Cantu, Maya2016-11-012016-11-012014New England Theatre Journal. 2014, Vol. 25, p49-69. 21p.http://hdl.handle.net/11209/10527Billed as a "Modern Musical Comedy with Old-Fashioned Charm," the Civil War-set Bloomer Girl (1944) followed Oklahoma! as part of a World War ll-era cycle of Broadway musicals steeped in period Americana. This article argues that Bloomer Girl - connecting First-wave feminism to Rosie the Riveter, and the abolitionist movement with civil rights - offered a complex vision of progressive nostalgia, advancing utopian aims of social justice that anticipate Finian's Rainbow.enWomen's rights -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Drama.Race discrimination -- United States -- Drama.Article