Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber / Edition 2

by Geoffrey Block

Overview

This new second edition of Enchanted Evenings offers theater lovers an illuminating behind-the-scenes tour of some of America's best loved, most admired, and most enduring musicals.
Readers will find such all-time favorites as Show Boat, Carousel, Kiss Me, Kate, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Phantom of the Opera. Geoffrey Block provides a documentary history of each of the musicals, showing how each work took shape and revealing, at the same time, how the American musical evolved from the 1920s to today, both on stage and on screen. The book's particular focus is on the music, offering a wealth of detail about how librettist, lyricist, composer, and director work together to shape the piece. Block also includes trenchant social commentary and lively backstage anecdotes. Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Kurt Weill, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and other luminaries emerge as hardworking craftsmen under enormous pressure to sell tickets without compromising their dramatic vision. The second edition includes a greatly expanded chapter on Sondheim, a new chapter on Lloyd Webber, and two new chapters on the film adaptations of the main musicals featured in the text (including such hard to find films as the original 1936 version of Anything Goes and the 1959 film adaptation of Porgy and Bess).
Packed with information, including a complete discography and plot synopses and song-by-song scenic outlines for each of the fourteen shows, Enchanted Evenings is an essential reference as well as a riveting history.

"A solid and fascinating work that should become a model of how to investigate and report on the evolution of a musical. Block's research is persuasive and his writing vivid. . . Indispensable for anyone who cares to know more about Broadway musicals than Playbill can provide."
—Steven Bach, The Los Angeles Times Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195384000
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/30/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	482
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	1730L (what's this?)

About the Author

Geoffrey Block, Distinguished Professor of Music History at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, is the author of Ives: "Concord" Sonata (Cambridge, 1996) and Richard Rodgers, the inaugural volume of the Yale Broadway Masters series, for which he serves as general editor. He is also the editor of The Richard Rodgers Reader (Oxford, 2002) and the Series Editor for Oxford's new Broadway Legacies.

Table of Contents

Preface to the first editionPreface to the second editionAcknowledgementsiOverture/i1. Introduction: Setting the StageiAct I: Before Rodgers and Hammerstein/i2. iShow Boat/i: In the Beginning3. iAnything Goes/i: Songs Ten, Book Three4. iPorgy and Bess/i: Broadway Opera5. iOn Your Toes and Pal Joey/i: Dance Gets into the Act and "Sweet Water from a Foul Well"6. iThe Cradle Will Rock/i: A Labor Musical for Art's Sake7. iLady in the Dark/i and iOne Touch of Venus/i: The Broadway Stranger and His American Dreams8. iStage vs. Screen I: Before Rogers and Hammerstein/iiAct II: The Broadway Musical After Oklahoma!/i9. iCarousel/i: The Invasion of the Integrated Musical10. iKiss Me, Kate/i: The Taming of Cole Porter11. iGuys and Dolls and The Most Happy Fella/i: The Greater Loesser12. iMy Fair Lady/i: From iPygmalion/i to iCinderella/i13. iWest Side Storyi: The Very Model of a Major Musical14. Stage vs. Screen II: After iOklahoma!/iEpilogue: The Age of Sondheim and Lloyd Webber15. iSweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George/i: Happily Ever After iWest Side Story/i with Sondheim16. iPhantom of the Opera/i: The Reigning Champion of BroadwaySynopsesDiscography: Selected Original, Revival, Film, and Studio CastsAppendix A. Sources, Published Librettos, and Vocal ScoresAppendix B. Long Runs 1920s-1980sAppendix C. The Forty Longest-Running Book Musicals on BroadwayAppendix D. iShow Boat/iAppendix E. iAnything Goes/iAppendix F. iPorgy and Bess/i: Songs, Arias, and ThemesAppendix G. iOn Your Toes/i: Broadway 1936 and Broadway Revival 1983Appendix H. iPal Joey/i: Broadway 1940 and Broadway Revival 1952Appendix I. iThe Cradle Will Rock/i: Broadway 1937Appendix J. iLady in the Dark/i: Broadway 1941Appendix K. iOne Touch of Venus/i: Broadway 1943Appendix L. iCarousel/i: Broadway 1945Appendix M. iKiss Me, Kate/i: Broadway 1948Appendix N. iGuys and Dolls/i: Broadway 1950Appendix O. iThe Most Happy Fella/i: Broadway 1956Appendix P. iMy Fair Lady/i: Broadway 1956Appendix Q. iWest Side Story/i: Broadway 1957Appendix R. iFollies/i: Broadway 1971 and London Revival 1987NotesSelect BibliographyIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Enchanted Evenings is a superb read." —Theatermania.com

"I can't think of another book, on any subject, in which the author shows such firm control over his materials, in this case scholarly as well as journalistic writing on the Broadway musical, reviews of shows, correspondence, the music itself, and archival materials of various sorts relating to the early stages of creation. Enchanted Evenings is fascinating, original, compelling."—Charles Hamm, Professor Emeritus of Music, Dartmouth College, and author, Irving Berlin: 1907-1914

"A solid and fascinating work that should become a model of how to investigate and report on the evolution of a musical. . . [Block's] research is persuasive and his writing vivid. . . Indispensable for anyone who cares to know more about Broadway musicals than Playbill can provide."—Steven Bach, The Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Some of the smartest commentary available about American musical theater"—Joel E. Siegel, The Washington Post

From the Publisher