Authors: Lehman Engel, Howard Kissel
ISBN-13: 9781557835543, ISBN-10: 1557835543
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Applause Theatre Book Publishers
Date Published: January 2006
Edition: 1st Edition
The dean of Broadway musical directors examines the dynamics of how the book, music and lyrics work together to create such hits as My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Hair, Pal Joey, West Side Story, Company, South Pacific, Threepenny Opera and Porgy and Bess. Howard Kissel, chief theater critic for the New York Daily News, extends the reach of Engel's subjects by bringing them up to date with commentary on such shows as A Chorus Line, Nine, Sunday in the Park with George, Rent, Working and Falsettos. Kissel offers a thoughtful history on how musical theater has evolved in the three decades since Engel wrote Words with Music (1972) and how Engel's classic work remains vital and illuminating today.
New York Daily News theater critic Kissel revises and updates conductor and BMI Musical Workshop founder Engel's 1972 study of how the book, music, and lyrics were created for some of Broadway's best musicals. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
1 | Introduction | 1 |
2 | Characters | 13 |
3 | Subject matter | 29 |
4 | The outer shape | 49 |
5 | The need of the musical | 71 |
6 | Comedy and entertainment | 199 |
7 | The new-old | 225 |
8 | Response | 237 |
9 | Opera | 251 |
10 | Adaptation to libretto | 283 |
11 | Failures | 313 |
12 | Producers and stars | 351 |
13 | Nonplot | 373 |
14 | The original musical | 409 |