“Unique and provocative in its choice of topic, meticulously researched, thoughtfully conceived, and well written . . . not only timely, relevant, and scholarly but thoroughly enjoyable as a reading experience. Marra’s work may well become the model for similar inquiries into the life, work, and personal relations of other prominent directors, producers, and/or stars and gender relations in the theatre.”---John W. Frick, author, Theatre, Culture and Temperance Reform in Nineteenth-Century America
“Kim Marra’s fresh look at three pairs of male impresarios and their principal actresses draws a new map of the circulation of power in the American theatre of 1865–1914. Marra’s meticulously researched and documented study demonstrates a two-way flow of interests and assets as male managers and their female stars played for and against one another to capture audiences and bookings. Strange Duets is required reading for students and scholars of the modernizing American stage.”---Katherine Kelly, Texas A&M University
"In this innovative, fascinating, and engrossing project, Kim Marra astutely demonstrates how impresario giants—Daly, Frohman, and Belasco—manipulated their leading ladies—Rehan, Adams, and Carter, respectively. Although each exerted his own peculiar strategies, they were all gradations of living puppet masters. While analyzing these unique partnerships, Marra is ever conscious of the roles played by gender, ethnicity, race, class, and, above all, sexuality, providing a unique look at the American theatre of the late nineteenth century."— Don B. Wilmeth, editor,
The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre (2d ed.); coeditor,
The Cambridge History of American Theatre