Author: Claude J. Summers

Claude J. Summers is a literary scholar and editor whose work connects historical research with reference writing on literature and performance. The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater, published by Cleis Press in 2004, collects more than two hundred articles on composers, singers, musicians, dancers, choreographers, genres, and stage traditions. Summers edited the volume as part of the wider glbtq encyclopedia project, placing biographical entries beside essays on opera, ballet, cabaret, disco, hip-hop, music video, and activism. That structure lets readers follow both individual careers and the cultural settings in which performance developed. The book’s examples range from Tchaikovsky and Bessie Smith to Stephen Sondheim, Alvin Ailey, Rufus Wainwright, and Ani DiFranco. The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater reflects careful editorial organization and an interest in recovering artistic histories that conventional reference works often separated or overlooked. Its cross-references help connect people, forms, venues, and movements without reducing performance history to a sequence of isolated biographies.