The first comprehensive, authoritative guide to all things queer and musical: pop, rock, jazz, disco, dance, opera, and musical theater.

What did Alvin Ailey's mother do when she first saw him in stage makeup? Why did George Frideric Handel censor his unpublished pastoral cantatas in the 1730s? How many degrees separate Gore Vidal from Cole Porter's 1948 Broadway musical, Kiss Me Kate? Find the answers and much, much more in The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance & Musical Theater.

Drawn from the fascinating online encyclopedia of queer arts and culture, which The Advocate dubbed the "Encyclopedia Britanniqueer" his compendium of all things queer and beautiful features over 200 articles on composers, choreographers, singers, musicians, and dancers across eras and styles.

Perfect for settling arguments or for a serene hour by a sunny window, this is the kind of reference book you can't tear yourself away from, with authoritative overviews on genres and gay-themed works and biographical entries on figures like Jerome Robbins, Noêl Coward, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Diaghilev, Bessie Smith, Stephen Sondheim, Rufus Wainwright, and Ani DiFranco.

Praise for The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts:

"Indispensable for aficionados." —Out magazine

"A treat for casual fans and hardcore enthusiasts." —The Washington Blade

"The best introduction to the major themes and artists associated with queer art currently available." —Library Journal

CLAUDE J. SUMMERS, Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at the University of Michigan Dearborn, is the editor of The Queer Encyclopedia of Film & Television, The Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts and The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage. The general editor of glbtq.com, he lives in New Orleans.

Also by Claude J. Summers