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Overview
A one-stop, up-to-date source for information on the history of the American musical theatre, Stage It with Music packs an astonishing quantity and variety of facts as well as insights and anecdotes into a convenient dictionary format. Coverage extends from the genre's nineteenth century beginnings to the present day, from The Black Crook (1866) to Jelly's Last Jam (1992). Included are entries on over 300 individual shows, musical series, performers, composers, lyricists, librettists, directors, designers, music directors, orchestrators, choreographers, producers, producing companies and other theatrical institutions, and on other subjects and genres relating to musical theatre. Among the latter are entries on British Imports, Dance in Musicals, Flop Musicals, Locations of Musicals, Operetta, Pastiche Musicals, and Tony Awards.
As fascinating as its subject, Stage It with Music will serve the researcher seeking a specific fact, but he or she may find it hard to stop there. Extensive cross-referencing will lead to masses of related material, and most researchers will not be able to resist browsing well beyond the original quest. Thoroughly indexed, the volume also includes a chronology of the musicals covered as separate entries and a bibliography of general works on musical theatre.
Synopsis
"...The book succeeds due to its comprehensiveness and useful cross-referencing....There is a wealth of information here." Library Journal
Library Journal
The American musical theater has a long and checkered history, ranging from The Black Crook (1866) to Jelly's Last Jam (1992). Hischak (theatre history, SUNY) provides extensive data about musicals, writers, composers, directors, designers, actors, genres, and other matters in this alphabetically organized work. The book succeeds due to its comprehensiveness and useful cross-referencing. In a sense, though, it is frustrating because it makes no sense of the history of musical theater. Fortunately, there is an excellent bibliography that should lead the curious to more substantial sources. Though occasionally sketchy, there is a wealth of information here. For comprehensive theater collections.-- Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass.
Editorials
Library Journal
The American musical theater has a long and checkered history, ranging from The Black Crook (1866) to Jelly's Last Jam (1992). Hischak (theatre history, SUNY) provides extensive data about musicals, writers, composers, directors, designers, actors, genres, and other matters in this alphabetically organized work. The book succeeds due to its comprehensiveness and useful cross-referencing. In a sense, though, it is frustrating because it makes no sense of the history of musical theater. Fortunately, there is an excellent bibliography that should lead the curious to more substantial sources. Though occasionally sketchy, there is a wealth of information here. For comprehensive theater collections.-- Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass.This volume highlights 300 or so important Broadway musical shows and the musical careers of scores of people involved in their production. Major performers, composers, lyricists and librettists, directors, producers, choreographers, and others appear in this fascinating look at more than 100 years of musicals, up to and including "Jelly's Last Jam" (1992). Also incorporated into the alphabetical flow are entries on musical genres and subjects (e.g., "Comic Strip Musicals", "Flop Musicals") and musical series, such as Ziegfield Follies. A list of these entries appears before the main "A-Z" section of the book. Cross-references are noted by upper-case letters. A chronological list of shows sketched (from "The Black Crook" in 1866), a selective bibliography, and a detailed index close the work Author Hischak has designed the work for the seeker of basic facts on specific shows and show people. Entries are brief but well written. For each show profiled, the year it opened and its main creators and performers are identified, hit songs named, and the number of performances in its original production reported. Sometimes the plot is briefly outlined. The personal sketches are rarely longer than three sentences and list only major credits with no biographical substance except birth and death dates There are several recent encyclopedic works on the American musical theater, and they are listed in Hischak's bibliography. In the preface, he acknowledges two predecessors in particular: Gerald Bordman and Stanley Green. The former compiled "American Musical Theatre", 2d ed. ["RBB" Jl 92], and the latter edited "Broadway Musicals Show by Show" (1990). These works and others, such as Ken Bloom's "American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion" ["RBB" N 1 85], are similar in scope but do not focus simultaneously upon shows and show people. Therefore, even though the current work is appropriate for all public libraries and worthy of consideration by high school or college libraries, each library must decide if its current holdings of guides to the American musical theater warrant purchasing another.