Non-English-language musical theatre in the United States

Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840–1940, by John Koegel . Eastman Studies in Music 62. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2009. xxv, 593 pp.; compact disc.

“…STEVEN 1 The second edition of the Companion included John Koegel's chapter on the non-English musical theater in the United States, a step towards correcting a serious lacuna in the first edition involving works in German, Yiddish, Spanish, and other languages. 2 Of these traditions only the Yiddish theater has tended to penetrate our collective consciousness, and that partly because Yiddish actors have made appearances in mainstream musicals and films, such as Molly Picon in the film of Fiddler on the Roof and Irving Jacobson in the stage version of Man of La Mancha. Koegel's Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840-1940 is the kind of study that each ethnic tradition deserves; future authors will struggle to match Koegel's level of achievement.…”