Customer Reviews

Broadway Musicals

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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A true treasure of a book. This is a very large book, and not just width wise. It is very tall too. There are many pictures, a lot of them in color. They have some of the rarest flops featured toward the back of the book, and the classics are all here too. Some highpoints are the run-through of how they make (made) "Annie" run every night. There is also a synopsis of "Hello Dolly" which helpful since I have only seen the movie. There is a flaw though, and it is not insignificant. The author does not seperate fact from opinion. Example: "Sweeney Todd does not hold a place in the theater". This book came out the same year "Sweeney Todd" did(1979), so it might be just a bit early to say that. Obviously, he is a critic, but he should have took that hat off ,and taken on the role of an author who looks at the facts.("Sweeney" is just one of the hows that gets criticized.) Still, it is chock full of information and pictures, so it is worth a hunt.

Certainly the gold standard when it comes to big, impressive books on the American musical.

Huge. 352 oversized pages, 6 and a half pounds, with gynorumous photos that can't be found anywhere other than historical archives. As might be expected, there are terrific illustrations of sets, lights, costumes, props, and stars. But I cannot believe the quality and number of shots of rehearsal processes and of choreography. Harder stuff to capture in still photography.

Gottfried's text is expansive and intermittently expert, providing historical overview, profiles of the major creators, the excitement of performance, and, finally, just what is "Broadway" and what does it feel like? He shoots from the heart. Perhaps the most wondrous and heralded part of this book are the little photos sprinkled through the index of shows that closed out of town or that opened and were boffo flops.

He also shoots from the hip. His text is also opinionated, a bit bitchy, and cavalier. This is sometime jarring.

All in all, I'd call this Design 10, Editorial Savvy 10, Text 7.