Reviewed by:

• Broadway Goes To War: American Theater During World War II by Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry
• Fonzie D. Geary II

In Broadway Goes to War, Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry immerse readers in an oft-neglected era of US American drama. Despite the subtitle's indication that the book focuses on the war years, the text actually covers a somewhat broader period, extending from 1933 to 1946. From a playwriting perspective, this era is often dismissed as an artistic desert, caught between the fertile periods of Eugene O'Neill's ascendance in the 1920s and the emergence of Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller in the late 1940s. Albert Wertheim's Staging the War: American Drama and World War II (2004) represents one of the more recent efforts to reckon with the proliferation of drama in the US during the 1940s. But overall, there is a paucity of scholarship related to this era. In this regard, McLaughlin and Parry's book represents [End Page 585] a welcome addition in extending our understanding of twentieth-century US American drama.

McLaughlin and Parry state two primary goals for their study: to understand "the role theater had in the popular-culture representation of the Second World War/" and to explore "how the theater functioned differently from other popular-culture media" (3). With these goals in mind, the authors position commercial theatre (defined strictly as Broadway) as unique in its dissemination of popular culture. Other mediums such as film, radio, and newspapers were often limited by censorship of one form or another, which was sometimes deemed necessary during wartime. Theatre, on the other hand, bore fewer such restrictions. Thus, the authors argue, it was able to offer more diverse, nuanced representations of the war and US attitudes toward it.

Following an introductory chapter wherein the authors lay out their purpose for the book, chapter 2 summarizes major theatrical fare related to European events prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. McLaughlin and Parry identify four themes under which the plays they consider cluster: 1) antiwar plays; 2) plays advocating for a strong defense; 3) plays depicting the US as a country under threat; and 4) plays centered on the existential crises of individual citizens. McLaughlin and Parry effectively demonstrate the nuance offered by Broadway theatre. For example, they juxtapose the cynicism of Robert E. Sherwood's 1936 play, Idiot's Delight, which concludes with the two main characters sardonically singing a Christian hymn during a bombing raid, with the prescience of S. N. Behrman's 1934 play, Rain from Heaven, which specifically alludes to the impending Holocaust. In highlighting in microcosm Sherwood's cynicism against Behrman's moral imperative, the authors illuminate the variance of US opinion regarding the growing threats of totalitarian regimes abroad.

Herein, however, also lies the major challenge with the book, which later chapters perpetuate. The authors are working so broadly at times, addressing so many plays, and sorting out so many categories, that readers may become overwhelmed. Furthermore, observations about performance of the plays, even in citing critical reviews, are limited. McLaughlin and Parry emphasize script analysis as their primary method of research. They are thorough in this regard, but examinations of how the elements of theatre practice influenced the audience are largely absent.

The succeeding chapters adhere to the format established in chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on plays set in overseas locales. The authors do a solid job of establishing the US' uniqueness compared to other nations involved in the war insofar as its distance from the actual conflict. Unlike the citizenry of Europe, US Americans were not subject to bombing raids or invasion. The authors thus make the case that Broadway played a key role in bringing the war home and rendering it more present and more personal in the lives of many US citizens. Chapter 4, "The Home Front," analyzes plays set in the US during the war. Attention here emphasizes the myriad ways in which the war intruded upon the...

 校订者：

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  百老汇走向战争：第二次世界大战期间的美国剧院 罗伯特·麦克劳克林 （Robert L. McLaughlin） 和莎莉·帕里 （Sally E. Parry）
• Fonzie D. Geary II

在《百老汇开战》中，罗伯特·麦克劳克林 （Robert L. McLaughlin） 和莎莉·帕里 （Sally E. Parry） 让读者沉浸在一个经常被忽视的美式戏剧时代。尽管副标题表明这本书侧重于战争年代，但文本实际上涵盖了更广泛的时期，从 1933 年到 1946 年。从编剧的角度来看，这个时代经常被斥为艺术沙漠，夹在 1920 年代尤金·奥尼尔 （Eugene O'Neill） 崛起的肥沃时期和 1940 年代后期田纳西·威廉姆斯 （Tennessee Williams） 和阿瑟·米勒 （Arthur Miller） 的出现之间。阿尔伯特·韦特海姆 （Albert Wertheim） 的《上演战争：美国戏剧与第二次世界大战》（2004 年）代表了 1940 年代美国戏剧扩散的最新努力之一。但总的来说，与这个时代相关的学术研究很少。在这方面，麦克劳克林和帕里的书代表了 [结束第 585 页] 扩展我们对 20 世纪美国戏剧的理解的一个受欢迎的补充。

McLaughlin 和 Parry 提出了他们研究的两个主要目标：了解“剧院在第二次世界大战的流行文化表现中的作用/”，并探索“剧院的功能与其他流行文化媒体有何不同”（3）。考虑到这些目标，作者将商业剧院（严格定义为百老汇）定位为在传播流行文化方面独树一帜。其他媒体，如电影、广播和报纸，往往受到这样或那样的审查制度的限制，这在战时有时被认为是必要的。另一方面，剧院的此类限制较少。因此，作者认为，它能够对战争和美国对战争的态度提供更多样化、更细致的表述。

在介绍性章节之后，作者阐述了他们写这本书的目的，第 2 章总结了与 1941 年珍珠港轰炸之前欧洲事件相关的主要戏剧作品。麦克劳克林和帕里确定了他们认为的戏剧归纳为四个主题：1） 反战戏剧;2） 倡导强大防御的比赛;3） 将美国描绘成一个受到威胁的国家的戏剧;4） 以公民个体的生存危机为中心的戏剧。McLaughlin 和 Parry 有效地展示了百老汇剧院提供的细微差别。例如，他们将罗伯特·舍伍德 （Robert E. Sherwood） 1936 年的戏剧《白痴的喜悦》（Idiot's Delight）的愤世嫉俗与贝尔曼 （S. N. Behrman） 1934 年的戏剧《天雨》（Rain from Heaven）的先见之明并置，该剧特别暗示了即将到来的大屠杀。作者以缩影的形式强调了舍伍德对贝尔曼道德责任的愤世嫉俗，阐明了美国对海外极权主义政权日益增长的威胁的看法差异。

然而，这也是这本书的主要挑战，后面的章节将延续这一挑战。作者们的工作有时范围如此广泛，涉及如此多的戏剧，并整理出如此多的类别，以至于读者可能会不知所措。此外，对戏剧表现的观察，即使是引用批评性评论，也是有限的。McLaughlin 和 Parry 强调剧本分析是他们的主要研究方法。他们在这方面很透彻，但基本上没有研究戏剧实践的要素如何影响观众。

接下来的章节遵循第 2 章中建立的格式。第 3 章重点介绍以海外地区为背景的戏剧。作者在确立美国与实际冲突的距离方面，与其他参与战争的国家相比的独特性方面做得很扎实。与欧洲公民不同，美国美国人没有受到轰炸袭击或入侵。因此，作者指出，百老汇在将战争带回家并使其在许多美国公民的生活中更加存在和更加个人化方面发挥了关键作用。第 4 章“The Home Front”分析了战争期间以美国为背景的戏剧。这里的注意力强调了战争侵入...