The Rise And Fall Of The Broadway Musical

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Summary: history and critique of Broadwaty musicals
Review: 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.


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Summary: Louisville Courier Journal
Review: "Mark N Grant is a wonderful writer, who offers a true cavalcade of Broadway history"

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Summary: Well written
Review: 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.