The World of Musical Comedy

by Green, Stanley

• ISBN13: 9780306802072
• ISBN10: 0306802074
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1984-03-21
• Publisher: Da Capo Pr

Summary

Acclaimed through three editions for its uniquely informative and entertaining style, this fourth edition of Stanley Green'sWorld of Musical Comedyupdates and enlarges the theatrical scope to include such recent shows asA Chorus Line, Barnum, They're Playing Our Song, andAnnie. In a format that provides biographies of all the leading figures in the musical's development, Stanley Green manages to convey the spirit of the Broadway stage, its musical make-believe, and yet remain objective about the creative swings in its history and the careers of its individual creators. Everyone is here: Victor Herbert, Sigmund Romberg, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Frank Loesser, Lerner and Loewe, Stephen Sondheim, Cy Coleman, Marvin Hamlisch, and many othersnot in a quick run-through but in vivid detail accompanied by pertinent interviews and photographs.This latest edition contains an expanded appendix that lists the casts, credits, songs, and recordings of every Broadway musical written by these illustrious and industrious composers and librettists. As always in a Stanley Green book, the research is exhaustive and impeccable, the presentation enjoyable, the judgments fair. From America's foremost theater historian, here is another edition of a classic theater chronicle.

Author Biography

Stanley Green, a lecturer, radio commentator, magazine writer, and editor, has authored Starring Fred Astaire, The World of Musical Comedy, The Rodgers and Hammerstein Story, and Ring Bells! Sing Songs!:Broadway Musicals in the 1930's.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Deems Taylor
Preface	xiii
Prologue	1	(8)
Victor Herbert	9	(12)
George M. Cohan	21	(10)
Rudolf Friml, Otto Harbach	31	(10)
Sigmund Romberg	41	(10)
Jerome Kern	51	(16)
Irving Berlin	67	(18)
George and Ira Gershwin	85	(16)
Vincent Youmans	101	(10)
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart	111	(20)
B. G. DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson	131	(12)
Cole Porter	143	(18)
Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz, Dorothy Fields	161	(12)
E. Y. Harburg, Vernon Duke, Harold Arlen, Burton Lane	173	(16)
Harold Rome	189	(8)
Kurt Weill	197	(12)
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II	209	(20)
Leonard Bernstein	229	(8)
Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe	237	(12)
Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green	249	(14)
Frank Loesser, Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Meredith Willson	263	(16)
Bob Merrill	279	(6)
Stephen Sondheim	285	(10)
Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick	295	(10)
Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, Martin Charnin	305	(8)
Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh, Michael Stewart	313	(10)
Jerry Herman	323	(8)
John Kander and Fred Ebb	331	(8)
Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt; Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion; Galt MacDermot; Burt Bacharach and Hal David	339	(16)
Sherman Edwards; Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford; Gary Geld and Peter Udell; Stephen Schwartz	355	(10)
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey; Charlie Smalls; Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, Carole Bayer Sager; Elizabeth Swados; Carol Hall	365	(13)
Appendix	378	(86)
Index	464