American Musicals 1993

**This stamp set is a part of the Legends of American Music series. Make sure to check out my hub page dedicated to this long-running and important project of the United States Postal Service.

The great majority of my posts are about stamps that I really like. In some instances, I write posts about subjects that I find interesting, even if I don’t “love” the stamp designs. That is basically how I collect, and suspect this is true for others as well.

This post is different. While I love Broadway musicals, I find this series of stamps more confusing than anything. First of all, the set is a part of the Legends of American Music series. However, these are the only stamps (out of more than 70) that do not feature individual musicians. That alone makes them very strange, it is not like stamps were made for individual songs or great albums. Secondly, I find the stamps largely unattractive. Finally, while the four musicals are all masterpieces of the Broadway repertoire, they do not show the diversity or the history of the art from. So warning up front, this post is more of a rant than others.

The Broadway stamp series was issued on July 14, 1993 in New York City – the home of Broadway! That means they are early in the Legends series, right after the rock & roll / R&B set. Apparently they also celebrate the centennial of the Broadway Theater District near Times Square. This really makes me wonder if the Broadway stamps were already in planning when the Legends series began. I could see a situation where there was already a set of stamps being made and they shoehorned it into the larger series. Let’s examine the stamps and the shows.

Showboat

The Four musicals in the series are Show Boat, Porgy & Bess, Oklahoma!, and My Fair Lady. The first in the Scott Number sequence is Show Boat so I will start there. Show Boat is a masterpiece of American art, period. The story is based on a 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The book for the Broadway show is by Oscar Hammerstein II, who collaborated on the lyrics with P. G. Wodehouse. Jerome Kern wrote the music. Immediately after its premiere in 1927 it was lauded as a great work, and its seriousness changed musical theater. Previously, Broadway was dominated by frivolous light operettas and revues. Show Boat highlights issues of racial discrimination in the Jim Crow south and follows the forty year arc of a tragic love story. Learn more about Showboat.

I take no issue with Show Boat being featured on a stamp. The design however? It is just not attractive, but that is true of all the stamps in this set. The two main characters whose love story forms the story are prominent. The male lead, Gaylord Ravenal, is kissing the hand of Magnolia Hawks who faces away. This captures the troubled 40-year relationship at the heart of this story. In the foreground is a character that looks like Colonel Sanders playing the violin. While I am not sure, it may represent Cap’n Andy Hawks who owns the river boat where the action takes place. It certainly captures the time, and the performance quality of the troupe in which the story is based.

Porgy & Bess

If one were to make a list of other American masterpieces across genres that was an equal to Show Boat, Porgy & Bess would surely make the list. However, the show is usually considered to be the great American opera. While it has been performed on Broadway stages multiple times, including a 1935 production, and most recently one featuring Audra McDonald in 2012. The George Gershwin show is based in a poor Black enclave of Charleston, South Carolina. In it, Porgy is a disabled Black man who tries to rescue Bess from an abusive lover and a drug dealer.

The show is such an important piece of American literature that is deserves recognition on a stamp. Yet to have it be one of four stamps celebrating Broadway is a little questionable, perhaps if the set was ten stamps this wouldn’t feel like an outlier. It would have been far better to have Porgy & Bess as a single stamp, or have a set of several stamps celebrating its place in American music and theater.

Oklahoma!

There is no question that Oklahoma! is another masterpiece of Broadway. Is it at the same level of importance and artistic quality as Show Boat and Porgy & Bess? I don’t think so. Yet, it should be in any group of great American musicals. The musical is in the tradition of Show Boat with a wonderfully large cast, beautiful music, and yet a serious piece of theater. I actually find the stamp to be the most attractive in the set. Maybe it is because it is an action scene featuring a cowboy and a pioneer woman dancing. That captures the spirit of the musical in a quick glance.

My Fair Lady

This is the point where I will probably face disagreement. The final stamp in the series feature the musical My Fair Lday. While this is a fun show, in my estimation it is nowhere in the same league as the previous three works. It is a light show based on the story of Pygmalion in which an upper class professor and phonetician bets a colleague that he can train the lower class Eliza Doolittle to pass as a refined lady. The story revolves around the idea that one’s class is so often determined and judged based on one’s language and accent.

There are a few classic songs from the show including “I Could Have Danced All Night” and the love song “On the Street Where You Live.” Yet, I would argue that neither the story itself or the music should place it in the company of the previous works. I also dislike the design. While it is obvious the two main characters are represented, the scene is quite dull and the pallette muted. It is true to the spirit of the play, but not a terribly effective stamp.

Final Thoughts

So now I get to my main point. This group of four shows is a small slice of musical theater. The latest of the four shows is My Fair Lady, which was produced on Broadway in 1956. There are nearly four decades of amazing musicals that would stretch the genre in new ways, none of which were included in the series.

A series of stamps featuring Broadway Musicals as one of America’s great art forms, should probably be much larger. Perhaps a group of eight or even ten musicals should have been made. In a group of that size, Porgy & Bess, straddling the line between Broadway and opera would not feel as conspicuous for its inclusion. If the purpose was to celebrate the “best” Broadway musicals, then a list that included South Pacific, West Side Story, and Gypsy would have made the four chosen feel all of a quality.

Yet, I would argue that such a group should celebrate the diversity and history of the art form. In addition to those just mentioned, how about Company, Chicago, and A Chorus Line? Or include Fiddler on the Roof, Hair, and The Wiz as examples adopting the form with greatly expanded musical styles. Since I am not fantasizing, I can come to 2020 and include Hamilton as another musical that greatly expanded the art form. Heck, at this point, I’d say its time to propose a new and much larger series of postage stamps that celebrate the American musical. Also, hopefully, the designs could be much more dynamic and truly capture the energy of the Broadway stage.

Now, let’s celebrate the great music in these four productions! Here is a Paul Robeson from the 1936(!!!) movie version of Show Boat singing “Ol Man River.”