Michigan State University Professor of Music Marcie Ray delivers a talk entitled "Seeking sympathy for privilege in Webber's Phantom of the Opera." Ray explores why a reincarnation of the tortured nineteenth-century genius resonated with audiences of the 1980s and 90s and shows that in the aftermath of two decades of assault on straight white masculinity, the Phantom emerges to garner sympathy for his lost prestige. Ray historicizes the Romantic genius archetype and illuminates how it represents a fitting and long-standing refuge for the eccentric Western male. MSU Music Librarian Mary Black Junttonen introduces Ray.
Read
