Product Description

Gerald Bordman's American Musical Theatre has become a landmark book since its original publication in 1978. In this third edition, he offers authoritative summaries on the general artistic trends and developments for each season on musical comedy, operetta, revues, and the one-man and one-woman shows from the first musical to the 1999/2000 season. With detailed show, song, and people indexes, Bordman provides a running commentary and assessment as well as providing the basic facts about each production.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #845109 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 936 pages

From Library Journal
Bordman's exhaustive chronology traces the musical from its origins through the 1989-90 season, providing a delightful mix of history, criticism, and theatrical lore. This second edition revises and updates the first ( LJ 10/1/78) and expanded (Oxford Univ. Pr., 1986) editions, most notably in its appendix which covers early popular musical shows and farce-comedies that were not part of mainstream Broadway. Bordman is one of our best critical historians of musical theater, and this very readable work is still the last word on the subject. A required purchase for libraries with either the first edition or no edition at all; those with the expanded version might get by until the next edition.
- Eric W. Johnson, Teikyo Post Univ. Lib., Waterbury, Ct.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Absolutely the best reference of its kind."--Newsweek
"One of the most thorough treatments of the subject to be produced."--RBB/Booklist
"A chronicle of unapproached detail, sweep, and relish."--The Washington Post
"Fun to read...a labor of love."--The New York Times
"THE reference book for the American musical theater...a remarkable achievement."--Musical Opinion

About the Author
Gerald Bordman is the author of many books, including American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Jerome Kern: His Life and Music, and Days to be Happy, Years to be Sad: The Life and Music of Vincent Youmans.

Customer Reviews

American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle
AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE: A CHRONICLE is the definitive work concerning the American musical theatre. It is organized by date of first production, and, as such, presents a picture of each year's musical productions since the beginning of the art form. It is easier to use than Odell's ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK STAGE, and picks up where Odell leaves off. Together they cover the subject exhaustively.

Opinion overrides facts in this less-than-essential tome
In a reference book covering virtually every musical to open on Broadway through the 1989 season, Bordman provides opening dates and theatres for each show.

Unfortunately, Bordman comes across as stuffy old professor who doesn't much like his subject matter. He feels the Broadway musical reached its peak with ROSE MARIE (1924), has little use for the advances in book writing made by Oscar Hammerstein, and has a major dislike of Stephen Sondheim. He downplays the major advances in musical theatre made in the 1970s by Hal Prince, Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett, and others. He also takes an annoying condescending approach to most serious musicals preferring the fun and frivolity of the operettas and musical comedies of the 1920s. Of course the author is entitled to his opinion, but the book would be more useful if he delved more deeply into the reasons why this type of entertainment has changed, instead of just bemoaning the changes.

While it is somewhat useful to have the key data in one volume, the stuffiness or the writing, the lack of insight and the fact that the book is now 15 years out-of-date render it less than essential.

Paragraph description on EVERY show
I just finished reading all 821 pages of this book (no pictures), and am very proud of myself for having done so.

This reference book chronicles Musical Theatre in America, show-by-show, starting in 1757 (!) and reaching all the way to 2000. Paragraphs are given for each show and can be found in chronological order of their opening nights. Revivals are also discussed on their opening nights.

Despite the repetitive setup of the book's information, Bordman is able for the most part to write entertaining yet dense descriptions of the show's plot, hit songs, message, and overall run. Although he spends more time on Musical Theatre's great hits (the biggest hits get a full page or two), some of Bordman's best writing moments come during his descriptions of some of Broadway's awful flops.

Other reviewers of this book criticize that Bordman has less to say about musicals since 1960. I find this also to be true in some respects. In Bordman's defense, this is in part due to the decline in Broadway's quality in the 1970s and 80s. Bordman clearly comes from the camp of critics who feel that The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Cats, while popular, are not as artistically relevant as Oklahoma! and Show Boat. Bordman is also no fanatic of Sondheim, as well, although he recognizes his lyric-writing genius. For these reasons, the book gets four stars.

Having read the entire book, however, I must say that I know a lot more about American Musical Theatre than I did before, and probably know more by reading this book than by reading any other. For libraries this book is a MUST have. It's not cheap, but neither is any other 900-page hardcover book. If you are looking for the ultimate reference on American Musical Theatre, this is it.