A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical. By Stacy Wolf. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002; pp. xx + 289. $19.95 paper.

Extract

Stacy Wolf’s title promises more than her book actually delivers. Instead of attempting to cover the broad topic of “gender and sexuality in the American musical” mentioned in her title, she offers an intriguing lesbian feminist reading of the image and performances of four of the leading ladies of the American musical—Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, and Barbra Streisand—focusing on musicals from South Pacific (1949) to Funny Girl (1964). Her discussion of these stars includes analysis of a number of the musicals in which they starred, particularly South Pacific, Peter Pan, Gypsy, My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Funny Girl. A final chapter offers a queering of The Sound of Music.