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Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now 1st Edition

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 33 ratings

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The glorious tradition of the Broadway musical from Irving Berlin to Jerome Kern and Rodgers and Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim. And then . . . Cats and Les Miz. Mark Steyn's Broadway Babies Say Goodnight is a sharp-eyed view of the whole span of Broadway musical history, seven decades of brilliant achievements the best of which are among the finest works American artists have made. Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Carousel, Gypsy, and more. In an energetic blend of musical history, analysis, and backstage chat, Mark Steyn shows us the genius behind the 'simple' musical, and asks hard questions about the British invasion of Broadway and the future of the form. In this delicious book he gives us geniuses and monsters, hits and atomic bombs, and the wonderful stories that prove show business is a business which -- as the song goes --there's no business like.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Is Broadway musical theater in terminal decline, fed intravenously from London, in headlong retreat to operetta certainties, emotional platitudes and vapidly luxuriant tunes? Almost, but not quite, suggests Steyn in this delightful, irreverent romp through seven decades of American musical theater from Show Boat to Miss Saigon. Taking the pulse of the Great White Way as a theater critic, he finds that Broadway shows have become amorphous creatures, products of the shifting interests of agglomerations of co-producers, fund-raisers, theater owners and provincial tour bookers. His breezy yet substantial surveya spontaneous mix of vibrant history, juicy gossip, plot and song analysis and pungent criticismloses its fizz about halfway through, yet it is filled with gimlet insights into the craft and business of musicals and valuable close-ups of old-timers (Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart and Hammerstein, novelist/lyricist P.G. Wodehouse, the Gershwins, Damn Yankees creator George Abbott, etc.) as well as more recent figures (such as producer David Merrick and choreographer/directors Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett). Separate in-depth chapters cover the massive creative contributions of Jews and gays to the Broadway musical; other chapters offer a scathing look at British musicals and skewer rock musicals from Hair to Rent. Along the way, Steyn memorably tweaks Andrew Lloyd Weber (a classic example of imperial overstretch), Stephen Sondheim and others. With encyclopedic knowledge and unabashed passion for the best of Broadway, Steyn explains how an art form has embedded itself into our cultural vocabulary.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Steyn, theater critic for the Wall Street Journal, has written a loosely focused set of chapters on various aspects of the musicalAmusic, lyrics, book, proceduresAand on the influence Jews, gays, and the British have had on the form. The best musicals (of which Gypsy, 1959, is his pick for all-time greatest) are like three-piece suits, in which book, lyrics, and music blend as an ensemble. The "invasion" of the British shows of Andrew Lloyd-Webber (Cats, etc.), the "age of the technomusical spectacle," and the increasingly self-referential nature of many recent shows have led to the "death of theatrical culture and its metaphorical power." Although his thesis is too simplistic and his argument poorly constructed, Steyn's extensive knowledge of the musical's history and his provocative commentary will be enjoyed by many musical theater buffs. Recommended for public and graduate-level academic libraries with strong performing arts collections.ARobert W. Melton, Univ. of Kansas Libs., Lawrence
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0415922860
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (April 14, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780415922869
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0415922869
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 33 ratings

About the author

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Mark Steyn
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Introducing him at the United States Senate in 2015, Ted Cruz called Mark Steyn "an international bestselling author, a Top Five jazz recording artist, and a leading Canadian human rights activist".

All of which happens to be true.

Mark Steyn is the author of After America, which was a Top Five bestseller in the United States and a Number One bestseller in Canada; America Alone: The End Of The World As We Know It, a New York Times bestseller in the United States and a Number One bestseller in Canada; and his most recent bestseller, The [Un]documented Mark Steyn. His new book, The Prisoner of Windsor, is set to release in April 2023.

