UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE The Master of Ceremonies: Dramaturgies of Power A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Drama and Theatre by Laura Anne Brueckner Committee in charge: University of California, San Diego Professor James Carmody, Chair Professor Judith Dolan Professor Manuel Rotenberg Professor Ted Shank Professor Janet Smarr University of California, Irvine Professor Ian Munro 2014 © Laura Anne Brueckner, 2014 All rights reserved The Dissertation of Laura Anne Brueckner is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego University of California, Irvine 2014 iii DEDICATION This study is dedicated in large to the sprawling, variegated community of variety performers, whose work—rarely recorded and rarely examined, so often vanishing into thin air—reveals so much about the workings of our heads and hearts and My committee chair Jim Carmody, whose astonishing insight, intelligence, pragmatism, and support has given me a model for the kind of teacher I hope to be and Christopher David Barnes-Vardijan, who, it turns out, was right the whole time. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page …………………………………………………………………… iii Dedication ……………………………………………………………………….. iv Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………... v List of Figures …………………………………………………………………… vi Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………… viii Vita ……………………………………………………………………………… ix Abstract of the Dissertation ……………………………………………………... x Introduction ……………………………………………………………………... 1 Chapter 1: The Master of Ceremonies …………………………………………... 7 Chapter 2: The Chairman of the Broadside Music Hall Revue …………………. 72 Chapter 3: The Emcee of Cabaret ………………………………………………. 125 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. 205 Works Cited ……………………………………………………………………... 208 v LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1a: Hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, Academy Awards ceremony, 2010 ……………………………………………………………………………… 32 Fig. 1.1b: Kingfish and Eddie, MCs of Oakland-based Hubba Hubba Revue, 2010 ……………………………………………………………………………… 32 Fig. 1.1c: Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin as a binary pair of MCs sharing a “Snuggie” ………………………………………………………………………... 36 Fig. 1.2: Anne Hathaway and James Franco as a binary pair of MCs hosting the Oscars in 2011 …………………………………………………………………… 37 Fig. 1.3: Edie, the “Mistress of Sensuality” of Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity, 2010 48 Fig. 1.4: Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences president William C. de Mille as Master of Ceremonies, with Hans Kraly, Mary Pickford, and Walter Baxter at the 2nd Academy Awards ceremony in 1930 ………………………….. 49 Fig. 1.5a: Host Seth MacFarlane, Academy Awards ceremony, 2013 ………….. 50 Fig. 1.5b: Host Ellen DeGeneres, Academy Awards ceremony, 2014 ………….. 50 Fig. 1.6a: Joel Grey as the Emcee, Cabaret, 1972 ………………………………. 52 Fig. 1.6b: Alan Cumming as the Emcee, Cabaret, 2014 ………………………… 52 Fig. 1.7: Academy Awards hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin with women in background ………………………………………………………………………. 58 Fig. 1.8: Alan Cumming as the Emcee, with female dancers, 2014 …………….. 59 Fig. 2.1: “Map of Dickens’ London” by Don Carson …………………………… 75 Fig. 2.2: The stage in the environmental area called Mad Sal’s Dockside Alehouse ………………………………………………………………………… 77 Fig. 2.3a: Bill Roper as Chairman Thaddeus Codswallop, 2009 ……………….. 81 Fig. 2.3b: Daniel Morgan as Chairman Obediah Feltrup, 2014 ………………… 81 vi Fig. 2.4: Bill Roper as Chairman Codswallop performing "Why Don't Women Like Me?"……………………………………………………………………… 111 Fig. 2.5: Roper as Broadside Chairman Codswallop, flanked by Can-Can Bijou dancers, 2010 ………………………………………………………………….. 116 Fig 2.6: The Broadside Music Hall Revue cast giving the show’s closing salute…………………………………………………………………………… 122 Fig. 3.1: Joel Grey in the opening sequence of the 1972 film version of Cabaret 131 Fig. 3.2a: 1987 Playbill, Grey as the Emcee ………………………………….. 133 Fig. 3.2b: 2014 Playbill, Cumming as the Emcee …………………………….. 133 Fig. 3.3a: Front, CD cover of Cabaret: The New Broadway Cast Recording … 136 Fig. 3.3b: Back, CD cover of Cabaret: The New Broadway Cast Recording … 136 Fig. 3.4: Cabaret billboard at the Kit Kat Klub (formerly Studio 54), New York, 2014 …………………………………………………………………………… 137 Fig. 3.5: Nine of the first 14 Google image results on basic search terms (Joel Grey Cabaret), in the order in which they appeared on 29 Nov 2014 ………… 157 Fig. 3.6: The first nine Google image results on basic search terms (Alan Cumming Cabaret), in the order in which they appeared on 29 Nov 2014 …… 158 Fig. 3.7: Alan Cumming as the Emcee in the 2014 Roundabout production of Cabaret ………………………………………………………………………... 