Hannah Robbins
Assistant Professor in Popular Music/Director of Black Studies, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
Hannah is an expert on the intersections of Blackness, queerness, and gender in American musical theatre. She has published and spoken on queer culture, race representation, and the construction of gender in musicals ranging from The Wizard of Oz to Hamilton. They are currently finishing their first monograph on Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate and have forthcoming publications on the American musical and identity politics through a Black feminist lens.
Expertise Summary
Hannah is a specialist in the Broadway and Hollywood musical, with expertise on the composer and lyricist Cole Porter. She is in the process of preparing and publishing a series of texts on Porter's work and life. She is particularly interested in the intersections between personal identity and popular music. Her general areas of expertise include:
- the Broadway musical
- the Hollywood musical
- Disney on stage and screen
- Cole Porter
- Lena Horne
- race and gender on the musical stage
- Black feminism and music
Teaching Summary
Hannah has taught on a range of modules in musicology, musical theatre, and film. Her interests lie in twentieth-century popular culture, including musical theatre, song on screen, and stardom. She… read more
Research Summary
Hannah is in the process of preparing and publishing a series of texts on the work and life of Cole Porter, including a monograph on the hit musical Kiss Me, Kate (Oxford University Press). She is… read more
Hannah has taught on a range of modules in musicology, musical theatre, and film. Her interests lie in twentieth-century popular culture, including musical theatre, song on screen, and stardom. She has also delivered specific teaching on approaches to race and queerness and supervised dissertations on a variety of topics including Disney, musical theatre, reggae, and ska.
She delivers modules including Performing Popular Music: Issues and Approaches, the Broadway Musical, the Hollywood Musical and Race in Music Theatre.
Current Research
Hannah is in the process of preparing and publishing a series of texts on the work and life of Cole Porter, including a monograph on the hit musical Kiss Me, Kate (Oxford University Press). She is also working on a teaching text offering an intersectional approach to the American musical (Cambridge University Press).
She has publications in press on Cole Porter's life in Paris, on reclaiming Lena Horne's screen legacy, and on representation in the global stage musical.
Past Research
Hannah has published a range of overview chapters and articles about key themes in musical theatre. She has written chapters on queer culture and The Wizard of Oz and on adapting Kiss Me, Kate for screen. You can access her article on the stage adaptation of Frozen here. She has also published short form pieces on Hamilton and Aladdin.