Broadway, The Golden Years

Terry Teachout

Robert Emmet Long's new book focuses on Jerome Robbins, who sought to turn the humble musical comedy into something approaching a totally unified work of art.
— New York Times

Publishers Weekly

A literature critic, commentator on the performing arts, author of hundreds of magazine articles (in the Nation, Saturday Review, etc.) and author or editor of 30 books on subjects like Hawthorne, Fitzgerald, Thurber and the films of Merchant and Ivory, Long certainly has the credentials for this latest project. But his tenure as a New York drama critic (North American Review) cinches the deal. In this colorful history of the Great White Way, he deftly traces the Broadway musical's evolution from WWII to the present, covering such hits as A Chorus Line, Gypsy, The Pirates of Penzance and The Producers. Long documents the fancy footwork of Broadway's great choreographer-directors Agnes de Mille (Oklahoma!), Bob Fosse (Cabaret), Gower Champion (42nd Street), Michael Bennett (Dreamgirls) and Tommy Tune (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas). While these major talents receive full chapter profiles, Jerome Robbins takes center stage in a 100-page portrait packed with fascinating anecdotes: he turned A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum from flop to hit; his 1943 collaboration with Leonard Bernstein on the innovative Fancy Free ballet evolved into Broadway's On the Town. It might even be said that Robbins choreographed this book, arranging for his associates to be interviewed by Long, and making available the coveted rehearsal tapes. A chapter on Broadway today brings down the curtain on this marvelously entertaining and exuberant critical history. 15 b&w photos. (Dec.) Forecast: This fine book will be greeted with applause by the many Broadway buffs, show-tune collectors and musical mavens. Booksellers would do well to display it alongside Greg Lawrence's Dance with Demons: The Lifeof Jerome Robbins (Forecasts, Apr. 30). Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Several retrospective looks at the Great White Way have been published in the last year, including Steven Suskin's Broadway Yearbook (LJ 8/01) and the New York Times Book of Broadway (LJ 10/15/01). This title differs in several ways. Most important, rather than a Broadway overview, it is primarily a series of short biographical essays on choreographer-directors Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Gower Champion, Michael Bennett, and Tommy Tune, with Robbins getting the lion's share of the attention. Their creative lives are told in the context of their Broadway successes and failures. A critic of American and British literature and drama, Long is interested in how various dance and music styles made their way into the commercial theater of the time. Ultimately, although he writes in a lively, chatty, informal style, the price and narrow subject remove his book from the selection lists of smaller public libraries and into the realm of larger libraries and theater collections. J. Sara Paulk, Coastal Plain Regional Lib., Tifton, GA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.