Lying in the Middle: Musical Theater and Belief at the Heart of America (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780252085994)

The local and regional shows staged throughout America use musical theater's inherent power of deception to cultivate worldviews opposed to mainstream ideas. Jake Johnson reveals how musical theater between the coasts inhabits the middle spaces between professional and amateur, urban and rural, fact and fiction, fantasy and reality, and truth and falsehood. The homegrown musical provides a space to engage belief and religion--imagining a better world while creating opportunities to expand what is possible in the current one. Whether it is the Oklahoma Senior Follies or a Mormon splinter group's production of The Sound of Music, such productions give people a chance to jolt themselves out of today's post-truth malaise and move toward a world more in line with their desires for justice, reconciliation, and community.

Vibrant and strikingly original, Lying in the Middle discovers some of the most potent musical theater taking place in the hoping, beating hearts of Americans.

Author: Jake Johnson
ISBN-10: 025208599X
ISBN-13: 9780252085994
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 10/19/2021
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.66lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.91w x 0.63d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 08/13/2021 pg. 1
Choice 08/01/2022

About the Author
Jake Johnson is an associate professor of musicology at Oklahoma City University and the author of Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America.