The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical [Paperback]

Mark N. Grant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

Many of today's Broadway shows, from Rent to The Lion King, have become commercial hits, but do they have the cultural importance or the dramatic and musical artistry of such enduring productions as Oklahoma!, Show Boat, or Kiss Me, Kate?

Mark N. Grant traces the transformation of singing and melody, libretto and lyric writing, dance rhythms, sound design, and choreography and stage direction through three distinct eras: the formative period (1866-1927), the golden age (1927-1966), and the fall (1967 to the present). He explores how and why the unsophisticated genre of pre-1927 musical comedy evolved into the creative, innovative, and immensely popular theatre produced by the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein and then steadily faded as a significant entertainment genre in American culture, giving rise to the "McMusicals" of today.

This provocative, sometimes irreverent work offers a refreshing perspective on the history of American musical theatre and provides strong views on restoring the genre to its former greatness.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Grant on the Broadway musical is a product of the scholarly love of thorough research and the journalistic ability to present information in a lively, readable manner. Grant aims to forge a theory of why, for a time in the mid-twentieth century, the Broadway musical was on the cutting edge of popular culture and why it no longer has that vigor and spirit. He systematically studies the many factors that influenced musicals: the rise of the microphone, changing tastes in music, the shift of creative power from writing teams to choreographer-directors. He has clearly thought long and hard about these topics but never gets bogged down in minutiae or strays into postmodern academic jargon. Anyone passingly familiar with American pop music will be able to follow, for example, his argument that much of the vigor of American show tunes resulted from the change in singing styles from those favored for operettas to those preferred by jazz and blues singers, which made lyrics more understandable and gave lyricists reason to polish their lines more carefully. Jack Helbig
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"In scholarly yet readable prose, studded with revealing examples, Grant treats changes in singing, lyrics, music, and dance, and the introduction of microphones and sound enhancement. Grant's documentation demonstrates a find command of the literature, and he furnishes an excellent bibliography. Essential."--Choice

"What makes Grant's book well worth reading is his thoughtful, multipronged analysis of the Golden Age musicals."--Current Musicology

"A serious, provocative dissection of tuners . . . a well researched, scholarly and opinionated book of regrets and hopes." --The Hour (Norwalk, CT)

"The most important and provocative book on musical theatre in more than a decade . . . a must-read for anyone who cares about Broadway musicals, a book that will be discussed for years to come." --John Kenrick, Musicals101.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern; New edition edition (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555536425
• ISBN-13: 978-1555536428
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #992,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars history and critique of Broadwaty musicals, January 26, 2005

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical (Hardcover)

Grant dates the golden age of the Broadway musical between 1927-1966, epitomized by the legendary pair Rodgers and Hammerstein and their musical "Oklahoma," among others. No one would argue with this. But Grant is concerned with more than expounding why this was the golden age. He is also concerned with what happened in Broadway and the general culture toward the end of the 1960s to bring this golden age to an end. He finds his answers in both technological and social changes which practically everyone is aware of, but which readers would not look to as reasons for the decline of such musicals. The spread of electronic music changed what audiences became accustomed to. Rock and other popular music ruined an appreciation for the brightness, simplicity, and style of the type of music and songs of the classical Broadway musical. Along with this, changing tastes in entertainment favored special effects, dancing, and often celebrities as actors over fetching scores and memorable melodies. "Director-Choreographers Co-opted a Writer's Medium" is how Grant puts it. The factors Grant sees as responsible for the decline in the quality--if not always the box office receipts--of Broadway musicals at their best is evident in the way Broadway musicals are advertised and marketed today. The author is a composer and writer who had done concert music and theater pieces performed in the U. S. and Europe. His previous book is "Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in America." This is a work combining literary and artistic criticism and history with cultural studies on one of the most characteristic American popular art forms.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exhilarating and depressing at once, March 30, 2005

By 

Michael A. Willhoite "Broadway Baby" (Cranston, RI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical (Hardcover)

This is one of the most incisive surveys I've ever read of this vital American art form. The Golden Age of the musical, from 1927 to around 1964, gave us great art that was truly for the masses. Grant's analyses of singing styles, song types, and musical trends, is peerless. His remarks on how the microphone has damaged performance technique are vital to his thesis. It's utterly thrilling to read his narrative of how the musical grew into the glorious product of Broadway's Golden Age. But it also depresses me to consider that the musical as I've always loved it is probably doomed. This book should be required reading for every actor, director, sound designer, conductor, and arranger working on Broadway.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, November 28, 2004

By 

AndrewViolette (Brooklyn NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical (Hardcover)

It's chock full of enough details to satisfy the professional musicologist yet entertaining enough to interest the casual reader. Well written, with a point of view that he follows up through the history of the form. I couldn't put it down.