Is Musical Theater a PhD Worthy subject?

[CERULEAN19]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 12:24am

I have a question that I'd like to put out on this board. Please don't tear me apart for asking this question. Here goes:

I am a university theater student and am extremely interested in pursuing a PhD in Theater History, Critique, and Theory. I would love to focus on Musical Theater Studies. But is this even done? Is Musical Theater really too "common" to be considered important for in depth study and analysis? Or am I right to think that it is a theatrical form commonly overlooked by theater academics because of it's mainstream image? What are your opinions on this subject. Please be honest.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 12:26am

I really think that you're the only one who can answer that. Would you be willing to invest the time into it? I mean, what would you do with it?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 12:28am

I'm a big believer in the use of academia to stand behind the arts. So, that being said, I definitely think musical theater could lend itself to that depth of study -- it just, of course, depends on the topic and the approach you choose. There are academics out there who don't think that theater, particularly musical theater, is "academic enough" to warrant studying. I've run into a lot of them, and it's a disheartening experience. But, if you really believe in your subject and you really believe that it is academically viable (which some musicals absolutely, 100% ARE), then stand your ground and fight for it. The thing is that art doesn't live in a vacuum; it reflects and refracts, in a colloquial sense, life -- and in an academic sense, other disciplines. That's what makes it possible to be, in addition to popular culture, academic in itself. It's really expansive, because part of studying it, to me, is to ground it in other parts of academia.

Updated On: 5/18/09 at 12:28 AM

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 12:37am

I saw a psychology research article about how Sondheim's musicals correspond with his own life experiences once. So I say sure.

Of course, what do your profs say? I would talk to them about it. Grad students have a lot of work for very little, if any pay, plus admissions are competitive, so just make sure you know this is what you want to be doing.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 12:56am

Well, I notice you say specifically "Theater History, Critique, and Theory". Do you want to become a critic? If so there are a few ways to look at it.

1. One would think that a news source would readily hire someone with "Dr." in front of their name over someone who doesn't. The average public is, often, more likely to listen to someone whose title is "Dr."

2. But, having the title "Dr." means you automatically command more money then the applicant only has a masters or even a bachelors. In today's market you could price yourself right out of work. On, the other hand there's always freelance. You don't have to be tied down to one outlet.

3. With the title "Dr." you could jump right over the little, local outlets and jump right into the major outlets.

4. You might have to work your way up anyway just to gain the respect of your peers.

[professor]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 1:33am

Musical Theatre has been an accepted field of study in Higher Ed. for some time now (at least since the 1970s, when scholars first began to legitimately investigate "popular entertainment")-- go to your University's library and see if you can find books like Bruce Kirle's "Unfinished Show Business: Broadway Musicals as Works-in-Process", or John Bush Jones' "Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theatre" or Stacy Wolf's "A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical" for good examples of current academic work on musical theatre.

The American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) maintains a list of PhD programs in Theatre (with links to the individual department websites). You may want to peruse the links and see what departments have faculty that specialize in Musical Theatre. http://astr.org/Resources/DoctoralPrograms/tabid/93/Default.aspx

I'm assuming, since you are thinking about a PhD that you are thinking about teaching college as a career. I must say, then, as a word of caution, that the job market in Academia is VERY tight right now (especially in a discipline like theatre) and doesn't look any better for the foreseeable future. You may want to check out the Careers section of The Chronicle of Higher Education as you think about committing a great deal of time and money to a PhD program. http://chronicle.com/jobs/

And, of course, talk to your professors and see what advice they can give you.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 11:30am

Since musical theatre is related to opera and operetta, and crosses genres in such shows as The Light in the Piazza, I think a PhD in the field would have to entail all three fields. Your studies would cross between the Music and the Theatre Departments.

You would then have enough literature to use as a background to study and you would be able to critique in either field.

You need a very strong music background for this; it would certainly help if you played piano or another instrument, or had a sight-reading singing background. Knowledge of different forms of Dance is also essential, though you need not be a dancer.

That is how I would envision the degree you are contemplating. Some Universities allow the student to create their own degree, though I am not sure if that is so on the doctorate level. Updated On: 5/18/09 at 11:30 AM

[CERULEAN19]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 4:51pm

Bump.

[gcal]

Posted: 11/10/10 at 2:03pm

Stumbled across this topic when I googled "phd in musical theatre history."

Does anyone know of any programs out there? the astr link is no longer valid, and I'm having trouble starting my search...

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/10/10 at 3:11pm

There are plenty of reputable PhD programs in theatre history. Once you are admitted into one of them, you will probably be able to declare "musical theatre history" as your area of concentration (the subject/topic about which you will write your dissertation). Based on that, you will need to decide which particular part/area/person in musical theatre history that you want to specialize in.