{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/44804"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/44804","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Musicalizing murder: defining the 'true crime musical'","abstract":"Contemporary musicals have experimented with the conventions previously established by Rodgers and Hammerstein and the so-called “Golden Age” era of musical theatre, often subverting and commenting upon these conventions. In order to better understand these new musicals and prepare audiences for the work they are about to see, these non-traditional musicals have been labeled under various new subcategories, such as the “gay musical,” the “rock musical,” and the “jukebox musical.” New subcategories assist in the comprehension of these contemporary musicals, and as Larry Stempel states, “familiarity with the genre provides a helpful tool not only to understand how different musicals work but also to enjoy such shows for what they are. A genre establishes a configuration of constraints and opportunities—the rules of the game, so to speak—by which creators create, performers perform, and audiences come to know what to expect” (4). While the modern American drama is rife with images of dramatized violence, the musical genre has only recently begun to incorporate both realistic and symbolic representations of onstage violence. These musicals form a broad category of “violent musicals,” but shows that also integrate a historical murder narrative form a subcategory that I call the “true crime musical.” Taking inspiration from the literary genre of the same name, these true crime musicals present one or more murder narratives and construct a violent world of the play. The true crime musical fictionalizes motive, subverts musical theatre tropes, and comments on problems that persistently plague American society, such as poverty, the myth of the American Dream, and other inequities. This study features two distinctive contemporary musicals that possess the traits of a true crime musical—Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story (music and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff) and Bonnie & Clyde (music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, and book by Ivan Menchell). Both musicals explore the motives of the murderer-protagonists, follow closely the formula of true crime literature, all while utilizing or subverting traditional musical theatre tropes. Through a careful dramaturgical analysis of the various violent elements and character motivations, this study seeks to define the true crime musical as a distinctive subgenre of musical theatre, discover how musical writers engage with violence, and explore what these musicals say about criminal motive. In this study, I will utilize published librettos and performance reviews, as well as cast recordings, filmed archival production footage, and personal interviews, in order to locate and define the true crime musical and its distinctive interrogation and representation of violence and motive. In defining a true crime musical subgenre, I hope to create an understanding of this unique form, as well as its distinctive representation of motive and how it challenges musical theatre conventions.","abstract_html":"Contemporary musicals have experimented with the conventions previously established by Rodgers and Hammerstein and the so-called “Golden Age” era of musical theatre, often subverting and commenting upon these conventions. In order to better understand these new musicals and prepare audiences for the work they are about to see, these non-traditional musicals have been labeled under various new subcategories, such as the “gay musical,” the “rock musical,” and the “jukebox musical.” New subcategories assist in the comprehension of these contemporary musicals, and as Larry Stempel states, “familiarity with the genre provides a helpful tool not only to understand how different musicals work but also to enjoy such shows for what they are. A genre establishes a configuration of constraints and opportunities—the rules of the game, so to speak—by which creators create, performers perform, and audiences come to know what to expect” (4). While the modern American drama is rife with images of dramatized violence, the musical genre has only recently begun to incorporate both realistic and symbolic representations of onstage violence. These musicals form a broad category of “violent musicals,” but shows that also integrate a historical murder narrative form a subcategory that I call the “true crime musical.” Taking inspiration from the literary genre of the same name, these true crime musicals present one or more murder narratives and construct a violent world of the play. The true crime musical fictionalizes motive, subverts musical theatre tropes, and comments on problems that persistently plague American society, such as poverty, the myth of the American Dream, and other inequities. This study features two distinctive contemporary musicals that possess the traits of a true crime musical—Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story (music and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff) and Bonnie & Clyde (music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, and book by Ivan Menchell). Both musicals explore the motives of the murderer-protagonists, follow closely the formula of true crime literature, all while utilizing or subverting traditional musical theatre tropes. Through a careful dramaturgical analysis of the various violent elements and character motivations, this study seeks to define the true crime musical as a distinctive subgenre of musical theatre, discover how musical writers engage with violence, and explore what these musicals say about criminal motive. In this study, I will utilize published librettos and performance reviews, as well as cast recordings, filmed archival production footage, and personal interviews, in order to locate and define the true crime musical and its distinctive interrogation and representation of violence and motive. In defining a true crime musical subgenre, I hope to create an understanding of this unique form, as well as its distinctive representation of motive and how it challenges musical theatre conventions.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hoskins, Vicki"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Theatre","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Hohman, Valleri J."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-05-28T19:20:35Z","date_published":"2013-05-28T19:20:35Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:34Z","subjects":["Musical theatre","Musicals","Docudrama","True crime","Thrill Me","Bonnie and Clyde","Wildhorn","Dolginoff"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2013 Vicki Hoskins"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44804","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Hohman, Valleri J."