Customer Reviews

American Musical Theater: A Chronicle

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

If you love musical theatre works from 1866 thru 1960 - this is the book for you. Exhaustively researched. However, if you never ended the affair, and love Sondheim, Coleman, Fosse, Kander & Ebb, Champion, Lapine, Tune, Bennett, McNally, Herman, Hamlisch, Patinkin, Peters and LuPone - well, this probably ISN'T the book for you. The first 100 years are wonderfully detailed. Six paragraphs on "Show Boat" alone. Great. However, the author seems to have lost interest in his subject matter. The greatest shows of the past forty years are lucky to get a single paragraph. The last sections of the book feel passionless and rushed, the reportage at best perfunctory. It's too bad that someone like Ethan Mordan couldn't revisit and revise these decades. $ - wow! Listen, buy a used copy of the first edition (it goes up to 1978), than look for some of Mordan's books or Ken Mendelbaum's "Not Since Carrie."

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.

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.

American Musical Theater by Gerald Bordman, is a text that I am currently using for a college class. To keep this review Short I will not go into great length about the specifics of the book. Just let me say that it is long, (800+ pages) and it feels that way. It is sorta like reading a dictionary, or index. What I mean is, there is soo much information, both usefull and useless, that deciphering it becomes an impossible task. If you were to read a dictionary cover to cover, how many words would you actually learn? The musicals are grouped according to year and season, not overall importance. Also, when a show is revived, it breaks this year by year context, creating more confusion. Perhaps ranking in order of importance would promote unity. Otherwise I would recommend a lighter book of similar subject matter. Still as a complete resource, this book is invaluable, in the same way a dictionary is to spelling questions, this book is to questions on American musicals.