Why We Build the Wall (Hadestown)
Why do we build the wall? Immigration issues, and the desire by some to restrict immigration, have prompted discussions of building a wall in the United States. Learn more about…
Read MoreCategory: Labor Economics/Unions/Unemployment
Beauty School Dropout (Grease)
In “Beauty School Dropout”, Frenchy is seeking advice after recently failing all of her classes and dropping out of beauty school. The heavenly Teen Angel accompanied by back-up singing angels…
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Vanilla Ice Cream (She Loves Me)
Amalia is thinking about writing a letter to a potential suitor, but gets distracted because Georg recently brought her ice cream when she was sick. The fact that Georg brought…
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The World Will Know (Newsies)
Outraged after publisher Joseph Pulitzer increases the cost of newspapers for the delivery boys (“newsies”) by ten cents per hundred, head newsie Jack Kelly organizes a union and ultimately a…
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Try Me (She Loves Me)
In “Try Me”, delivery boy Arpad Laszlo is pleading for a promotion. After two years of self-training in Maraczek’s Parfumerie to prepare himself for a potential new job as a…
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Shipyard (The Last Ship)
The musical The Last Ship is set in Wallsend, England. In this town, there is one shipyard that will close in the near future. The workers sing about how “the only…
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7 1/2 Cents (The Pajama Game)
The singers discuss the many things they could do by earning 7 ½ cents an hour, a wage that is about 1/100th of the current US minimum wage. A great…
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Life Story (Closer Than Ever)
The singer discusses her life story in this song, starting with her “liberated marriage”. Many economic concepts are covered here, including: * college tuition costs * the loss of human…
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What Kind of Man? (Curtains)
The singers here describe a job that is so terrible and that only a disgusting person could possibly take it. (For those who haven’t seen this clip before, I won’t…
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