2021 StageStruck Conference

Below is a draft conference schedule as of April 22, 2021. Schedule is subject to change slightly. Attendee registration for the Academic community is now open. Register here.

Please note that all session times below are listed in Eastern Daylight Time. For reference, the conference will take place live each day from:

• 5:00pm - 7:30pm BST
• 9:00am - 11:30am PDT
• 11:00am - 1:30pm CDT
• 12:00pm - 2:30pm EDT

Wednesday, May 12th:

12:00 - 12:15pm EDT - Introduction by Michael Feinstein, Dominic McHugh and Lisa Lobdell

12:15 - 12:45pm EDT - Panel 1: Themes of the Golden Age chaired by Jeffrey Magee

• Julianne Lindberg - Re-evaluating George Abbott's Legacy
• Jamie O'Leary - "With so Little to be Sure of" Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and the Twilight of the Golden Age Musical
• Walter Frisch - Arlen and Charnin's Softly: The Show That Never Was

12:45 - 12:50pm EDT - In the Archives with Michael Feinstein and Lisa Lobdell

12:50 - 1:20pm EDT - Panel 2: Form & Aesthetics in the Golden Age chaired by Tim Carter

• Elizabeth Wells - 'Something Has to Happen There': Sondheim and the 11 O'Clock Number
• Alex Badue - The Golden Apple and the Golden Age: Reframing a Musical's Historiographical Placement
• Bret McCandless - Lehman Engel and the Perpetuation of Golden Age Aesthetics

1:20 - 2:00pm EDT - Industry Panel: Gender and the Golden Age chaired by Tony-nominated actress Melissa Errico (My Fair Lady, One Touch of Venus)

• Shereen Ahmed (My Fair Lady, NBC's New Amsterdam)
• Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza, Gigi, Cinderella, Sister Act)
• Ali Ewolt (Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables)
• Judy Kuhn (Fun Home, Chess)

2:00 - 2:30pm EDT - Archival Perspectives chaired by Stacy Wolf

• Mark Eden Horowitz - Library of Congress
• Doug Reside - New York Public Library

Thursday, May 13th:

12:00 - 12:30pm EDT - Panel 3: Representing Identity in the Golden Age chaired David Savran

• Jim Leve - Disability and Lateness in Musical Theater
• Joel Galand - Split in Two: Musical Analogues to Identity Formation in Love Life

12:30 - 1:00pm EDT - Panel 4: Archival Approaches chaired by Steve Swayne

• Laura Lynn Broadhurst - Tracking the Cowardly Lion: The Cumulative Creation of "If I Were King of the Forest"
• Katy Jayasuriya - "Camelot was finally a hit": Camelot and Convention
• Hannah Robbins - "So I went off to become a wife..." interpreting female representation, archival practice, and the Golden Age Musical

1:00 - 1:05pm EDT - In the Archives with Michael Feinstein & Lisa Lobdell

1:05 - 1:35pm EDT - Panel 5: The Business of Broadway chaired by Susan Weiss

• Arianne Johnson Quinn - "Was She Prettier Than I?" Exploring Noël Coward's Place in Broadway's Golden Age
• Dean Adams - The New Business Model of Golden Age Musicals: "Seven Rings" are "My Favorite Things"
• Jonas Westover - Fool's Gold: Broadway's 'Golden Age' Through the Lens of Business Practice (1870-1970)

1:35 - 2:15pm EDT - Keynote: More than a 'Chemical Reaction': The Romance between Ninotchka (1939) and Silk Stockings (1955/57) by Geoffrey Block

Friday, May 14th:

12:00 - 12:40pm EDT - Panel 6: Critical Approaches to Editing Musicals chaired by Kim Kowalke

• Tim Carter
• Mark Clague
• Cliff Eisen
• Joel Galand

12:40 - 1:10pm EDT - Panel 7: Unsettling the parameters of the Golden Age chaired by Maya Cantu

• Laura Milburn - The West End: Golden Age Aesthetics in 1920s London
• John Graziano - Whose "Golden Age" Do You Mean? Re-thinking a Much-Used Sobriquet
• Stephanie Ruozzo - An Early Glimmer at the Princess: Jerome Kern's Leave It to Jane as a Golden Age Musical

1:10 - 1:15pm EDT - In the Archives with Michael Feinstein & Lisa Lobdell

1:15 - 1:45pm EDT - Panel 8: Staging Race in Golden Age Musicals chaired by David Savran

• Michael Bennett - Poor Jud is Black: 'Colorblind' Casting at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre
• Megan Woller & Shawn Clerkin - Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Asian Musicals" in the 21st Century [panel]: "A Reconsideration of South Pacific and The King and I" & "Music and Characterization in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The King and I

1:45 - 1:50pm EDT - Break

1:50 - 2:30pm EDT - Industry Panel: Black Representation & Experience on Broadway and the West End chaired by Naomi André

• Jalisa Andrews (BBC's The Left Behind, Cinderella)
• Dominic Sibanda (Aladdin, Hairspray)
• Ephraim Sykes (Hamilton, Newsies)
• Kristin Yancy (West Side Story, Bliss)

Saturday, May 15th: 

12:00 - 12:40pm EDT - Keynote: "Dance as 'a piece of the dramatic story' in Golden Age musicals" by Kara Gardner

12:40 - 1:10pm EDT - Book Launch Panel chaired by Jeffrey Magee: Including a celebration of new books by Shana Redmond, Julianne Lindberg, Megan Woller, Ellen Peck, Tim Carter and Dominic McHugh

1:10 - 1:15pm EDT - In the Archives with Michael Feinstein & Lisa Lobdell

1:15 - 1:45pm EDT - Panel 10: Disparate Strands chaired by Walter Frisch

• Andy Buchman - "Fade out - Fade In (1964): Keeping the Golden Age Going"
• Rebecca Schmid - American Opera on Broadway
• Scott Warfield - Hints of a New Direction? Rock 'n Roll's Emergence in Broadway's Golden Era
• Don Gagnon - Reframing the Golden Age Musical

1:45 - 2:15pm EDT - Reflection led by Kim Kowalke and Dominic McHugh