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hoskins, Vicki"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2013-05-28T19:20:35Z","2015-05-28T10:02:20Z","2013-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Theatre"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Musical theatre","Musicals","Docudrama","True crime","Thrill Me","Bonnie and Clyde","Wildhorn","Dolginoff"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2013 Vicki Hoskins"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44804"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Contemporary musicals have experimented with the conventions previously established by Rodgers and Hammerstein and the so-called “Golden Age” era of musical theatre, often subverting and commenting upon these conventions. In order to better understand these new musicals and prepare audiences for the work they are about to see, these non-traditional musicals have been labeled under various new subcategories, such as the “gay musical,” the “rock musical,” and the “jukebox musical.” New subcategories assist in the comprehension of these contemporary musicals, and as Larry Stempel states, “familiarity with the genre provides a helpful tool not only to understand how different musicals work but also to enjoy such shows for what they are. A genre establishes a configuration of constraints and opportunities—the rules of the game, so to speak—by which creators create, performers perform, and audiences come to know what to expect” (4). While the modern American drama is rife with images of dramatized violence, the musical genre has only recently begun to incorporate both realistic and symbolic representations of onstage violence. These musicals form a broad category of “violent musicals,” but shows that also integrate a historical murder narrative form a subcategory that I call the “true crime musical.” Taking inspiration from the literary genre of the same name, these true crime musicals present one or more murder narratives and construct a violent world of the play. The true crime musical fictionalizes motive, subverts musical theatre tropes, and comments on problems that persistently plague American society, such as poverty, the myth of the American Dream, and other inequities. This study features two distinctive contemporary musicals that possess the traits of a true crime musical—Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story (music and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff) and Bonnie & Clyde (music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, and book by Ivan Menchell). Both musicals explore the motives of the murderer-protagonists, follow closely the formula of true crime literature, all while utilizing or subverting traditional musical theatre tropes. Through a careful dramaturgical analysis of the various violent elements and character motivations, this study seeks to define the true crime musical as a distinctive subgenre of musical theatre, discover how musical writers engage with violence, and explore what these musicals say about criminal motive. In this study, I will utilize published librettos and performance reviews, as well as cast recordings, filmed archival production footage, and personal interviews, in order to locate and define the true crime musical and its distinctive interrogation and representation of violence and motive. In defining a true crime musical subgenre, I hope to create an understanding of this unique form, as well as its distinctive representation of motive and how it challenges musical theatre conventions.","Item withdrawn by Mark Zulauf (zulauf@illinois.edu) on 2013-04-23T18:58:56Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 2 Hoskins_Vicki.pdf: 250456 bytes, checksum: cbf7c8615283201a04b6565583d108c5 (MD5) Hoskins_Vicki.pdf: 236389 bytes, checksum: 076ab0e493f035c9d82a8715799f5fe4 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-28T19:20:35Z (GMT). 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In order to better understand these new musicals and prepare audiences for the work they are about to see, these non-traditional musicals have been labeled under various new subcategories, such as the “gay musical,” the “rock musical,” and the “jukebox musical.” New subcategories assist in the comprehension of these contemporary musicals, and as Larry Stempel states, “familiarity with the genre provides a helpful tool not only to understand how different musicals work but also to enjoy such shows for what they are. A genre establishes a configuration of constraints and opportunities—the rules of the game, so to speak—by which creators create, performers perform, and audiences come to know what to expect” (4). While the modern American drama is rife with images of dramatized violence, the musical genre has only recently begun to incorporate both realistic and symbolic representations of onstage violence. These musicals form a broad category of “violent musicals,” but shows that also integrate a historical murder narrative form a subcategory that I call the “true crime musical.” Taking inspiration from the literary genre of the same name, these true crime musicals present one or more murder narratives and construct a violent world of the play. The true crime musical fictionalizes motive, subverts musical theatre tropes, and comments on problems that persistently plague American society, such as poverty, the myth of the American Dream, and other inequities. This study features two distinctive contemporary musicals that possess the traits of a true crime musical—Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story (music and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff) and Bonnie & Clyde (music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, and book by Ivan Menchell). Both musicals explore the motives of the murderer-protagonists, follow closely the formula of true crime literature, all while utilizing or subverting traditional musical theatre tropes. Through a careful dramaturgical analysis of the various violent elements and character motivations, this study seeks to define the true crime musical as a distinctive subgenre of musical theatre, discover how musical writers engage with violence, and explore what these musicals say about criminal motive. In this study, I will utilize published librettos and performance reviews, as well as cast recordings, filmed archival production footage, and personal interviews, in order to locate and define the true crime musical and its distinctive interrogation and representation of violence and motive. In defining a true crime musical subgenre, I hope to create an understanding of this unique form, as well as its distinctive representation of motive and how it challenges musical theatre conventions.","Item withdrawn by Mark Zulauf (zulauf@illinois.edu) on 2013-04-23T18:58:56Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 2 Hoskins_Vicki.pdf: 250456 bytes, checksum: cbf7c8615283201a04b6565583d108c5 (MD5) Hoskins_Vicki.pdf: 236389 bytes, checksum: 076ab0e493f035c9d82a8715799f5fe4 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-28T19:20:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Vicki_Hoskins.pdf: 236389 bytes, checksum: 076ab0e493f035c9d82a8715799f5fe4 (MD5) license.txt: 4063 bytes, checksum: 3ca53a24c620ebbcb1cb454eb3fecb84 (MD5)","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:17:18-05:00 Original Data Group with Access Administrator Release Date: 2015-05-28 14:21:22 UTC Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Item marked as restricted to the 'Administrator' Group (id=1) by Seth Robbins (srobbins@illinois.edu) on 2013-05-28T19:22:01Z Item is restricted until 2015-05-28T19:21:22Z","Limited Restriction Lifted for Item 44779 on 2015-05-28T10:02:20Z."],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44804"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2013 Vicki Hoskins"],"dc:subject":["Musical theatre","Musicals","Docudrama","True crime","Thrill Me","Bonnie and Clyde","Wildhorn","Dolginoff"],"dc:title":["Musicalizing murder: defining the 'true crime musical'"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Theatre"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:34Z"}