Pop Music as a Major Player in Vogel's Work

A major character in both of her plays is also the music that she chooses to have played throughout. While Li'l Bit is being molested by her uncle, a pop song from the era hums from the car radio. While Myrna catches her fiance in bed with her twin sister, it is easy to imagine a popular Nancy Sinatra song playing in the cheap hotel.

Vogel does this very consciously, and the reasons are twofold. First and foremost, the subject matter that she is dealing with is extremely relevant in popular culture. She is not writing about some war overseas or some superprivate CIA intelligence operation. The subjects she is writing about are things that everyday people, the kinds who would have listened to Doris Day or Buddy Holly, would deal with. Furthermore, the popular music that Vogel employs does an effective job of transporting the audience into the time period in which the plays are set. As a member of the audience, it is easy to imagine yourself as a teenager during the Eisenhower administration when the pop hits of the era are permeating your consciousness.