The World of Musical Satire

Explore the world of musical satire through many genres, cultures and eras—especially America since 1950. In this course, we cover rock, musical theater, opera, TV, movies, Horace and Juvenal, opera, “Yankee Doodle,” slave satire; and artists including Gilbert & Sullivan, the Gershwins, Tom Lehrer, Randy Newman, Monty Python, Spinal Tap, Key and Peele, Saturday Night Live, South Park, and a bunch of B’s: Leonard Bernstein, the Beatles, Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Bo Burnham and Bugs Bunny. Also, brief exclusive interviews with songwriters, including “Weird Al” Yankovic, Michael Palin (Monty Python), Country Joe McDonald, Mike Stoller (Lieber & Stoller), Terre Roche (The Roches) and Ani DiFranco. This course uses the Hybrid (Flexible) format which allows students to participate remotely and/or in the classroom. This course will be recorded. Students will have access to videos for the duration of the course.