Hollywood's conversion to sound in the 1920s created an early peak in the film musical following the immense success of
The Jazz Singer
. The opportunity to synchronize moving pictures with a soundtrack suited the musical in particular, since the heightened experience of song and dance drew attention to the novelty of the technological development. Until the near-collapse of the genre in the 1960s, the film musical enjoyed around thirty years of development, as landmarks such as T
he Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, Singin' in the Rain,
and
Gigi
showed the exciting possibilities of putting musicals on the silver screen.
The first of three volumes,
The Politics of the Musical Theatre Screen Adaptation: An Oxford Handbook
traces how the genre of the stage-to-screen musical has evolved, starting with early screen adaptations such as the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie Roberta and working through to
Into the Woods
(2014). Many chapters examine specific screen adaptations in depth, while others deal with broad issues such as realism or the politics of the adaptation in works such as
Li'l Abner
Finian's Rainbow
. Together, the chapters incite lively debates about the process of adapting Broadway for the big screen and provide models for future studies.
Volume I: The Politics of the Musical Theatre Screen Adaptation
Volume II: Race, Sexuality, and Gender and the Musical Screen Adaptation
Volume III: Stars, Studios, and the Musical Theatre Screen Adaptation