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Andy Blankenbuehler - Dr. Amanda Jane Olmstead

Andy Blankenbuehler

A Critical Companion
Buch | Hardcover
288 Seiten
2026
Methuen Drama (Verlag)
978-1-350-52435-4 (ISBN)
CHF 112,00 inkl. MwSt
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The first critical study of three-time Tony Award-winning choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler focusing on his craft, creative process and impressive body of work from Bring it On to Hamilton and beyond.
"There are very few times when I really want the audience to look at dance…Dance is just meant to be a framing device that matches emotionally what I want the audience to feel." - Andy Blankenbuehler

Three-time Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler is one of the most recognizable choreographers working on Broadway today. Known particularly for his work on the hit musical Hamilton, collaborating once again with Lin-Manuel Miranda following their work on In The Heights, his distinct style and method of working is unique and distinguishable. This first critical study of both his style and extraordinary body of work explores everything from his background and training through to his rehearsal process and collaborative style. Told chronologically through his major shows, alongside interludes and reflections, this critical companion includes analysis alongside interviews with collaborators and Blankenbuehler himself.

As well as guiding readers through specific shows, this book unpacks and explores Blankenbuehler’s philosophies with regards to storytelling through the body. It argues how his prioritization of the ensemble as crucial to understanding the action within a show consequently positions the ensemble body as an indispensable element through which the audience gains vital (sub)text. As a result of this decision his choreography has become distinctly different from his predecessors and peers.

Published in Methuen Drama's Musical Theatre Critical Companions series this offers an accessible yet thorough study of a contemporary practitioner that is perfect for students, dancers and musical theatre fans alike.

Amanda Jane Olmstead (she/her) is adjunct faculty in the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, and in the English, Literature, and Communications Department at Golden Gate University, USA. Olmstead is also the director of middle school summer programs and senior school musical choreographer at Shady Side Academy. Her publications include an article titled “De´veloppe´: Katherine Dunham’s Diasporic Dance” in the Studies in Musical Theatre Journal and a chapter titled “Dance as Narrative: Storytelling Through the Ensemble Body” for the collection Dance in Musical Theatre: A History of the Body in Movement (Methuen Drama, 2023).

Acknowledgements
Preface

Section One: Becoming Blankenbuehler
Introduction
1.0 Words with Andy: The Creative Process
1.1 On Imagery
1.2 On Style
1.3 On Music
1.4 On Documentation

Section Two: Extended Choreographic Analysis
2.0 En Washington Heights: Staging Authenticity through the Individual Ensemble Body
2.1 Luis Salgado: on Collaboration and Connection
2.2 “Blankenbuehlerizing” Choreography and Staging Authenticity
2.3 “In the Heights”: Staging Community, Establishing Vocabulary
2.4 “Carnaval Del Barrio:” Staging Latinx Nationality through Social Dance
2.5 Conclusion: Adapting Environments
3.0 “We Ain’t No Cheerleaders:” Cheerleading Bodies, Hip-hopping Bodies, and the World of Bring it On: the Musical
3.1 “What I Was Born To Do”—Truman High School: Producing whiteness through Cheerleading
3.2 “Yo, hip-hop is our national pastime:” Hip-Hop and the Crew
3.3 “We Ain’t No Cheerleaders” on a “Friday Night”—Jackson High School: Producing or Subverting Other through Hip-Hop
3.4 “It’s All Happening”—Jackson High School: Turning a “Crew” into a “Squad”
3.5 Welcome to Varsity Nationals: Cheerleading versus Hip-Hop
3.6 Conclusion: Reparative Cheerleading
4.0 Who Tells the Story?: Dialectic Activations of the Ensemble Body
4.1 “Together We Can Turn the Tide:” Moving From and Between Individual and Collective Ensemble Body
4.2 “We Move as One:” Synchronism and Hip-Hop
4.3 “Alexander Hamilton:” Establishing the Omnipresent and Omniscient Ensemble
4.4 “Helpless” / “Satisfied:” Subverting Patriarchal Practices
4.5 “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down):” Communicating Revolution
4.6 Conclusion: The World Is Wide Enough

Section Three: Continued Practice
5.0 Blankenbuehler Beyond Miranda
5.1 Bandstand
5.2 Only Gold
5.3 Nine
6.0 Beyond Blankenbuehler: Collaboration and Stephanie Klemons

Conclusion: Blankenbuehler and the Ensemble (Body)
Bibliography

Erscheint lt. Verlag 6.8.2026
Reihe/Serie Musical Theatre Critical Companions
Verlagsort London
Sprache englisch
Maße 138 x 216 mm
Themenwelt Kunst / Musik / Theater Theater / Ballett
ISBN-10 1-350-52435-2 / 1350524352
ISBN-13 978-1-350-52435-4 / 9781350524354
Zustand Neuware
Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR)
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