OLLI at Duke • Fall 2022
Course Description
Historians of American musical theater concur that the "Golden Age” of the Broadway musical began with Oklahoma! and Carousel in the 1940s. But what of the dazzling musical comedies of the 1920s and ‘30s? In this course we’ll explore two composer/lyricist teams that defined this “Silver Age” with their witty and tuneful scores: Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and George and Ira Gershwin. These four men, sons of European Jewish immigrants, created musicals that yielded indelible popular songs. We’ll focus on such shows as Rodgers’ and Hart’s The Garrick Gaities, A Connecticut Yankee, On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, The Boys from Syracuse, and Pal Joey; and the Gershwins’ Oh, Kay!, Strike Up the Band, Girl Crazy, Of Thee I Sing, and Porgy and Bess. Students will learn about the books and scores of the major shows—and how, together, these shows helped define a truly American art form. The course is primarily lecture with video and audio clips, but students will be able to ask questions and make comments during each class.
Instructor : Alan Teasley
Alan Teasley began his career as a high school English and drama teacher. After retiring from the Durham Public Schools in 2006, he taught in Duke’s Master of Arts in Teaching Program. A member of the OLLI Advisory Board, he is an avid theatergoer with a particular fondness for American musicals. His nine previous courses on musical theater for OLLI have focused on the works of Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kander & Ebb, Frank Loesser, Lerner & Loewe, Jerry Herman, Bock & Harnick, Leonard Bernstein, the ten musicals that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and The Women of Broadway, a survey of musicals with book, lyrics, and/or music by women.