Coming up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s [Paperback]

Ethan Mordden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 2000

The 1950s saw an explosion in the American musical theater. The Broadway show, catapulted into the limelight in the 20s and solidified during the 40s thanks to Rodgers and Hammerstein, now entered its most revolutionary phase, brashly redefining itself and forging a new kind of storytelling. In Coming Up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s, Ethan Mordden gives us a guided tour of this rich decade.
With loving detail, Mordden highlights the shift in Broadway from shows that were mere star vehicles, showcasing a big-name talent, to the bolder stories, stuffed with character and atmosphere. During this period, subject matter became more intricate, even controversial, and plots more human and complex; Mordden demonstrates how, in response, musical conventions were polished, writing became more finely crafted, and dance became truly indispensable. Along the way we meet the key players: such greats as Ethel Merman, George Abbott, Jerome Robbins, Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse, Stephen Sondheim, Frank Loesser, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein, and many others. We get the backstage scoop on why Guys and Dolls is so well-made, why West Side Story is so timeless, why The King and I and Gypsy pushed the envelope, and why no one ever talks about Ankles Aweigh. All this is peppered with a dash of industry gossip--the directorial struggles, last-minute script rewrites and cast replacements, the power of the poster listings--that made Broadway so nerve-wrackingly vibrant.
This passionate and informed study illuminates a crucial period in American musical theater and shows us the origins of many of the musicals recently revived to huge success on Broadway.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book begins its survey of a seminal decade in American theater in 1950, when the Broadway musical method in which stars like Ethel Merman slogged it out show after show, formula after formula, success after success had run its course, sparking the need for innovation. It ends in 1959, after a decade of innovation had raised the musical to new heights--heights that the genre would not maintain in later decades. In between, Ethan Mordden paints a picture of the musical that is warm and sympathetic, even as it pours cold water on what the author considers the medium's excesses and failures. Mordden isn't shy about sharing his opinions. He links the legendary director George Abbott to the stagnation that set in during the early '50s: "He was a journeyman, not a visionary. He was very, very good at what he knew how to do, and, like all conservatives, never attempted to do anything else." Regarding Can Can he writes, "Clearly, what saved it at first was the score and the production; at length, its dippy book destroyed it." And, at odds with the millions who revere The Sound of Music, Mordden acknowledges its "slight but extremely tuneful score," concluding that the show has a "somewhat disappointing position in the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon."

Mordden praises Guys and Dolls--"a classic" and My Fair Lady--"it's culturally imperative ... capitalism at its best." Lenny Bernstein's Candide is the "uniquely influential title" of the 1950s, "perhaps the last crucial revolutionary development in the musical's history." All this praise is lovingly spelled out in chapters that dwell on the productions themselves in a chunky narrative cluttered with an insider's look behind the scenes. Mordden's book forces readers to rethink much of what they know about the Broadway musical and to listen, and listen again, to their favorite soundtracks. --Roy Wadia --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In his celebration of the glorious (and not-so glorious) musicals of the 1950s, Mordden (Broadway Babies and Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920's) relates one of Broadway's hoary old jokes: "If God had really wanted to punish Hitler, He'd have sent him out of town with a musical." This volume offers a rich compendium of the hits and misses that kept theatergoers lining up at the box office during the decade many remember as bland white bread. But with treasures including Call Me Madam, Guys and Dolls, Kismet, My Fair Lady, Candide (considered a flop at the time), The Sound of Music and (closing out the decade) West Side Story and Gypsy, Mordden shows that it was 10 years of change, growth and glory. He explains why he thought playwright/director George Abbott was "in the long run a destructive figure in the musical's history"; discusses the growing influence of choreographers, several of whom became directors, such as Michael Kidd, Bob Fosse, Gower Champion and Jerome Robbins; and how, with the growth of the cast album "great shows no longer vanished when they closed." The 1950s also saw distinctions made between the musical play (The King and I) and musical comedy (Call Me Madam); at the same time original material declined while epic productions based on books or films became more prevalent. Brimming with opinions, reminiscences and anecdotes, (Brooks Atkinson's response to the flop, Flahooley: "More plot crosses that stage than Macy's Thanksgiving Parade"), the pleasure here comes from Mordden's jaundiced eye, sharp wit and passion for his subject. This is a must for every theater lover.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195140583
• ISBN-13: 978-0195140583
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #939,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Prepared to Buy a Lot of Original Cast Albums!, April 18, 2001

