A KU scholar’s new book chronicles the impact of hip-hop on musical theater

University of Kansas associate professor Nicole Hodges Persley's new book illuminates hip-hop’s historical and contemporary significance to musical theater — even beyond "Hamilton."
Of course, there’s "Hamilton: The Musical." But hip-hop became a part of musical theater long before Lin-Manuel Miranda's juggernaut hit the stage in 2015.

According to Nicole Hodges Persley, a University of Kansas associate professor of American Studies and African & African-American Studies, mainstream theater is in the middle of a cultural reckoning.

“I think we're in a watershed moment in the American theater of asking...who those shows are serving,” Hodges Persley told KCUR’s Up To Date.

Hodges Persley’s new book “Hip-Hop in Musical Theatre” takes a chronological look at the various, and not always obvious, ways hip-hop culture has influenced musicals since the early 1970s.