The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
Published: November 18, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9781555536237
Subjects: History of specific subjects; Musical theatre; 20th century; c 1800 to c 1900; New York (State); History and criticism; Performing Arts; Theater - History & Criticism; Performing Arts/Dance; New York; Genres & Styles - Musicals; Theater - Broadway & Musical Revue; Music / General; Genres & Styles - Pop Vocal; Broadway (New York, N.Y.); Musicals
First sentence: Irving Berlin. Jerome Kern. Richard Rodgers. Cole Porter. George Gershwin. Harold Arlen. Arthur Schwartz. Burton Lane. Harry Warren. Frank Loesser. Harold Rome. Vincent Youmans. Pick your own list of the great standards these and other song composers of the golden age created for the Broadway musical.
Description: "Mark N. Grant thoroughly investigates all aspects of the Broadway musical as he traces the transformation of singing and melody, libretto and lyric writing, dance rhythms, sound design, and choreography and stage direction through three distinct eras: the formative period (1866-1927), the golden age (1927-1966), and the fall (1967 to the present). He explores how and why the unsophisticated genre of pre-1920s musical comedy evolved into the creative, innovative, and immensely popular theater produced by the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and then steadily faded as a significant entertainment genre in American culture."--Jacket.