UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The musical representation of Asian characters in the musicals of Richard Rodgers Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9c09f3kq Author Ponti, Carla M. Publication Date 2010 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The Musical Representation of Asian Characters in the Musicals of Richard Rodgers A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Music by Carla M. Ponti Committee in charge: Professor Anthony Davis, Chair Professor Gerald Balzano, Co-Chair Professor David Borgo Professor Norman Bryson Professor Diana Deutsch 2010 Copyright Carla M. Ponti, 2010 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Carla M. Ponti is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically. Co-Chair Chair University of California, San Diego 2010 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ iv List of Illustrations ......................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... x Vita ................................................................................................................................ xiii Abstract of the Dissertation ........................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER ONE: DEFINING AN APPROACH ............................................................. 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Brief Literature Review .................................................................................................... 5 Broadway Music in Traditional Musicology ........................................................ 5 Broadway Music in Traditional Music Theory .................................................. 11 Broadway Music and Musicals in Critical Theory/ Culturally-Based Approaches ....................................................................... 13 The musical as an art form ..................................................................... 14 The musical and society ......................................................................... 18 The musical: race, gender, politics ......................................................... 22 Within musicology: Knapp and critical theory ...................................... 24 Pedagogy: A Rationale for a More Critical Approach to the Scores of Musicals .......... 25 The Study ........................................................................................................................ 29 Outline of This Study ..................................................................................................... 31 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER TWO: RODGERS’ COMPOSITIONAL STYLE: SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE ................................................................................................... 34 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 34 Available Studies on the Music of Richard Rodgers ...................................................... 35 Tin Pan Alley Song Forms ............................................................................................. 39 Some Regularities of Rodgers’ Style ............................................................................. 46 Rodgers’ Scores and the Composer as Dramatist ........................................................... 49 Relationships among Scores/Shows ............................................................................... 57 Lyricists and Rodgers’ Style .......................................................................................... 60 Rodgers’ Compositional Features .................................................................................. 65 iv CHAPTER THREE: RODGERS AS ORIENTALIST COMPOSER............................ 69 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 69 Rodgers and Ethnic Others ............................................................................................. 69 Rodgers and Orientalism ................................................................................................ 74 Orientalist Musical Features in Rodgers’ “Exotic” Musicals ......................................... 83 Timbral Features ................................................................................................. 85 Modes and Scales ............................................................................................... 91 Melodic and Harmonic Features ........................................................................ 93 Accompaniment and Other Features .................................................................. 97 Intervals and drones ................................................................................ 97 Rapid figures .......................................................................................... 99 Seconds: dissonances and ostinati ........................................................ 100 A stereotyped figure ............................................................................. 102 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 103 CHAPTER FOUR: CHARACTERIZATION AND CULTURE ................................. 105 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 105 Interpreting Features ..................................................................................................... 105 Interpreting Characters ................................................................................................. 109 Musical Depictions in South Pacific ............................................................................ 110 Bloody Mary ..................................................................................................... 111 Liat .................................................................................................................... 118 The De Becque Children .................................................................................. 121 Summary: South Pacific ................................................................................... 122 Musical Depictions in The King and I .......................................................................... 124 King Mongkut .................................................................................................. 126 Tuptim .............................................................................................................. 133 Lady Thiang ...................................................................................................... 139 Summary: The King and I ................................................................................ 141 Musical Depictions in Flower Drum Song ................................................................... 143 Flower Drum Song and Racism ....................................................................... 146 Musical Depictions ........................................................................................... 150 Characters and Their Signifiers along the Continuum: China .......................... 152 Characters and Their Signifiers along the Continuum: Mei Li ........................ 153 Characters and Their Signifiers along the Continuum: The Wangs ................. 157 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 161 CHAPTER FIVE: MUSICALS: ASSIMILATION, THE MELTING POT, AND COMMUNITY ................................................................................................. 163 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 163 Whose Assimilation? .................................................................................................... 164 The Nature of Assimilation in the Musicals ................................................................. 168 Andrea Most: Jewish Assimilation and the Musical .................................................... 173 Acculturation, Assimilation, and Absorption ............................................................... 177 The Melting Pot and Assimilation in America ............................................................. 180 v Assimilation: Casting Off Inherited Attitudes and Prejudices ..................................... 183 Flower Drum Song and the Case for Community .......................................................