Swingin' Shakespeare from Harlem to Broadway

Authors

  • Fran Teague University of Georgia

Abstract

Play On! was a great hit at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in 1997, but a tepid non-hit on Broadway in the same year. The show is a derivative of Twelfth Night, re-set to the Harlem Renaissance, with music by Duke Ellington. Critics complained that the show was too fantastic, yet the history of Shakespeare in the Harlem Renaissance suggests that the show is, in fact, closer to the historical record than its creators probably realized. The essay examines the 1939 musical Swingin' the Dream, as well as briefly considers the trouble that women musicians had receiving recognition.

Author Biography

Fran Teague, University of Georgia

Fran Teague is Josiah Meigs Professor of English at the University of Georgia. She has published widely on performance history and theory and is finishing a study of Shakespeare's presence in popular American theater. Books include The Curious History of Bartholomew Fair, Shakespeare's Speaking Properties, and Bathsua Makin, Woman of Learning, while her articles have appeared in such journals as Comparative Drama, Renaissance Drama, Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, Shakespeare Quarterly, and Shakespeare Survey.

Issue cover with text: B&L Vol. 1, No. 1, 2005. Image: black and white etching of Shakespeare in western wear.

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Published

2005-05-01

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2005): Shakespeare in the American South

Section

Articles