Florodora

A rising art form in popular culture today is none other than the American musical theatre. An array of factors have emerged and collided over the past decade to bring what was once a niche staple of American culture to the forefront of the media and culture around the world. The sum of an evolving variety of music genres within the form, an increased interest and engagement by A and B list celebrities, an increasingly globalized Western culture, among other influences have allowed for the growth and current peak prosperity of the musical theatre genre across many platforms and international lines. The reintroduction of the live television broadcast of musicals on major television networks, the most coveted and promoted major holiday season movie releases from Hollywood studios being film adaptations of musicals, and the presence of Broadway personalities on late night television and other appearances that were once reserved for popular culture’s major celebrities are all prime evidence of the current “golden age” of musical theatre in which we are living (Tepper, 2016). However, in its brief history, having originated in the 1930’s (Carter & Mordden, 2014), the genre has not been able to evolve and grow artistically as much as its counterpart creative outlets such as film and television. The genre of musical theatre is still in its infancy, as it has not been afforded the resources or cultural attention to change and grow at the rate that has cultivated the level of…