Ever After » (1st Edition)

Singer offers a show-by-show history and critical assessment of musical theater in America over the past 25 years. Coverage includes everything from commercial mega-musicals to more artistically innovative and daring productions. The volume contains profiles of important figures such as Stephen Sondheim as well as descriptions of the work of emerging artists. A special section features a season-by- season chronological listing of Broadway musicals from 1977 through 2003. Singer writes about music and theater for The New York Times. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

Singer is nothing if not passionate about musical theater. He's written columns about the state of the art in the New York Times every August since 1997, and these columns form the basis of the present book. He has zero to very few good words to say about Andrew Lloyd Webber and Mel Brooks and a lot of good words to say about Stephen Sondheim. He also loves composers some decades younger than Sondheim, like Adam Guettel and Mark Hollmann. He treats the Disneyfication of Broadway with a raised eyebrow and with hope that a mote of originality can emerge from the glut of adapted animated adventures. Most of all, Singer asks his readers to truly, madly, deeply care about musical theater and composers to overcome the stupidity that lies within much of today's popular culture. We know that musicals can never be like they used to be (an evolving economy has taken care of that), but that doesn't mean that they can't be better than they are; it will just take a good deal of work and courage. Recommended for performing arts libraries. Larry Schwartz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.