Hip-Hop in Musical Theatre

Hip-Hop culture’s explosive arrival on the art scene of New York in the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx in the 1970s began to influence all aspects of musical theater from singing to scenic design. Hip-Hop in Musical Theatre takes an intersectional standpoint to explore Hip-Hop’s influence on musical theater practice and aesthetics by giving the reader a comprehensive map of musical theater productions that have been impacted by Hip-Hop music and culture.

Offering insightful briefs on musical theater productions that contain aesthetic, musical and embodied references to the global phenomenon of Hip-hop culture, this volume takes the reader through a virtual tour of Hip-Hop’s influence on American musical theater. From early traces of hip-hop’s rap scene in the 1970s that appeared in musicals such as Micki Grant’s Tony Award nominated Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope (1971) and Broadway smash hits such as The Wiz (1974) to international juggernauts such as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (2015), this introductory book decodes the sights and sounds of Hip-Hop culture within the socio-cultural context in which the musicals are produced.

Published in the Topics in Musical Theatre series this volume presents fact-filled and insightful summaries of musicals that give the reader a snapshot of the musical and narrative content while highlighting which aspect of the music and culture of Hip-Hop informs acting, dancing, singing, design, and music in the selected musical while offering insightful analysis on the ways that hip-hop styles and politics have changed the shape of musical theater practice.

Dr. Nicole Hodges Persley is an Associate Professor of American Studies and African American Studies who specializes in areas of Hip-Hop Studies, Acting and Directing and African American performance in theater, film and television. An artist-scholar, Hodges Persley creates intentional bridges between the entertainment industry and academia. She is the author of Sampling and Remixing Blackness in Hip Hop Performance, and co-author of Breaking It Down: Auditioning for Artists of the Global Majority.