Customer Reviews

The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Mark N. Grant's first book -- "Maestros of the Pen: A History of Classical Music Criticism in America" -- was excellent (I'm not alone in this opinion: it won an ASCAP-Deems Taylor award). If anything, "The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical" is even better. It has the same acute analysis (at once sophisticated, and accessible to the "layman")and narrative momentum that characterized the first book. It is spiced with fascinating anecdotes. And it is ingeniously organized. Thus, rather than setting out a strictly chronological presentation of the history of the Broadway musical, it is organized according to the key elements of this art form: singing, book and lyrics (with a subset addressing the effect, on lyrics and dramatic flow, of changes in rhythmic paradigms), sound design, and direction and choreography. Essentially, it is the same story, but told from four very different points of view. The reader's understanding deepens with each shift of perspective. Furthermore, this ingenious device facilitates the coherent development of Grant's argument -- i.e., that what he perceives as the "fall" of the Broadway musical (beginning circa 1966, with the end of the "Golden Age") results from the corruption of, and/or disproportionate emphasis upon, one or or another of these elements. Whether or not you disagree with Grant's argument, his narrative will engage you because it makes you re-evaluate your own opinions. Even if your views do not change as a result of this book, you will find that they have been strengthened by the challenge. In short, I highly recommend "Rise and Fall" to anyone with an interest in music, musicals, American culture, the anatomy of the creative process, or any of the above. You are in for a treat!

"The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical" is largely what the title says: a detailing of the musical theatre's evolution into the so-called "golden age" of the 40's through the 60's, and subsequent descent into near-obsolesence and irrelevence. I am torn on this book, because the exhaustive and extensive research done by Grant provides a fascinating look at the form, from forgotten composers of early operettas in the late 19th-early 20th century to little-known facts and analysis of the most popular theatre composers of the golden age. In particular, his discussion and insights into the musical influences of composers is surprising and in some cases even shocking, such as Leonard Bernstein "borrowing" some of his WEST SIDE STORY melodies from earlier operetta, or the possibility that prolific orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett may have been the true unheralded genius behind shaping the primitive work of Berlin, Rodgers, Kern, etc. into memorable tunes.

On the other hand, I frequently found Grant's attitude towards contemporary shows ("contemporary" meaning every show post-1966, according to his definition) and his air of elitism annoying and borderline insufferable. His analysis from a musical standpoint of how the "classic Broadway sound" naturally reveals character and emotions better than the "rock beat" driving many newer shows is interesting, but ultimately fails to really prove his point. In other sections, Grant flies through the "modern" era of Broadway after an obsessively detailed account of an aspect of pre-1966 shows, dismissing all shows as inferior and banal and lumping them all into one category. This, in my opinion, is his largest shortcoming--how does Jason Robert Brown's PARADE (1998) fit into the same category as Andrew Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD (1995), or Ahrens & Flaherty's MY FAVORITE YEAR (1993) with Adam Guettel's FLOYD COLLINS (1999)? To his credit, he does attempt a few specific critcisms of certain shows and songs at certain points, such as a musical analysis/comparison of a classic showtune with a contemporary one, but again, ultimately his point is obtuse and not readily apparent (not to mention very difficult to follow if the reader has no musical training).

I wanted to give this book 5 stars, but had to knock it down to 4 because of the author's unfortunate generalizations of contemporary Broadway and general air of contempt. I disagree with many of Grant's opinions, but he has definitely made me think, and in spite of his tone it is almost certain that any fan of Broadway musicals who reads "The Rise and Fall..." will come away with a new appreciation for the art form.

An homage to the Golden Age of Broadway musicals (c. 1927-64), this analytical overview is musically astute and well-plumbed for detail, dissecting virtually every hit or should-have-been hit of the period. The pre-Golden Age is examined, too, with its froth and silliness exposed yet again. Contemporary composers and directors are skewered in contrast: the microphone destroyed singing, rock music killed the musical, librettos are dead, and no one can write lyrics any more except Sondheim. Though your hackles may rise at some points in the narrative (I do like SOME of Flaherty and Ahrens), there really are no substitutes for Gershwin, Weill, Porter, R&H, Bernstein and Larry Hart, right? Check out this passionate, professionally-crafted tome and share it with your Broadway-geek friends. Lively repartee will ensue!

"Mark N Grant is a wonderful writer, who offers a true cavalcade of Broadway history"

The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical is among the most critical books written about the subject. Mr. Grant picks apart almost every aspect of the genre, espeically the writers of today- Maury Yeston, Ahrens and Flaherty, even Stephen Sondheim! He finds fault with nearly every director of musicals- Fosse, Prince, Bennett, Tune, Champion (not Jerome Robbins though, thankfully) and really seems to dislike any musical that isn't Carousel or Gypsy.
How are the new writers and directors of today supposed to create new work for the musical theatre when they are harshly criticized by authors such as this one? While many new musicals and new authors of musicals are not particularly good, the ones Mr. Grant picks apart are not in this category. Nine by Maury Yeston is one of Broadway's best scores. Ahrens and Flaherty's Ragtime is a wonderful piece. And who in God's name could criticize Sondheim?
Mr. Grant does make one interesting point, that Hello, Dolly! killed the musical (You'll have to read the book to learn why). Because of that, I suggest reading this book. However, you can stop once you've read that part.

Though there is a smattering of good information in this book, the author's misanthropic opinions will be offensive to anyone who loves contemporary musical theatre. Grant pretty much hates everything written in the last twenty-five years, hates rock and pop music, and thinks musicals should have stopped evolving during the 50s. He contends that there's only one way to create a musical, that anything that doesn't follow the Rodgers and Hammerstein model isn't really a musical, that concept musicals aren't musicals, in short, that this amazing art form should never change from what it was in the 40s and 50s.

His narrow and oddly grouchy take on this most American art form will either make you angry or depressed. If it does, just remember that he's WRONG -- the American musical has never been healthier or more vigorous, in regional theatres all over America, in Canada and Europe, and occasionally when we're lucky, even on Broadway... :)