159 Fig. 3.8a: Cumming’s Emcee’s harness costume for “Wilkommen” …………. 172 Fig. 3.8b: A close-up shot showing more harness detail ………………………. 172 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my committee, Professors James Carmody, Judy Dolan, Ian Munro, Manuel Rotenberg, Theodore Shank, and Janet Smarr for the precious gift of their time, insight, and unaccountable patience I would also like to acknowledge professors at other institutions along the way who gave generously of their time, brilliance, support, and faith when I needed it most: Stephen Booth, UC Berkeley Brenda Ness, Santa Monica College Dunbar Ogden, UC Berkeley Christina Preciado, Santa Monica College I would also like to acknowledge theatrical groups with whom I’ve been privileged to work, for sharpening my perceptions of the complexities of popular performance: The Broadside Music Hall Dogs In Doublets La Scuola di Stravaganza Stark Ravens Historical Players viii As well as specific theatre-makers whose feats of uncommon vision made it possible for me to enter the fascinating world of the MC: Broadside Chairmen Daniel Morgan, Bill Roper, and David Springhorn Event producers Phyllis, Ron, Kevin and Leslie Patterson As well as Crowded Fire Theater, the artistic home where every project teaches me more about dramaturgy as discipline and as relationship, and Theatre Bay Area, the “day job” that is so much more ix VITA 2000 Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Berkeley 2004 Entertainment Director, As You Like It Productions 2010-2012 Director, Broadside Music Hall 2005-2006 Intern, Dramaturgy and Literary Management Berkeley Repertory Theatre 2007-2013 Teaching Assistant, University of California, San Diego 2014 Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego and University of California, Irvine FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Theatre (Dramaturgy) Studies in Dramaturgy Professor James Carmody Studies in Directing Professor James Carmody Studies in Renaissance Theatre Professor Janet Smarr Studies in Spectacle Theory Professor Emily Roxworthy x ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Master of Ceremonies: Dramaturgies of Power by Laura Anne Brueckner Doctor of Philosophy in Drama and Theatre University of California, San Diego, 2014 University of California, Irvine, 2014 Professor James Carmody, Chair This dissertation argues that the theatrical master of ceremonies, an entity seen in many genres of popular theatre across centuries, exists in every instance as the expression of specific understandings of (and anxieties about) coercive social power. By examining key dramaturgical components of this entity, and comparing them to attributes of several modes of real power, I will show how the MC adapts the presentational techniques of power for the stage, producing a phenomenon I call “synthetic authority,” and how his appearance, dramaturgical position in the show, and use of space and of speech always refer to sources of coercive power beyond the xi theatre's walls. This study argues that there are three chief dramaturgical attributes of a theatrical MC. The first is his dramaturgical singularity, which describes both his uniqueness as a figure on the stage and his central-yet-outside position with respect to the rest of the show, especially as it manifests in his practice of interstitial framing. The second is his high onstage status, the result of many visual, sexual, spatial, interpersonal signals and behaviors that serve to align him with economic and other power elites. The third important dramaturgical attribute of the MC as a type is his capacity for direct address. The MC, through his ability to speak directly to a crowd, wields enormous power, literally sculpting with his words the theatrical reality in which the audience participates. This is also his most direct route to the synthetic power that allows him to run the stage: his ability to appropriate the discourses of power elites of many kinds and present them as his own in the course of a performance. Theatrical MCs tend to perform their control of the theatrical environment in one of two main registers: one warm, stable, and paternalistic; one cold, complex, and dominating. While “warm” MCs function conservatively, to reassure audiences and reaffirm existing power relations, the different power of the “cold” MC challenges the audience, making room for critique of the uses and sources of power. Overall, I hope to demonstrate that MCs perform discourses of coercive power