Providing specific examples explain how the musical theatre has historically explored multiculturalism

What will be an ideal response?

Musical theatre was one of the first forms to explore multicultural elements and themes. The first African-American musical, Shuffle Along, appeared on Broadway in the 1920s. That same decade, Showboat, explored the impact of anti-miscegenation laws on race relations. In the 1950s, West Side Story explored cultural clashes in the US. More recently, Parade used a historic court case to expose religious intolerance and anti-Semitism in the American South. In all of these examples, musical and dance texts reflected particular cultural idioms or an outsider's concept of music and dance texts of other cultures, reinforcing the thematic material presented in the written book.