Product Description

Just in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Broadway comes the first book on the subject that is as lively and as visually rich as a Broadway show. This lush celebration chronicles the 101 most influential, popular, and enduring shows—along the way profiling dozens of composers, writers, performers, designers, and others who have contributed to the art form. Expert commentary sets the shows in historical and cultural context and provides an unparalleled overview of musicals from their roots in 19th-century operetta through today’s technically ingenious and stylistically diverse productions. The 850 photographs—most never before published or seen—provide glimpses of legendary performances that were thought lost forever, and a brand-new view of the art form, even for diehard aficionados. Plot synopses, cast and song lists, production details, backstage anecdotes, and quotations supplement the text and pictures for every entry. Special illustrated features throughout the book include Cast Albums, Guilty Pleasures, Off Broadway, Notable Flops, Film Stars Who Attempted Broadway, Great Scores from So-so Shows, Posters, and more. A Foreword by musical theatre (and television) legend Jerry Orbach lends an insider’s view.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131529 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Format: Abridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Review
"I nearly missed deadline for this column, thanks to Broadway Musicals...It's one of those great browser books that can eat up an hour before you realize it. For any theater fan or musical buff it is a perfect abridged education."
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Minneapolis Star-Tribune )

"I was happy to leaf through this very weighty tome (with some of the finest color photos I've ever seen in such an archival volume on nearly every page) and match my own favorites against those of the authors....by the time you make it through the catalogue...you will have hummed at least a hundred tunes and been reminded of what a dazzling achievement this theatrical form has been. And for holiday shoppers in search of the perfect gift for musical mavens, here's the grail."
—Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times (Chicago Sun-Times )

"This massive, lavishly printed tome is almost a coffee-table unto itself. A must-have for the Broadway fanatic."
—Time Out New York (Time Out New York )

I nearly missed deadline for this column, thanks to Broadway Musicals...It's one of those great browser books that can eat up an hour before you realize it. For any theater fan or musical buff it is a perfect abridged education.Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Minneapolis Star-Tribune )

I was happy to leaf through this very weighty tome (with some of the finest color photos I've ever seen in such an archival volume on nearly every page) and match my own favorites against those of the authors....by the time you make it through the catalogue...you will have hummed at least a hundred tunes and been reminded of what a dazzling achievement this theatrical form has been. And for holiday shoppers in search of the perfect gift for musical mavens, here's the grail.Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times (Chicago Sun-Times )

This lush and relatively inexpensive coffeetable book is one that fans of musicals will actually read and talk about...These are not the same old glossies we've seen a thousand times, but fresh and rare photographs, many from private collections, that capture the essence of the show's greatness. Then there's the presentation: lively, opinionated, sometimes deliciously gossipy writing...This book is a must for fans of musical theater."
—Hartford Courant (Hartford Courant )

This lush and relatively inexpensive coffeetable book is one that fans of musicals will actually read and talk about...These are not the same old glossies we've seen a thousand times, but fresh and rare photographs, many from private collections, that capture the essence of the show's greatness. Then there's the presentation: lively, opinionated, sometimes deliciously gossipy writing...This book is a must for fans of musical theater.Hartford Courant (Hartford Courant )

This massive, lavishly printed tome is almost a coffee-table unto itself. A must-have for the Broadway fanatic.Time Out New York (Time Out New York )

Review
"Your Broadway book is a marvel. Handsome, incisive, affectionate—and so useful."
—Harold Prince, producer and director

About the Author
KEN BLOOM is the author of three seminal works on American popular song: American Song, Hollywood Song, and Tin Pan Alley. His Broadway: An Encyclopedic Guide to the History, People, and Places of Times Square was named one of the top reference books of the year by the New York Public Library and was recently reissued in a new edition. In 2003 he published Jerry Herman: The Lyrics and a two-volume history of Twentieth-Century Fox music. Bloom is also a playwright, a theatre director, a radio host, an arts consultant, and the president of Harbinger Records.

FRANK VLASTNIK is an actor who appeared in the original casts of the Broadway musicals Big, Sweet Smell of Success, and A Year with Frog and Toad, as well as the New York premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Saturday Night. This is his first foray into writing, having previously done the photo research and editing for Ken Bloom’s Jerry Herman and Richard Norton’s A Chronology of American Musical Theatre.

Customer Reviews

The BROADWAY MUSICALS Book of the Year
"Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Musicals of All Time" is a theatrical banquet, a party at Mame's Beekman Place apartment, an airbourne ride after Peter Pan sprinkles fairy dust, a red staircase entrance into Harmonia Gardens. It's WHY we love the musical theatre. I hardly agree with all of the authors' choices, but that's the fun of the book. Easily four dozen photos (mostly in color and magnificently reproduced) made me delirious: Angela Lansbury blowing her bugle in "Mame," Beatrice Lillie and Tammy Grimes in "High Spirits," Carol Channing's "Hello, Dolly!" second act entrance, 21-year-old and still-spontaneous Barbra Streisand in never-before-published photos from "Funny Girl," an entrancing "Carnival!" picture, Dolores Gray and her look-alike mother, Susan Johnson's two motorcycle photos, a candid shot of Ethel Merman having a shoe removed by her dresser. The list goes on and on. Two major books about Broadway musicals have reecently been published. "Broadway: The American Musical" (a tie-with the the PBS three-part series) is extremely interesting, superbly researched and scholarly. "Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Musicals of All Time," reviewed here, is more enjoyable because it captures the flavor, thrill, excitement, glamour, star-power, magic and zest of seeing the best of Broadway's musical theatre. If you have to choose one, get this one. Better still, get both.

101 of the best, and then some.
When you first open this book you can't help but turn to those shows that have become your favorites. I first turned to Gypsy, then Evita, Phantom, Cats, and on and on. All my favorites were there. Most of them, showed the original cast from the first production.

Gypsy featured Ethel Merman as Mama Rose, Sandra Church as Louise/Gypsy in the original production. The book then goes on to other Rose's: Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters. In each case it talks about the unique characterizations brought to the stage by the leading lady.

This is typical treatment for this book where most of the plays (the really popular ones) get similar treatment. In addition there are side bars that give details on some of the other people (directors, composers, custome people, etc.) that have made these shows what they are.

There's only one problem with the book, you can't put it down. I know, I've tried, and somehow it falls open to My Fair Lady....

Wonderful - but list may surprise!
The immediate thing that strikes you upon picking up this mammoth book is the amazing (RARE!) photos. Jerry Orbach, who does the foreward, even admits that some photos of HIMSELF he had never seen! For example, I am one of the biggest "EVITA nuts" out there, and there were three pictures of Patti LuPone I'd never seen before.

The sheer amount of photos is enough to make this book a "must-buy." Yet, that's not to negate the detailed text. There are performer highlights as well as quips and trivia from most shows. My only problem is the list. As with all "Best of..." lists, there are many obvious choices (FUNNY GIRL, SOUND OF MUSIC, HELLO DOLLY!, GYPSY) as well as quite a few shockers.

I at first thought the book was firmly leaning backward until I noticed THE FULL MONTY. Not that I have a problem with that show (or with any of the following shows) but why is THE FULL MONTY in here, but not THE PRODUCERS? I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE is in here - but not RENT. DESTRY RIDES AGAIN is in here - but not ONCE UPON A MATTRESS. No MISS SAIGON. Even 42nd STREET is missing.

Of course, it is obvious that "list books" will always have glaring omissions (or additions!) - even if the book is The *1000* Greatest Shows of All Time. Nevertheless, don't let that editor's hatchet take away from your enjoyment of this book.