Musical Theatre

A History

John Kenrick

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781474267007
• eBook ISBN: 9781474267021
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre History & Criticism

Musical Theatre: A History is a new revised edition of a proven core text for college and secondary school students – and an insightful and accessible celebration of twenty-five centuries of great theatrical entertainment.

As an educator with extensive experience in professional theatre production, author John Kenrick approaches the subject with a unique appreciation of musicals as both an art form and a business. Using anecdotes, biographical profiles, clear definitions, sample scenes and select illustrations, Kenrick focuses on landmark musicals, and on the extraordinary talents and business innovators who have helped musical theatre evolve from its roots in the dramas of ancient Athens all the way to the latest hits on Broadway and London's West End.

Key improvements to the second edition:
· A new foreword by Oscar Hammerstein III, a critically acclaimed historian and member of a family with deep ties to the musical theatre, is included
· The 28 chapters are reformatted for the typical 14 week, 28 session academic course, as well as for a two semester, once-weekly format, making it easy for educators to plan a syllabus and reading assignments.
· To make the book more interactive, each chapter includes suggested listening and reading lists, designed to help readers step beyond the printed page to experience great musicals and performers for themselves.

A comprehensive guide to musical theatre as an international phenomenon, Musical Theatre: A History is an ideal textbook for university and secondary school students.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: “Let’s Start at the Very Beginning”
• 1 Ancient Times to 1800: “Playgoers, I Bid You Welcome!”
• 2 Continental Operetta (1840–1900): “Typical of France”
• 3 Music Halls and Minstrel Shows: When Ribaldry and Racism Sang and Danced
• 4 “The Music of Something Beginning”: American Explorations (1624–1890)
• 5 Object All Sublime: Gilbert and Sullivan (1880–1900)
• 6 Vaudeville and Burlesque: From Small Time to Big Time
• 7 The Merry Widow: Refusing to Say “I Love You”
• 8 A New Century: Herbert, Cohan, and Berlin (1900–13)
• 9 Florenz Ziegfeld: The Follies and Beyond
• 10 Jerome Kern and American Ascendance (1914–19)
• 11 Career in Profile: Al Jolson, “the World’s Greatest Entertainer”
• 12 The 1920s, Part I: Hot Times and Great Talents (1920–29)
• 13 The 1920s, Part II: Show Boat—Premature Revolution
• 14 Depression Era Miracles (1930–39): “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan”
• 15 Rodgers and Hammerstein, a New Beginning (1940–60): “They Couldn’t Pick a Better Time”
• 16 After Oklahoma! (post-1943): Broadway’s Golden Age
• 17 Anatomy of a Hit: My Fair Lady
• 18 Career in Profile: Ethel Merman
• 19 Abbott, Robbins, and Fosse (1950–63)
• 20 More Golden Age Musicals (1950s–1960s)
• 21 The 1960s: “The Parade Passes By”
• 22 The 1970s, Part I: Sondheim and Prince
• 23 The 1970s, Part II: “You Gotta Hang on till Tomorrow” (1970–79)
• 24 The 1980s: “And the Wind Begins to Moan”
• 25 The 1990s: “The American Dream”
• 26 The 2000s: “Where Did We Go Right?”
• 27 The 2010s: Tourists Reign Supreme
• 28 The Future
• Suggested Reading: An Annotated Bibliography
• Index