{"product_id":"singing-utopia-voice-in-musical-theatre-paperback","title":"Singing Utopia: Voice in Musical Theatre - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBen MacPherson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSinging Utopia\u003c\/em\u003e is a unique and ambitious work which asks us to listen differently to voice in musical theatre. Across fifteen case studies from \u003cem\u003eFlorodora\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eHadestown\u003c\/em\u003e, Ben Macpherson hears something utopian in the extraordinary, emotional, and situational directness of singing voices as they escape the confines of everyday life. Yet, as this book discovers, the very nature of utopia is paradoxical, fraught with undercurrents of nostalgia, melancholy, and the perpetual threat of the dystopian. \u003cem\u003eSinging Utopia\u003c\/em\u003e listens across these fault lines in our understanding of utopia and asks what it means for a musical to give voice to an imagined world which is always a contradiction in terms. Who gets to inhabit such a world? Who is excluded? How can we locate utopia in musical theatre voices, and what might be the consequences when its complexities are exposed? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eListening for answers to these questions, implicitly connected with concerns of class, race, gender, and culture, the author draws on a diverse range of approaches, including voice studies, musicology, sound studies, literary studies, political philosophy, and ethnography. In doing so, \u003cem\u003eSinging Utopia\u003c\/em\u003e examines current ways of listening while moving beyond them to develop a series of new terms, including 'decadent appropriation', 'simuloquism', two kinds of 'voiceworld', and three new approaches to the chorus and ensemble. This book offers an original and provocative account of musical theatre singing, exposing the power, possibilities, and paradoxes heard in voices that promise 'something better'-whatever, in the end, that might be.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBen Macpherson\u003c\/strong\u003e is Reader in Vocal Theatres at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Joining Portsmouth in 2013, he led the undergraduate musical theatre programme until 2023. Prior to working at Portsmouth, he taught at various other institutions in the UK. He is founding co-editor of \u003cem\u003eJournal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies\u003c\/em\u003e, an editorial board member of the\u003cem\u003e Studies in Musical Theatre Journal, \u003c\/em\u003e and has published and presented widely on topics relating to voice studies, musical theatre, and the musical on record - a subject on which he has led several grant-funded projects. He holds a PhD from the University of Winchester, UK.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 288\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.68 x 9.27 x 6.17 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 25, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50410988601581,"sku":"9780197557648","price":68.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.webster.direct\/en-ca\/products\/singing-utopia-voice-in-musical-theatre-paperback","provider":"Webster.Direct","version":"1.0","type":"link"}