Product Description

From the silver screen to the Great White Way, small community theatres to television sets, the musical has long held a special place in America's heart and history. Now, in The Oxford Companion to the American Musical, readers who flocked to the movies to see An American in Paris or Chicago, lined up for tickets to West Side Story or Rent, or crowded around their TVs to watch Cinderella or High School Musical can finally turn to a single book for details about them all. For the first time, this popular subject has an engaging and authoritative book as thrilling as the performances themselves.

With more than two thousand entries, this illustrated guide offers a wealth of information on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, and much more. Biographical entries range from early stars Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, and Mae West to contemporary show-stoppers Nathan Lane, Savion Glover, and Kristin Chenoweth, while composers Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Andrew Lloyd Webber all have articles, and the choreography of Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, and Debbie Allen receives due examination. The plays and films covered range from modern hits like Mamma Mia! and Moulin Rouge! to timeless classics such as Yankee Doodle Dandy and Show Boat. Also, numerous musicals written specifically for television appear throughout, and many entries follow a work-Babes in Toyland for example-as it moves across genres, from stage, to film, to television. The Companion also includes cross references, a comprehensive listing of recommended recordings and further reading, a useful chronology of all the musicals described in the book, plus a complete index of Tony Award and Academy Award winners.

Whether you are curious about Singin' in the Rain or Spamalot, or simply adore The Wizard of Oz or Grease, this well-researched and entertaining resource is the first place to turn for reliable information on virtually every aspect of the American musical.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137627 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 960 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—From The Beggar's Opera (1750) and The Black Crook (1866) to Wicked (2003) and High School Musical 2 (2007), this volume offers a clearly written, comprehensive overview of the American musical theater on the stage, silver screen, and small screen. The 2000-plus entries are brief but detailed accounts of plots; production histories; careers of actors, dancers, musicians, lyricists, composers, choreographers, and directors; organizations; and genres (animated musicals, frontier musicals). Small icons identify the title entries as stage, film, or TV shows. Cast lists in shaded text boxes include members of different productions of the same work. Other boxes list songs from many of the best-known shows and information such as "Longest-Running Off-Broadway Musicals" and "Musicals Nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award." Related biographies and autobiographies are listed at the end of the personal entries. Black-and-white captioned photographs are scattered throughout. The opening "List of Entries" helps make this a browsing delight for casual fans, while appendixes that include "Awards," "Guide to Recordings," and a bibliography of general works about musicals make it a valuable tool for researchers. This thorough work provides enjoyable reading for anyone interested in American theatrical history in general and musicals in particular.—Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Hischak, author of 16 books on theater, film, and popular music, offers an informative look at American (and some non-American) musicals as they have been presented on stage, screen, and television. In his preface, he illustrates how the American musical has evolved over the past 140 years from the “five-hour-long extravaganza,” The Black Crook, in 1866, to the popular teenybopper television event, High School Musical 2, in 2007.  Entries are well researched and written. Among the 2,000-plus entries are those for composers, performers, directors, choreographers, etc., and for individual musical works. The personal entries feature basic biographical information and chronicle the works the artists helped create in a readable narrative style. The remaining entries are for musical-theater works, with particular emphasis on those produced in more than one medium (e.g., The King and I,  Little Shop of Horrors, etc.) Informative histories of the musicals are followed by  separate entries for productions in different media, helping the reader to focus attention on the history of each, and Hischak notes the similarities and differences and highlights the advantages or pitfalls of one medium over the other. He precedes each work entry with a theater, film, or television icon for easy identification. Hischak also lists cast members for the major musicals, including the important stage, television, and film performers, along with dates of the productions; and in some cases, he lists the important songs. Useful appendixes include “Chronology of Musicals,” “Awards,” and “Guide to Recordings.” There are many encyclopedias on Broadway and musical-theater themes, most notably The Virgin Encyclopedia of Stage and Film Musicals (1999), Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (2d ed., 2001), and Broadway Musicals, 1943–2004 (2006). Hischak’s new volume adds to this group admirably by offering more up-to-date works and expanding beyond Broadway. Recommended for public and academic libraries. --Steven York

