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About Me

I am assistant professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University. Prior to joining MSU, I taught American studies at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and musical theatre at the University of Portsmouth (UK). With Ryan Donovan, I edited The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre (2023) and, with William A. Everett, I edited The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers (2017). My articles have appeared in L’Annuaire théâtral, Comparative Drama, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, New England Theatre Journal, Performance Research, Revue française d’études américaines, Studies in Musical Theatre, and Theatre Research International. My book project explores the longevity of Broadway musicals, from West Side Story to Mean Girls. I also research the transnational circulation of musicals, with a focus on Europe and East Asia. I am Vice President for Conferences for the American Society of Theatre Research (ASTR).

 

 

Recent Publications

“The Sound of Musicals: Japan and Korea have embraced and nurtured Western-style musicals. Can China be far behind?”American Theatre May/June (2017): 28-31, 58.http://www.americantheatre.org/2017/04/25/the-sound-of-musicals-in-china/

“Tonight I will bewitch the world’: the European musical” (with Judith Sebesta). The Cambridge Companion to the Musical, 3^rdedition(William A. Everett and Paul Laird, editors, 2017: 339-355).

“Connection in an Isolating Age: Looking Back on Twenty Years of Engaging Audiences and Marketing Musical Theatre Online.”iBroadway: Musical Theatre in the Digital Age (Jessica Hillman-McCord, editor, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017: 17-42).

“Off Off Off Off Broadway: Musical Development Out of Town and Regionally.”The Methuen Critical Companion to the American Stage Musical(Elizabeth Wollman, editor, 2017: 214-225)

“Roth and Son: Daryl Roth and Jordan Roth on Broadway.”The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers (MacDonald and Everett, editors, 2017: 487-496).

“Trading Globally in Austrian History: Vereinigte Bühnen Wien.”The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers (MacDonald and Everett, editors, 2017: 343-349).

“Le pouvoir de consommer: le spectateur comme enjeu et acteur de l’économie du théâtre musical.” L’Annuaire théâtral 58 (2015): 137-150.https://goo.gl/SXmmNm

“The (Long-Running) Path Unwinding: How Directors and Choreographers Maintain Long-running Musicals on Broadway and Beyond.” SDC Journal (inaugural article, peer-reviewed section), Fall 2015: 42-46, 50-51.https://goo.gl/Z2FGpO

“Geen Grenzen Meer: An American Musical’s Unlimited Border Crossing” (co-authored with Myrte Halman). Theatre Research International 39.3 (2014): 198-216.https://goo.gl/SPNgdi

Media Coverage

https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/2017/mamma-mia-musical-theatre-across-europe/

Twitter

@lauraemacdonald

Country Focus

United States

Expertise by Geography

Asia, China, East Asia, Germany, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, United States, Western Europe

Expertise by Chronology

8, 9

Expertise by Topic

Capitalism, Diplomacy, Gender, Race, Urban History, Women