The Art of the American Musical: Conversations with the Creators [Paperback]

Jackson R. Bryer (Editor), Richard A. Davison (Editor)

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From Publishers Weekly

Bryer and Davison, co-editors of The Actor's Art, collect interviews with leading lyricists, composers, librettists, producers and directors who created the masterpieces of late 20th-century musical theater. Conversations with talent like Kander and Ebb, Susan Stroman, and Harold Prince shed light on the various ways to combine music and dance, which resulted in hits such as Cabaret, The Producers and Fiddler on the Roof, respectively. Each interview includes a brief bio and an appraisal of triumphs and failures, though the primary goal is to reveal the secret to successful theatrical collaboration. But that isn't really possible, according to Stephen Sondheim, since "the performing arts involve the final collaborator, the audience." While this work gives a good overview of how the genre has evolved over time, the editors often give too many details without sufficient context, making for tedious reading. Theater professionals and fans will enjoy the backstage gossip, but the real benefactors will be those who want to get into the business. The chance to apprentice with today's greats is rare; reading about them is the next best thing. 14 b&w illus. (Oct.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813536138
• ISBN-13: 978-0813536132
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #952,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delights and Duds, May 14, 2006

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Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of the American Musical: Conversations with the Creators (Paperback)

I've resd lots of Conversations books over the years. Usually the interviewers uncover some sharp talkers as well as some duds. Here the unpleasant event is Jason Robert Brown, who seems like an egomaniacal nitwit with nothing good to say about anybody, who blames the failure of PARADE on the stupidity of American theater audiences, yet allows that there's no reason really for anyone to have a good time while seeing it.

Tommy Tune wins the Congeniality Award for admitting that the later Antonio Banderas revival of NINE was at least as good as the production he had pioneered himself way back when. That took a lot of balls I think, for anyone else might have merely sniffed and indicated otherwise. Some of the participants have been around in musical theater for only five minutes and yet they are the ones who yammer on and on just as fully as if their careers had lasted back into the 1920s. Speaking of lengthy careers, Burton Lane is very mysterious about his problems with Alan Jay Lerner in ON A CLEAR DAY, and the focus is on his Broadway work which precludes him from talking much about his wonderful work with the Freed Unit.

Arthur Laurents seems more balanced here than he did in his memoir, while I felt sad for Betty Comden and Adolph Green who it seems never got over the failure of their DOLLS LIFE musical. They seem stuck on it, like the lion with the thorn in his paw he just can't seem to get out.

The interviewers seem sharp and pretty well prepared. In a couple of cases I felt they had been warned not to discuss certain sensitive issues with their subjects, for there are some gaping holes in the narratives of, say, Sheldon Harnick and Tommy Tune. The biggest laugh? Charles Strouse's insistence that ANNIE WARBUCKS is as great a musical treat as ANNIE. He just doesn't leave it alone. It's his King Charles' head as Dickens used to say.