Musicals [Hardcover]

Kurt Ganzl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2002

This instructive and delightful book presents a rich, authoritative, comprehensive look at the great stage musicals of the past 30 years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kurt Ganzl is the world's leading authority on musical theater. He is the acclaimed author of The British Musical Theater, Ganzl's Book of the Musical Theater and the Encyclopedia of the Musical Theater. He has written and recorded a 25-part radio series on the history of the musical theater, as well as completing his first book specifically treating the America musical stage, Ganzl's Book of the Broadway Musical. He now lives in New Zealand.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Carlton Books LTD.; 2nd edition (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842222406
• ISBN-13: 978-1842222409
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 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: #1,436,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars for the text/art: 2 for the design!, December 23, 2005

By 

S. Berner (Cocoa, Fl USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Musicals (Hardcover)

Kurt Ganzl has written numerous tomes on the musical theater, all of which are well-written, scholarly without ever approaching the pedantic, and often illuminate new corners of this much-surveyed territory. The plainly titled "Musicals" is no exception and. even when trodding in well-worn areas, always an exhilerating experience. But, as they say, that's not what I want to talk about. Rather, I have a rant about the over-all design of the book.

I belong to that (admittedly rapidly dwindling) breed of readers who wants to READ the book in front of me! Yet modern designers of many of these illustrated works seem not content with supplying us with words (no matter how clever) and pictures (no matter how interesting). They feel the urge to combine both on a single page. I cannot state emphatically enough that laying light black print over a grey illustration makes the picture unseeable and the copy almost completely unreadable! I have no problem with deciphering obscure ideas from a dense text. I have no problem with discovering subtle hidden messages in a dense work of pictorial art. But those are chores for books of philosophy and great paintings. Why must I devote as much time to merely deciphering what words ae on the page?!

Please, oh great designers of books who can't seem to resist the siren call of filling every page with as much material as they possibly can; please, oh please, I beg: "Resist!"