Pal Joey: The History of a Heel

When Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey opened at the Barrymore on Christmas day, 1940, it flew in the face of musical comedy convention. The characters and situation were depraved. The setting was caustically realistic. Its female lead was frankly sexual and yet not purely comic. A narratively-driven dream ballet closed the first act, begging audiences to take seriously the inner life and desires of a confirmed heel. Pal Joey: The History of a Heel presents a behind-the-scenes look at the genesis, influence, and significance of this classic musical comedy.

Although the show appears on many top-ten lists surveying the Golden Age, it is a controversial classic; its legacy is tied both to the fashionable scandal that it provoked, and, retrospectively, to the uncommon attention it paid to characterization and narrative cohesion. Through an archive-driven investigation of the show and its music, author Julianne Lindberg offers insight into the historical moment during which Joey was born, and to the process of genre classification, canon formation, and the ensuing critical debates related to musical and theatrical maturity. More broadly, the book argues that the critique and commentary on class and gender conventions in Pal Joey reveals a uniquely American concern over status, class mobility, and progressive gender roles in the pre-war era.

Author: Julianne Lindberg
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 05/01/2020
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.40w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780190051204


Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2021

About the Author
Julianne Lindberg is Assistant Professor of Musicology at The University of Nevada, Reno. Her research interests include musical theater, musical modernism in Europe and the U.S., and children's musical cultures. Dr. Lindberg is also an avid and experienced clarinetist. She performs frequently with the Reno Philharmonic and with local chamber groups.