His most recent CD is his cat album, dedicated to his own beloved cat Marvin: Feline Groovy: Songs for Swingin' Cats was a Number One jazz bestseller, a Top Twenty album on the Billboard chart, and a Top Thirty album on Amazon's pop chart. "A Marshmallow World", his Christmas single with Jessica Martin, reached Number Seven on Amazon's easy listening bestsellers, and Number 41 on their main pop chart. Their subsequent full-length Christmas album, Making Spirits Bright, reached Number Four on the jazz chart. "Nine Lives", the song he co-wrote with Kevin Amos, was a Top Thirty smash on the Moldovan Hit Parade.

Steyn's human rights campaign to restore free speech to Canada led to the repeal by Parliament of the notorious "Section 13" hate-speech law, a battle he recounts in his book Lights Out: Islam, Free Speech And The Twilight Of The West.

Steyn hosts The Mark Steyn Show, which airs every evening Monday to Thursday. He also presents Steyn's Song of the Week every Sunday afternoon on Serenade Radio. In New York he can be heard with his longtime EIB comrade, Bo Snerdley, every Tuesday on 77 WABC.

For a decade and a half until Rush's death, Mark Steyn was a hugely popular guest-host of America's Number One radio show The Rush Limbaugh Program (EIB). He was also a favorite guest-host of America's Number One cable show Tucker Carlson Tonight, and hosted its lead-in-show Fox News Primetime. He regularly drew some of the highest ratings in all US television as a host for Tucker and other top shows.

With fans around the world, Steyn has appeared on stages across the planet from Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His 2016 nationwide tour of Australia was sold out coast to coast. He has spoken in the Canadian Parliament, the Ontario Parliament, the Danish Parliament, and the Australian Parliament, where he was introduced by the then Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop.

Over the years, Mark Steyn's writing on politics, arts and culture has been published in almost every major newspaper around the English-speaking world, including Britain's Daily Telegraph, Canada's National Post, The Australian, The Irish Times, The Jerusalem Post, The Wall Street Journal, and many more.

Steyn's other books include A Song For The Season, Mark Steyn's Passing Parade, Mark Steyn From Head To Toe and The Face Of The Tiger. His personal view of musical theatre, Broadway Babies Say Goodnight, is an acknowledged classic published to critical acclaim in London, and to somewhat sniffier notices in New York.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
33 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2004
This is one of those gem of a books that come along every once in a while. After the first reading I started all over again. The writing is that good. The book is laid out like a Broadway show, dividing itself into a two act play with scenes. In Act I, Mr. Steyn traces the evolution of the musical from its beginnings in Vienna through its importation to the America by European trained musicians to its eventual takeover and refinement by American composers. We see the beautiful progression from the dance hall Ziegfeld folly to organic synthesis of music and dialog in such wonderful works of art as Show Boat and Fiddler on the Roof. Act II is the decline and fall of this wonderful artform as it reverts back to its operatic beginnings with such good shows like A Chorus Line and Chicago to abominations like Cats and Starlight Express.

This is an author who loves his subject. His first hand interviews with some of the great luminaries of the Broadway theater like Jules Styne, George Abbott, and Cy Coleman bring the backstage evolution of the musical to life. His marvelous command of the English language make the subject matter even more interesting.

The other reviewers who suggest "homophobia" on Steyn's part are way off base. It is his forthright acknowledgement of gay accomplishment in the theater along with the terrible scourge of AIDS that has had a significant impact on the musical because its greatest modern practitioners are dying off without passing on their wisdom. Of what relevance is the fact that Steyn is a political conservative or a sometime writer for the Wall Street Journal have anything to do with the subject of Broadway musicals?

