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musical retellings of Arthurian legend on stage and screen
1 online resource (xvi, 227 pages) : illustrations
"This book explores musicalizations of Arthurian legend as filtered through specific versions of the tale as told by Mark Twain, T.H. White, and Monty Python. For centuries, Arthurian legend with its tales of Camelot, romance, and chivalry has captured imaginations throughout Europe and the Americas. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, musical versions of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table have abounded in the United States, shaping the legend for American audiences through song. The ever-shifting, age-old tale of King Arthur and his world is one which thrives on adaptation for its survival. New generations tell the story in their own ways, updating or enhancing the relevance for a fresh audience. Taking a case study approach, this work foregrounds the role of music in selected Arthurian adaptations, examining six stage and film musicals. It considers how musical versions in twentieth and twenty-first century popular culture interpret the legend of King Arthur, contending that music guides the audience to understand this well-known tale and its characters in new and unexpected ways. All of the productions considered include an overtly modern perspective on the legend, intruding and even commenting on the tale of King Arthur. Shifting from an idealistic utopia to a silly place, the myriad notions of Camelot offer a look at the importance of myth in American popular culture"--
Musical storytelling and revision in Rodgers and Hart's A Connecticut Yankee -- Bing Crosby's stardom and the depiction of legend in Paramount's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court -- Interpretation and characterization in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot -- Naiveté and the depiction of Arthur's childhood in Disney's The Sword in the Stone -- Parody and the role of song in Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- Notions of place, legend, and Broadway in Monty Python's Spamalot.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]