Review

"A magnificent new book about the American musical."--Playbill
"Kudos to Thomas Hischak for The Oxford Companion to the American Musical. Resources such as these are extremely important, not only as historic and academic records, but for future generations of artists who need to understand the legacy they have inherited."--Carol Channing
"Everything you ever wanted to know about the American musical--at your fingertips. What could be better, or more useful?"--Marvin Hamlisch
"Enjoy as I did this wonderful book as you discover the place of the musical in history and its gift for the future."--Jonathan Pryce
"I can't imagine a more comprehensive and useful book for anyone who works in musicals or who simply loves them. It's a great research tool, but also a book to read for the sheer pleasure of finding out anything and everything there is to know on the subject. I'll be referring to it constantly." -Lynn Ahrens
"How wonderful it is to have the entire history of the American musical theater, both on stage and on film, now available in one handy volume. Amazingly comprehensive and thoroughly researched, The Oxford Companion to the American Musical is a must for any theater professional or any theater fan." - Stephen Flaherty
"Join us, leave your fields to flower and journey through this explosive, informative book that is keeping our legacy of the arts alive." - Ben Vereen
"How wonderful it is to have the entire history of the American musical theater, both on stage and on film, now available in one handy volume. Amazingly comprehensive and thoroughly researched, The Oxford Companion to the American Musical is a must for any theater professional or any theater fan."--Stephen Flaherty, Tony and Drama Desk award-winning composer of Ragtime, Once on this Island, and Seussical
"[A] brightly written and handsomely laid-out single-volume reference guide The Oxford Companion's strength lies not only in the breadth of its research but in the ability to capture both minor and major artists and musical projects in just a few words."-Robert Viagas, American Theatre
"The Oxford imprint has long been associated with solidly researched, intelligent reference works. The Oxford Companion to the American Musical is no exception. Whether you buy it as a gift for a friend or yourself, it's too much fun to pick up for quick browsing and too full of interesting facts to gather dust on the bookshelf."--CurtainUp.com
"This is an impressive single-volume resource targeting this beloved American form....While some of the facts can be found in other sources...this title is considerably more comprehensive....Recommended for all music aficionados, students, public, and academic libraries."--Library Journal
"This volume is an essential reference work on the shelves of all performing arts collections, large public libraries, academic libraries, and the personal libraries of individuals committed to the American musical."--American Reference Books Annual Online

Customer Reviews

The Book every musical fanatic needs!
The Oxford Companion to the American Musical is a surprisingly detailed overview of the the American musicals of Broadway, film and television as witnessed/researched through author Thomas Hischak. The most exciting part of this book is its careful research of the television musical, until now all but glossed over in books on the subject of musical theatre. There was a point in time where television churned out musicals and it is nice to see them get their due. Holiday Specials by Rankin and Bass added much to our song lexicon and it is nice to see them so well represented.

Obviously, the book has its omissions, something that is inevitable when a book has this size and scope. But entries are lovingly chosen and carefully researched and those that are left out are judiciously put aside, or accounted for under other entries. For example: I am a big fan of the musical flop Nick and Nora. N&N does not have it's own entry, but it is mentioned in several other places such us under Joanna Gleason's entry.It is amazing, through cross referencing, just how much author Hischak has accounted for.

One special note: an earlier reviewer of this book makes mention of the musical Destry Rides Again as being named merely "Destry." This is false, as any student of Stanley Greene's Broadway Musicals: Show By Show will tell you. The musical was indeed called Destry Rides Again.

Any true fan of musical theatre will find minor quibbles with any book that may leave out the particular pieces of minutia that fascinate them. However, this book is one of the best of its kind and it is cram packed FULL of wonderful details and oft cast aside information. A must read.

Excellent Musical Theatre Reference
THE OXFORD COMPANION TO THE AMERICAN MUSICAL by Thomas Hischak is a superior and up to date comprehensive reference book devoted to the American Musical Theatre, encompassing Film and Television as well. The research is solid, accurate and thorough; not surprising given Mr Hischak's previously published works in this area. He has become one of the foremost authorities on the American Musical experience, as this most recent volume ably demonstrates. Mr Hischak's book is a rock solid source for anyone in the profession, or any theatre lover in the audience, and a valuable addition to the bookshelf.
Sandra Zecchini PhD
Tennessee

Believe Marni!
Poor stupid me! After 60 years of seeing musicals on Broadway and myriad other theaters, in films, and on television, after directing many and even writing one, I derived infinite pleasure from wandering through the pages of Thomas Hischak's Oxford Companion. Little did I know that I should have been looking for omissions and confusions to carp about. I was just enjoying the fantastic feast of theatrical lore, trivia, and history spread out before me. I'd start reading one of the entries and find myself eagerly chasing down cross-references that usually fed me interesting facts I hadn't known or had long forgotten (and what a pleasure to have something long forgotten brought back to one's consciousness!).
For example, I had never known of Louise Beavers's career as a singer, having known her only as the perennial maid/cook roles that Hollywood put her great talent into. But I was looking at Holiday Inn, one of my favorite of all time Christmas treats, and came across that surprising cross-reference.
Oh, one could carp. Why is there no entry for James Jewel, the handsome tenor who toured the country with Nancy Walker in On the Town? Why doesn't the author list all the songs of the seminal Mask and Wig Club productions? Why doesn't he mention Richard Whiting's other daughter, Barbara?
Who cares? There is enough material there for a lifetime of pleasurable browsing. Take Marni Nixon's advice: "Simply enjoy it." I sure am.