Lady Romeo: The Radical and Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America's First Celebrity
by Tana Wojczuk
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For fans of Book of Ages and American Eve, this illuminating and enthralling biography of 19th-century queer actress Charlotte Cushman portrays her radical lifestyle that riveted New York City and made headlines across America. . . From the very beginning, she was a radical. At age nineteen, Charlotte Cushman, America's beloved actress and the country's first true celebrity, left her life, and countless suitors, behind to make it as a Shakespearean actress. After revolutionizing the role of show more Lady Macbeth in front of many adoring fans, she went on the road, performing in cities across a dividing America and building her fame. She was everywhere. And yet, her name has faded in the shadows of history. . . Now, for the first time in decades, Cushman's story comes to full and brilliant life in this definitive, exhilarating, and enlightening biography of the 19th-century icon. With rarely seen letters, Wojczuk reconstructs the formative years of Cushman's life, set against the excitement and drama of New York City in the 1800s, featuring a cast of luminaries and revolutionaries that changed the cultural landscape of America forever. . . A vivid portrait of an astonishing and uniquely American life, Lady Romeo reveals one of the most remarkable women in United States history, and restores her to the center stage where she belongs. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This was a really interesting look at a woman who was unbelievably famous in her time, but who history and changing social mores forgot. It was fascinating to see how entwined with more well-known historical figures and how her legacy lives on in some of the ways we approach Shakespeare today, including repipularizing the use of the original text of Romeo and Juliet instead of a ubiquitous bowdlerizarion that had been popular in the 19th century. Her dedication to and patronage of the art of other women of the time is also remarkable and inspiring.
I'd definitely recommend this for anyone interested in a fierce woman and some lesser-known, nearly-lost history
I'd definitely recommend this for anyone interested in a fierce woman and some lesser-known, nearly-lost history
This is the interesting biography of a famous American celebrity you've never heard of. Charlotte Cushman was an actress in the 19th century who lived on her own terms and crossed paths with the likes of Whitman, Hawthorne, Emerson, and Lincoln. She lived life on her own terms-lesbian, supported her family, and was famous for playing Lady Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo.
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Author Information
2 Works 53 Members
Tana Wojczuk is an editor at Guernica and a senior lecturer at New York University. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, the Chicago Review of Books, The Believer, VICE, Tin House, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Awards and Honors
Awards
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Common Knowledge
- Epigraph
- It is that which is under pressure,
particularly the pressure of concealment,
that explodes into poetry.
-Adrienne Rich - First words
- The crown was made of pale green laurel, fit for a Caesar, and tied with a white ribbon to symbolize royalty. A handsome young actor carried it onstage on a cushioned of purple velvet. Charlotte had chosen a simple dress for ... (show all)the occasion, in a gray silk that matched the steel in her hair. Now in her late fifties, Charlotte had already spent a lifetime being judged by the press, who found her "lantern jaw" ugly but her performances "electrifying." One friend said her mouth was like "the Arc de Triomphe" (it was both a jibe and a compliment). As she greeted the audience, her large, deep-set gray eyes lit up with pleasure. -Prologue
If Charlotte Cushman's life were a play, it would begin like something out of Shakespeare with nature's rebellion and man's disquiet.
The great experiment of America was only a half-century old. Despite American Ind... (show all)ependence, the British still loudly disrespected American sovereignty. America was by many accounts hardly a country at all. "The effect of democracy," wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America, first published in 1835, "is not exactly to give men any particular manners, but to prevent them from having manners at all." And if there was one thing American men lacked, it was manners. They drank too much, swore profanely, and spit on the floor. Abroad, America was considered a "vulgar" nation populated by "the dregs of Europe" and "religious fanatics" who were not educated or aristocratic enough to govern themselves. -Chapter One, The First Disaster - Canonical DDC/MDS
- 792.02
- Canonical LCC
- PN2287.C8
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, LGBTQ+, History, General Nonfiction, Sexuality and Gender Studies
- DDC/MDS
- 792.02 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Stage presentations modified standard subdivisions Techniques, procedures, apparatus, equipment, materials, miscellany
- LCC
- PN2287 .C8 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Drama Dramatic representation. The theater Special regions or countries
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 52
- Popularity
- 583,351
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 2