Enjoy this book for what it is; a glorious paean to a great art form.
35 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2002
The Great White Way is in trouble. It's condition is terminal but not serious, as the Russians say. Whatever you think of the causes for that, you will enjoy this book, if you love theatre. Mr. Steyn provides an excellent, if short history of Broadway, interspersed with lively criticism of the 'state of the stage'. Sondheim, in particular, receives some cutting thrusts. Reading it, I alternatively wanted to shout in Mr. Steyn's face and shake him by the hand. I laughed, I cried, I threw the book across the room at least three times, but I couldn't put it down.
36 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2015
Birthday gift for my talented sister. She loved it.
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2016
One of my two favorite books. I read this when it first came out, misplaced it and repurchased for my library. I wish he would up date it. Steyn breezy style and interesting anecdotes make this just great. I am reading "The Secret Life of Broadway Musicals" now. Both give great insight.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2000
Interesting and irritating. Interesting, because the author offers some thought-provoking insights into the history of the Broadway musical and where it has arguably gone wrong in its modern form. One may or may not agree, but there are enough new ideas to set you thinking.
Irritating, because it's riddled with factual inaccuracies, even on simple matters. "Dancing in the Dark" is in a major, not minor, key. "One for the Gipper" is not from "a biopic of the baseball player George Gipp", it's from a biopic of the football coach Knute Rockne. These are not isolated instances, and cause one to distrust the accuracy of facts less easily verified.
Further irritating, because it aims at musical pretension with lots of technical terms (including the British use of words like "crotchet" and "quaver"), but quotes melodies not by printing the music, but by representations like "Da-da-dee-dum". The author knows far less about music than he wants the uninitiated reader to think.
In short, this is a fun book to read, but prepare to be cross with the author at frequent intervals.
15 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2013
The former Fleet Street musical critic TAWKS about the dying breed/art of "American" musicals (and all the rest of them since Gilbert and Sullivan are all so Andrew Lloyd Webber-ish).
A truly remarkable accounting of so many songs and stories. A truly wonderful and lovely writer, writing about what he loves best.
Seriously, ANYTHING that you can/will read by Mark Steyn will embellish your Life.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2017
Witty diagnosis of the end of classic great american musicals. Steyn offers gossip and anecdotes and snatches of lyrics, and he's full of information about this grand american tradition.
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2017
Now that I have discovered Mark's books I am actively looking to collect them.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Peggy Oldfield
5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Needed To Know About The Great White Way
Reviewed in Canada on May 13, 2022
Author Mark Steyn has gone to great lengths and great research to tell us why some Broadway shows lasted for years and others closed after one week. He explains the importance of the plot and the opening song and how the first musical number guides the audience down the proper path. Why do some shows become hits overnight while others simply do not catch on? How did the romantic music of Vienna get transferred to Broadway in the early days and how did the likes of Sigmund Romberg and Jerome Kern take the European tradition of musical storytelling and transform it into an American experience? All this and more is laid out for us by Mark Steyn. I must confess that the last two chapters left me flat because they concern "Miss Saigon", Les Mis", "Rent" and other modern shows which have no appeal for me. However, the rest of the book is spellbinding.
M. J. Saxton
5.0 out of 5 stars Hip Hooray and Ballyhoo!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2009
If you're into Musical Theatre, either as a performer or informally, this book really tells you what makes it tick.

Mark Steyn has an easy style, humorous and informative without being formal. He's a music theatre journalist so his chapters read more like articles and you don't get those long, rambling bits that academics can be so fond of.

He writes chapters about what he sees as the important bits: The Show, The Music, The Lyrics as well as the more peripheral, but no less important elements: The Brits, The Fags, The Jokes.

He has a wealth of knowledge about Musical Theatre from minstrel shows and Vaudeville to MegaMusicals. He doesn't force his knowledge on you and often historical references are served up with a witty sideline. Actually, Mark Steyn is a very witty man, something else which helps this book. How often can you read an "academic" book and have a good giggle as you go along?

Though he worked for The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, he doesn't have much to say about British Musical Theatre pre-Lloyd-Webber/Mackintosh, which is a shame. One book that is missing off the shelves is a detailed account of the development of music theatre in this country (Well, more than one would be nice).

I recommend this book to anyone who likes the hip hooray and ballyhoo, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
One person found this helpful
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horace femm
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history of the musical.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2019
Here's someone who really has done their homework, lovingly written,concise and entertaining. I would love there to be an updated second volume. Excellent stuff.
One person found this helpful
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