Deborah Rifkin, Professor of Music Theory, published a review of four textbooks geared towards teaching musicianship and analysis to musical theatre students in Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy. https://jmtp.appstate.edu/review-musical-theory-musical-theatre-music-theory-through-musical-theatre-putting-it-together-music
The review is co-authored with Nathan Beary Blustein (American University) and Elizabeth Gerbi (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival).
In response to a surge in new musical theatre programs, there is a growing market for textbooks geared exclusively and specifically to musical theatre students. Their musical education tends to be compressed in order to incorporate adequate time for acting, dance and general theatre arts requirements. Along with condensed instructional time, there is also much variability in pre-college pathways into undergraduate theatre programs, resulting in specific pedagogical challenges that these textbooks aim to address. This extensive review not only identifies strengths and weaknesses of each approach, but also provides an overview of trends in this emerging subfield.