Oscar Hammerstein II and the Performativity of Race and Intersectional Oppression in American Musicals from Show Boat (1927) to Carousel (1945)

• Main Author: William A. Everett
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hrvatsko muzikološko društvo / Croatian Musicological Society 2019-01-01
• Series: Arti Musices
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/340382

Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960), with various collaborators, addressed issues of race and intersectional oppression (here defined as multiple features that can contribute to oppression either socially or individually, and can include factors such as race, age, gender, and social class) in many of his works. This essay investigates such representations in Show Boat (1927, music by Jerome Kern), The New Moon (1928, music by Sigmund Romberg), Sunny River (1941, music by Romberg), Oklahoma! (1943, music by Richard Rodgers), and Carousel (1945, music by Rodgers) as well as selected twenty-first century revivals of Oklahoma! and Carousel. In each show, white hegemony is the norm, and characters of color, if they appear, represent some sort of difference that is made subservient to the white norm. In selected modern revivals, multicultural casting brings such issues, including negative stereotypes, to the fore and allows for new insights into issues of race and intersectional oppression.