The Musical as Drama

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

matter what either would have thought of the idea. I do not
argue that Sondheim is a Brechtian dramatist; that would be
pointless and wrong. But I do wish to say that Brecht’s theory
was right about the artistic form of the musical no matter how
rigorously the Broadway musical refuses to answer up to his
economic and political beliefs, and I do wish to say that Sond-
heim, who also refuses to answer up to Brecht, works with aes-
thetic characteristics that Brecht formulated in his own way,
and imagines new variations for them.


30 CHAPTER ONE
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