Harvey Scott McMillin Jr., a renowned Cornell professor of English who died unexpectedly March 29, 2006, has posthumously won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for his 2006 book, "The Musical as Drama."

The Nathan is the top professional drama criticism award in the United States. Established and endowed by Cornellian George Jean Nathan (1905-1958), the distinguished theater critic and newspaper editor, the award is bestowed annually by chairs and senior theater scholars of the Departments of English at Cornell, Princeton and Yale universities. It consists of $10,000 and an engraved trophy. McMillin's widow, Sally, will accept the trophy from the Cornell Department of English in spring 2008.

Nathan judges consider drama criticism published in newspapers, magazines, online sites and books. Michael Cadden of Princeton nominated McMillin's critical study. "It will make a big difference in all our future visits to musicals," Cadden said, adding that "it makes us not so embarrassed to love musicals" -- especially as McMillin, who taught a popular Cornell class on the Broadway musical, poses the question not of whether musical theater is serious enough for university courses but, rather, "Is the university up to the musical?"

The Nathan prize committee agreed that "The Musical as Drama" is a major scholarly work but is also eminently readable. It examines particular moments of performance in musicals where, according to McMillin's thesis, the forward action of the drama is arrested and seduced into repetition, the defining characteristic of American musical theater. By looking closely at major musical moments like "You'll Never Walk Alone" in "Carousel" or "Why Can't the English" in "My Fair Lady," McMillin "conjures emotion and makes visible what conjured it," according to Cadden.

McMillin was a member of the Cornell Department of English for more than four decades, teaching mostly in the field of Renaissance drama. His other books are "The Queen's Men and Their Plays, 1583-1603," "Shakespeare in Performance: Henry IV, Part One" and "The Elizabethan Theatre and 'The Book of Sir Thomas More.'"