letters' Crash Course series on home football Fridays! Each event features an A&L professor leading a class session pulled directly from some of the most popular and riveting courses on campus.
What makes the Broadway musical a truly American theatre form? Best known for sparkling song-and-dance numbers and show-stopping special effects, Broadway musicals have always also reflected and responded to specific historical moments and sociopolitical concerns. This course examines both how Broadway performance styles and stories have changed over time, and how these changes index broader shifts in American culture and values. In this session, attendees will delve into the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The King and I to see how a show set in 19th-century Thailand reflects postwar American internationalism and what a polka can teach us about power dynamics.