This class is the best move

Didn't really learn that much but it was an easy A. Lectures were just him talking about theater and the readings were a bit long, but you don't have to read it if you didn't want to.

TAKE THIS GE!!!

Cannot stress enough how easy and flexible this class was especially when I combined it with two other summer courses (major reqs) and working a part-time job. Dr. Gorshein basically has everything laid out in the syllabus and there are routine discussion posts and quizzes each week relating to the screenings, reading and lecture. There is one essay in this class (~1000-1200 words) but you can write about anything theater-related and Dr. Gorshein is very helpful through the process. I ended up writing about Japanese theater and he gave me lots of resources to support my thesis. **also!! there are three different paper deadlines to choose from, all spaced two weeks from each other so you get to choose when you want to do it by. I chose the earliest just to get it out of the way**
I really liked how quick the TA and professor would respond to emails and the quick feedback we'd get for our quiz, discussion, and essay scores. I have no regrets with this class and highly recommend. It was so relaxing and I actually did enjoy learning about theater with Dr. Gorshein.

Would recommend this class for anyone who needs a summer GE. Weekly discussion posts + 2 weekly quizzes + essay, and it's all asynchronous. The professor releases all the modules at once, where he has pre-recorded lecture videos with provided readings/documentaries. You could get it all done theoretically right away if you wanted to.
The weekly discussion posts are 40% of your grade. They're graded by the TA. ~200 words each, and full points if you address the prompt and analyze that week's readings. Only hard part is keeping the post to around 200 words.
The weekly quizzes are 35% of your grade. There are always 2 quizzes to take. They're based on the topics covered in lecture and in the readings. Automatically graded after submitting on Canvas, and scores are released after a few days of the deadline. Pretty easy.
Then the paper is 25% of your grade. It's graded by your TA. Mine was Janine Rodgers, and she was really nice. We had a choice of when we wanted to submit our papers. You could have it due on Week 3, Week 4, or Week 5, and it would be a different prompt for each deadline. I chose Option B, which was week 4, and the prompt was about theater practices like dialogue and lighting and I got to choose Shrek the Musical as my source for analysis. I think I wrote like 6 pages for it and got a good score (and I did it the day of)
TLDR, good GE for the summer that is adjustable to your schedule

Taking musical theatre history with Professor Gorshein is much like attending a musical: you feel as if you are transported into a whole different realm filled with delightful songs and dance, educational history, and valuable lessons. During every lecture, I found myself travelling back in history to witness the first show boat or on stage singing alongside Dorothy from The Wiz! or dancing with anxious auditionees from The Chorus Line and returning from my adventure with Hamilton stuck in my head -- completely forgetting how I was actually stuck in a miserable little dorm room in the middle of an awful pandemic.

The course covers a variety of musical theatre-related topics and shows in a diverse set of historical contexts. I was absolutely astounded by how much history and interesting information was examined in such a brief 6 weeks! The weekly quizzes are fair and help reinforce both lecture material and assigned readings, which are provided on the course website and neatly organised by week. I really enjoyed the weekly discussion forum posts, where I had the opportunity to both become enlightened by my fellow classmates' diverse perspectives and share a bit of my own insights. Even if you aren't a theatre major or minor, consider taking this course; plenty of my classmates came from south campus and had just as many eye-opening contributions as my fellow performers!

Professor Gorshein truly brings to life such wonderfully intriguing material in the most engaging and effective way. I would certainly recommend this course to anyone who has a passion for history, the performing arts, learning - or all the above!

Easy GE class especially since it was asynchronous during summer. It consisted of a weekly discussion post and 2 MCQ weekly quizzes that weren't hard to do since the answers are in the video transcripts. However, the essay was weighted kind of heavily as I got A's on every assignment but I got a B- on the essay which brought my A to an A- which is still a good grade I guess. Overall, very easy but your grade may depend on how lenient the TA is with your essay and discussion posts.