Product Description

Finally, a book as glorious as its subject: this lush showcase for everyone who loves musicals covers the 101 most influential, popular, and enduring Broadway shows--all of which have toured the country and been performed in theatres large and small everywhere. Each listing includes expert commentary that sets the play in historical and cultural context, plus features on the creators and performers, plot synopses, cast and song lists, production details, backstage anecdotes, and more. Four or five beautifully reproduced photographs from each show--the majority never before published--accompany the text and make the shows leap off the page. Appendices and special features include cast albums, poster artists, revivals, guilty pleasures, Off-Broadway musicals, notable flops, and much more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #122613 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• 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 )

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 )

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 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. Most recently, he published an illustrated book celebrating the career of Jerry Herman 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. He lives in New York City.

Frank Vlastnik is an actor who appeared in the original cast of the Broadway musicals Big, Sweet Smell of Success, and A Year with Frog and Toad. He did the photo editing and research for Ken Bloom's Jerry Herman and Richard Norton's A Chronology of American Musical Theatre. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Looking Back on Broadway's Classic Musicals Is Like Catching Lightning in a Bottle
If you saw Dori Berinstein's illuminating 2007 documentary, Show Business - The Road to Broadway, you got close to an all-access peek into the 2003-2004 Broadway theater scene that gives you a sense of the chaos, diligence, exhaustion, and luck that goes into mounting a musical. Two of the four shows spotlighted, "Avenue Q" and "Wicked" are still running as of this date, and unsurprisingly, they are included in the list here. The other two, "Taboo" and "Caroline, or Change", did not fare as well, at least at the box office, and such is the fate of most efforts trying to make it to the Great White Way. Co-authors Ken Bloom (also a Broadway musical performer) and Frank Vlastnik have compiled an eminently entertaining coffee-table book describing what they consider the 101 greatest musical productions staged on Broadway. They seem to have a thing for such lists because last year, they compiled the genuinely addictive Sitcoms: The 101 Greatest TV Comedies of All Time.

Both books share the co-authors' enthusiasm for their topics. Most such entertainment reference books stick with mainly the facts of the productions, but Bloom and Vlastnik go beyond the relevant statistics about each show and inject plenty of behind-the-scenes information along with a surprisingly sharp level of critical commentary on how justified the legacy are of these productions. The challenge of this tome, however, is that most of us have not seen the original-run productions discussed and can't really provide a personal response to the co-authors' collective viewpoint. For me, among the 101 shows, I have only seen "Sweeney Todd", "Dreamgirls", "Avenue Q" and "The Drowsy Chaperone" during their original runs. At the same time, the co-authors give you a palpable sense of what probably were incandescent performances onstage - Fred Astaire in "The Band Wagon", Vivienne Segal in "Pal Joey", Gertrude Lawrence in "The King and I", Ethel Merman in "Gypsy", Julie Andrews in "My Fair Lady", Gwen Verdon in "Sweet Charity", Michael Crawford in "The Phantom of the Opera".

The rarely seen black-and-white and color photos make this an indispensable record of these lightning-in-the-bottle shows. There are sidebars for particularly noteworthy performers and other creative dynamos behind the curtain. Similar to the approach taken with "Sitcoms", the co-authors devote special pages to infamous flops, guilty pleasures, great scores from so-so shows, star turns that have become mythic, film stars who tried to conquer Broadway, and even shows with T&A. There are opening remembrances from luminaries like Angela Lansbury ("Mame") and Chita Rivera ("West Side Story") and an introduction carried over from the 2004 edition by the late Jerry Orbach ("Promises, Promises"). Naturally, some shows you would expect to be included are not, arguable candidates such as "Rent", "Les Misérables", "The Producers" and "Hairspray". Moreover, the one flaw with the approach here is the somewhat arbitrary exclusion of musicals whose scores were created for another project. That's why you won't see long-running shows like "42nd Street", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Mamma Mia!", and "The Lion King" in the book. Regardless, this book is a fine document for any musical theater aficionado with a penchant for breaking out into a show tune.

Great book
I received this as a birthday gift and love it! I'm just a little surprised at the selection that made it to the 101 shows included in the book. No Rent? Really??? Regardless of your opinion on the show, it is surely one that should make it on a list of 101 greatest shows..

Great Book! I recommend it all the way!
I ordered this book as a birthday present for my boyfreind because he is really big into musical theater. I placed the order late Thursday afternoon and the UPS man delivered the book Friday evening, it was the fastest service I've ever experienced.
Not only does the book have tons of colorful, glossy pictures but it's packed with quite a bit of commentary and information. He loved it! Great product, I reccomend it for anyone who is a fan of musicals.