Product Description

Broadway's top orchestrators - Robert Russell Bennett, Don Walker, Philip J. Lang, Jonathan Tunick - are names well known to musical theatre fans, but few people understand precisely what the orchestrator does. The Sound of Broadway Music is the first book ever written about these unsung stars of the Broadway musical whose work is so vital to each show's success. The book examines the careers of Broadway's major orchestrators and follows the song as it travels from the composer's piano to the orchestra pit. Steven Suskin has meticulously tracked down thousands of original orchestral scores, piecing together enigmatic notes and notations with long-forgotten documents and current interviews with dozens of composers, producers, conductors and arrangers. The information is separated into three main parts: a biographical section which gives a sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre orchestrators, as well as incorporating briefer sections on another thirty arrangers and conductors; a lively discussion of the art of orchestration, written for musical theatre enthusiasts (including those who do not read music); a biographical section which gives a sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre orchestrators, as well as incorporating briefer sections on another thirty arrangers and conductors; and an impressive show-by-show listing of more than seven hundred musicals, in many cases including a song-by-song listing of precisely who orchestrated what along with relevant comments from people involved with the productions. Stocked with intriguing facts and juicy anecdotes, many of which have never before appeared in print, The Sound of Broadway Music brings fascinating and often surprising new insight into the world of musical theatre.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #133007 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 672 pages

Review

"An invaluable book."-Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal
"Entertaining and meticulously researched. The Sound of Broadway Music is chock full of intriguing facts and juicy anecdotes and offers new insight into the world of musical theatre."-Judy Samelson, Playbill
"One of the most magnificent books our favorite art form has ever had"--Peter Filichia, Theatermania.com
"The problem most orchestrators face: No one understands what they do, how they do it, or even who is doing it.. The Sound of Broadway Music will forever change that for lovers of musical theatre. This is probably the most valuable theatre book ever written about a subject you never considered precious --Matthew Murray, Broadwaystars.com
"Steven Suskin's six hundred and fifty pages of information substantiating the contribution of orchestrators to the music of Broadway is nothing less than jaw-dropping. Their working relationship with the composers of Broadway scores and directors of Broadway shows is fascinating in its detail. There can be no comparable feat of research more meticulous than this valuable addition to the history of American musical theater."--Hal Prince, director
"Backstage has been the unwarranted space where the wondrous talent of orchestrators remained until now. Steven Suskin has meticulously opened the curtain so that this array of musical magicians can finally take their long overdue bow. May this composer be among the first to shout, 'Bravo!'"--Jerry Bock, composer
"Fans as well as musical theatre scholars will be forever indebted to Steven Suskin for this book. It's fascinating, entertaining and an essential addition to the literature of American musical theatre."--Michael Feinstein, composer, performer
"Steven Suskin's six hundred and fifty pages of information substantiating the contribution of orchestrators to the music of Broadway is nothing less than jaw-dropping. Their working relationship with the composers of Broadway scores and directors of Broadway shows is fascinating in its detail. There can be no comparable feat of research more meticulous than this valuable addition to the history of American musical theater."--Hal Prince, director
"Suskin does an absolutely masterful job of covering a fascinating but obscure, often arcane and frequently technical subject in a manner that makes it not only understandable but thoroughly fascinating to novice and expert alike. A valuable reference work as well as a history and appreciation of a neglected art."--Potomac Stages
"Backstage has been the unwarranted space where the wondrous talent of orchestrators remained until now. Steven Suskin has meticulously opened the curtain so that this array of musical magicians can finally take their long overdue bow. May this composer be among the first to shout, 'Bravo!'"--Jerry Bock, composer
"When we speak of the historians who write about theater, no we can put Steven Suskin in the circle of the truly great ones. The Sound of Broadway Music will make us have a greater appreciation every time we listen to a Golden Age of Broadway original cast album."--TheaterMania

About the Author

Steven Suskin is the author of numerous books on the Broadway musical, including Show Tunes, Second Act Trouble, and the Opening Night on Broadway series. He has written hundreds of columns and reviews for IPlaybill, Variety and other publications.

Customer Reviews

A One-Of-A-Kind Broadway Reference
Steven Suskin delves deeply into the world of orchestration and music preparation, long neglected to be appreciated and understood by the theatergoing public. The author is able to make the information interesting to the layman, and fascinating to the professional. And now that many college and university music programs include theatre music in their curriculums, the histories and methodologies of those who worked during Broadway's "Golden Age" is more important than ever. I only wish this book was around years ago, when I was starting my career in this business!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About .....
For those of us who listen carefully to orchestrations and think about the people behind the musicals who don't always get recognized, Suskins book is a truly wonderful compendium of the information on the world of orchestrators and orchestrations. From the art of the orchestrator to uncredited collaborators and from the logistics of preparing the music to the the fee per page and royalties comes this along with interesting biographical information. This would be a dream come true except who dared to dream such a book would be conceived, researched or written. The musician, theater-buff, musical historian, and even the back of the house people will enjoy reading more information than has ever been reported on how shows got to sound as they do.

An Invaluable Informative Reading for the Student (and even veteran) of Musical Theatre
This book, coupled with the Library of Congress Symposium, hosted by Mr. Suskin, was one of the highlights of my year. I am a 65 year old musical theatre composer (conductor, arranger, orchestrator, pianist) who has been in the business (albeit as an avocation) all my life, mostly at the amateur, college and secondary school levels. The information presented along with the vivid characterizations of the orchestrators (of whom most avid theatre goers are ignorant)is invaluable to the musical theatre student of any age. With all of the excellent conservatory and university musical theatre programs in existence today (in the 1960s many universities thought musical theatre was beneath them), this book should become a standard text book for all musical theatre students in their junior or senior years, after becoming steeped in the musical theatre literature with which the book deals.