Cuban zarzuela : performing race and gender on Havana's lyric stage / Susan Thomas.
"Cuban Zarzuela: Performing Race and Gender on Havana's Lyric Stage marks the first comprehensive study of the Cuban zarzuela, a Spanish-language light opera with spoken dialogue that originated in Spain but flourished in Havana during the early twentieth century. Created by musicians and...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Urbana :
University of Illinois Press,
©2009.
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| Summary: | "Cuban Zarzuela: Performing Race and Gender on Havana's Lyric Stage marks the first comprehensive study of the Cuban zarzuela, a Spanish-language light opera with spoken dialogue that originated in Spain but flourished in Havana during the early twentieth century. Created by musicians and managers to fill a growing demand for family entertainment, the zarzuela evidenced the emerging economic and cultural power of Cuba's white female bourgeoisie to influence the entertainment industry. Susan Thomas explores zarzuela's function as a pedagogical tool, through which composers, librettists, and business managers hoped to control their troupes and audiences by presenting desirable and problematic images of both feminine and masculine identities. Zarzuela was, Thomas explains, "anti-feminist but pro-feminine, its plots focusing on female protagonists and its musical scores showcasing the female voice." Focusing on character types such as the mulata, the negrito, and the ingenue, Thomas uncovers the zarzuela's richly textured relationship to social constructs of race, class, and especially gender."--BOOK JACKET. |
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| Physical Description: | ix, 250 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-236) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780252033315 (cloth : alk. paper) 0252033310 (cloth : alk. paper) |