By 

Tom (NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Coming up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s (Paperback)

I'd probably enjoy reading a dictionary if Ethan Mordden wrote it. It's probably the highest praise I can give to say that this book had me reading about shows I'd never even heard of with the same zeal I'd generally reserve for a well-written suspense novel. As much as this book is about Musical Theater, it's about Ethan Mordden -- his wit, his stunning knowledge of his subject, and his ability to place what might seem trivial into a context that both illuminates and fascinates. Reading this book amounts to the best kind of education: one you simply can't wait to continue. As the previous customer reviews have already covered the general contents of this book, I'll only add that "Coming Up Roses" is one of a series of books by Mordden which catalogs the history of American Musical Theater. Before I even finished "Roses," I had purchased copies of his "Beautiful Mornin'" (about Musicals of the 1940's) and "Make Believe" (the 1920's). His next edition -- "Open a New Window: Musicals of the 1960's" -- will be published November 2001. I'm absolutely hooked, and if you have a passion for Musicals, you're going to be, too. About that title of mine....Mordden's book has me hunting in used record stores for recordings of long-forgotten (and sometimes obscure) titles. This author has done a tremendous service to countless composers, performers and theater artists in recalling their work in its original incarnation, and causing us to reflect upon it one more time. Maybe we're the lucky ones, in fact; thanks to Ethan Mordden, the curtain keeps going up again and again and again.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable, readable and entertaining guide., February 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Coming up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s (Broadway Musicals) (Hardcover)

For anyone interested in American musical theater, the 1950s are a critically important "golden age" both for the musical play and the musical comedy. In 1950 Rodgers and Hammerstein, who had introduced the concept of the musical play in 1943 with OKLAHOMA, were preparing their richest and most timeless work, THE KING AND I, which opened the following year. Even the more traditional musical comedy reached new heights with Loesser's GUYS AND DOLLS, perhaps the most perfectly constructed work of this type ever written. As a testament to their status as classics, both of these breakthrough shows were highlights not only of the 50s, but also of the 90s. Year by year through the decade, Ethan Mordden cites scores of shows to trace developments for both of these musical forms. Having mined the large legacy of recordings still available, backstage stories, critical reviews, and script and musical analyses, Mordden highlights how each show advanced the genre or failed to. He spends whole chapters on the biggest hits-GUYS AND DOLLS, KISMET and MY FAIR LADY-as well as the commercial flops like CANDIDE, which took almost 20 years of tinkering to become a success. Mordden astutely analyzes many other shows, showing how THE PAJAMA GAME "is a so-so-story with an excellent book," but DAMN YANKEES "is an excellent story with a functional book." Mordden also examines the mere flops like FLAHOOLEY and the real "floppos" like ANKLES AWEIGH detailing what worked and what didn't. Mordden ends the decade with discussions of WEST SIDE STORY and GYPSY, two totally different blockbusters illustrating how far the musical had developed by 1959, and how audiences were being prepared for more confrontational works-to-come like CABARET. As in his previous books, "Rodgers & Hammerstein" and "Broadway Babies," Mordden has done his homework. From his photo on the jacket, he can't be old enough to have seen these original productions such as REDHEAD, yet his detailed descriptions of stagings and choreography read like he was actually there in 1958 taking notes. Over the last few years critical (and commercial) interest in the musical theater as America's unique contribution this century has steadily increased. Production companies in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere are reviving and recording concert versions of musicals going back to the very earliest shows so we can relish firsthand the creative arc from the "Princess shows" of Jerome Kern beginning in 1915 to today's hits. Ethan Mordden's "Coming Up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s" is an invaluable, readable and entertaining guide to one of its most important and productive periods. ---ENK, Oakland

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Study of Musical Theater, December 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Coming up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s (Broadway Musicals) (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this survey of 1950s muscials. Mordden, as he showed in his book on Rodgers and Hammerstein, is much more than a musicals fan. He really challenges assumptions about classic shows and makes you want to reconsider the shows that flopped. I particularly enjoyed his assessment of Kismet. Only thing missing is a discography.