Musical Comedy in the 1920s and 1930s

This chapter explores British musical comedy of the 1920s and 1930s by focusing on the original London productions of Mister Cinders (1929) and Me and My Girl (1937). These shows present similar Cinderella-type narratives, both with a male protagonist in the Cinderella role, and thereby reflect contemporary class attitudes. Such class-conscious musical comedy can be read as a genteelly British and theatrical form of the carnival culture theorized by Mikhail Bakhtin. The carnival of the shows reflects increased social interaction and class mobility engendered by the impact of modernity and offers communal revitalization for the characters and audiences relative to prevailing social class structures. Such revitalization can be seen to extend beyond the original productions and the chapter ends by considering their nostalgic revivals in the 1980s within the context of Thatcherite class politics.