Customer Reviews

Broadway Musicals - Show by Show

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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This book has proven and indispensable part of my theatre library, and if you get it, it will become one for you as well. Want to know what date the original production of Show Boat opened on Broadway? This book will tell you. Who the original stars of Mexican Hayride were? That's in here, too. You will be able to find the answer to just about any question you could ever ask of Broadway's hit musicals. A perfect companion piece to Ken Mandelbaum's Not Since Carrie (which chronicles the flop musicals this book mostly excludes), and a wonderful way of tracking the history of the Broadway musical, Broadway Musicals: Show by Show is as comprehensive, helpful, and essential as reference books on Broadway come.

Enough can't be said about this book! It is a masterpiece for theatre buffs like myself. I live by that book, since I'm involved in theatre on a daily basis. When considering which musical to use in our high school's season next year I immediately turned to this book for it's easy synopsis of so many hit shows, it's staistics about the shows, and it's genuine knowledge. The best reference book about theatre on the market today! Period.

This is a good *reference* book to see what happened and how things played out on Broadway. The behind the scene stories and what lead up to the show is fascinating, although every listed show doesn't have that much detail behind it.

The book is usually updated with new editions, but currently is out-dated (doesn't include Lion King, The Producers, Jekyll & Hyde, Titanic, etc.) Reading about the earlier Broadway shows (first show "The Black Crook" [1866]) is interesting and contains information you probably won't find anywhere else, including some failed shows (less than 5 performances), last minute casting decisions or movies that were made based on the show. I wish the listed revival shows would have more information than a basic "ditto" that refers to the original performance. However, if it is really meant to be a reference book, then it succeeds in that business without really trying.

The statistics given for how many performances a show had is nice, but can't be used to determine the success of that show today. The revival shows are learning that. With better access to New York (modern travel) -- numbers are increasing, but on the other hand, with more choices and a finicky audience that may be too PC for it's own good, some old shows don't work well now. If you're looking for tools to help you decide on choosing a musical, take a look at "Let's Put on a Musical" by Peter Filichia (1993) which is seven years newer besides.

overall a nice book covering the Bway Musicals. I happened to purchase one for a friend who attends the theater (both Broadway and off-Broadway) religiously and she was very happy with the gift.

I purchased this book for my father. He is a music professor and teaches a course in Broadway Musicals. He just raved about how helpful it is to he and his students.

Let me begin this review by stating, that of all of the text books I have had after a six year stint in college, I have used this book the most. I have used this book to not only research shows for synopsis', but I've helped a local high school pick their yearly musical from this show for the past three years. I am sad that it only goes up the 1996 year, and have been awaiting a new version for a while now. But if you need a time frame, this book helps with giving you the year, directors, original cast, and a brief synopsis of the show itself. This helpful for any music director/show director, I highly recommend this book for anyone persuing musical theatre history.

This was the required text book for a class in musical theater in college. I found it informative but lacked many details that I would have like to have known.