Overview

The music of Broadway is one of America's most unique and popular calling cards. In Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America, author Laurence Maslon tells the story of how the most beloved songs of the American Musical Theater made their way from the Theater District to living rooms across the country.The crossroads where the music of Broadway meets popular culture is an expansive and pervasive juncture throughout most of the twentieth century-from sheet music to radio broadcasts to popular and original cast recordings-and continues to influence culture today through television, streaming, and the Internet. The original Broadway cast album-from the 78 rpm recording of Oklahoma! to the digital download of Hamilton-is one of the most successful, yet undervalued, genres in the history of popular recording. The challenge of capturing musical narrative with limited technology inspired the imagination of both the recording industry and millions of listeners: between 1949 and 1969, fifteen different original cast albums hit number one on the popular music charts, ultimately tallying more weeks at number one than all of the albums by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles combined. The history of Broadway music is also the history of American popular music; the technological, commercial, and marketing forces of communications and media over the last century were inextricably bound up in the enterprise of bringing the musical gems of New York's Theater District to living rooms along Main Streets across the nation.The story of this commercial and emotional phenomenon is told here in full from the imprimatur of sheet music from Broadway in the early 20th century to the renaissance of Broadway music in the digital age, folding in the immense impact of show music on American culture and in the context of the recording industry, popular tastes, and our shared national identity. A book which connects cherished cultural artifacts to the emotional narratives at the core of American popular music, Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America is an ideal companion for all fans of American Musical Theater and popular music.

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9780199832538

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Reviews

Broadway to Main Street is a fascinating look at show music's hold on the American imagination, and at the people who have brought its magic to the public, from Jerome Kern to Lin-Manuel Miranda, from Tin Pan Alley song pluggers to Ed Sullivan and Goddard Lieberson, from Al Jolson to Julie Andrews to John Legend. Laurence Maslon probably knows as much about American musical theater as anyone alive, but he also loves it, and it's that love, as well as his erudition, that makes Broadway to Main Street such a treat. * Amanda Vaill, author of Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins * Anyone who refers to the beloved album of Hamilton as a 'soundtrack' needs to read Larry Maslon's remarkable book. He explains in historical, factual, and humorous detail what an original cast album is and what an important part of musical theater history it continues to be. There are nuggets of new information here to surprise us all. Maslon explains the fascinating rivalry among the record companies through the years and how the original cast album remains one of Broadway most important export tools. The book is fun, informative, and-dare I say it?- important. * Ted Chapin, President, Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization * Laurence Maslon, who knows as much as about the American Musical Theater as anyone on Planet Showbiz, explores the multi-layered bond between the phenomenon of the original cast album from Oklahoma! to Hamilton and its impact on the music industry. By focusing on the 'business' part of show business, Maslon opens a fascinating new door into the history of what just might be America's Greatest Treasure. * John Guare, Playwright * This is the book Ive been waiting for since the day I found my mother's Original Broadway Cast Album of Carousel in our record cabinet - but this book is about so much more than the history of cast albums, although it's a glorious examination of that world. It's about the development of the entire music industry, and, indeed, popular culture itself throughout the twentieth century. Comprehensive, delightful, and deeply personal, this is a fabulous book - the only thing that kept me from reading it in one sitting was my inability to stop jumping up and playing all the recordings mentioned in the book. * Malcolm Gets, Tony Award-nominated actor * A valuable contribution to our understanding of the rise and importance of Broadway in American culture. And its more than just a book: Notations scattered throughout the text direct readers to visit a companion website that includes performances by artists from Jolson to Jay-Z. Anyone interested in American popular culture will be able to appreciate Maslons virtual libretto for giving our regards to Broadway. * The Weekly Standard *

Broadway to Main Street is a fascinating look at show music's hold on the American imagination, and at the people who have brought its magic to the public, from Jerome Kern to Lin-Manuel Miranda, from Tin Pan Alley song pluggers to Ed Sullivan and Goddard Lieberson, from Al Jolson to Julie Andrews to John Legend. Laurence Maslon probably knows as much about American musical theater as anyone alive, but he also loves it, and it's that love, as well as his erudition, that makes Broadway to Main Street such a treat. * Amanda Vaill, author of Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins * Anyone who refers to the beloved album of Hamilton as a 'soundtrack' needs to read Larry Maslon's remarkable book. He explains in historical, factual, and humorous detail what an original cast album is and what an important part of musical theater history it continues to be. There are nuggets of new information here to surprise us all. Maslon explains the fascinating rivalry among the record companies through the years and how the original cast album remains one of Broadway most important export tools. The book is fun, informative, and-dare I say it?- important. * Ted Chapin, President, Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization * Laurence Maslon, who knows as much as about the American Musical Theater as anyone on Planet Showbiz, explores the multi-layered bond between the phenomenon of the original cast album from Oklahoma! to Hamilton and its impact on the music industry. By focusing on the 'business' part of show business, Maslon opens a fascinating new door into the history of what just might be America's Greatest Treasure. * John Guare, Playwright * This is the book Ive been waiting for since the day I found my mother's Original Broadway Cast Album of Carousel in our record cabinet - but this book is about so much more than the history of cast albums, although it's a glorious examination of that world. It's about the development of the entire music industry, and, indeed, popular culture itself throughout the twentieth century. Comprehensive, delightful, and deeply personal, this is a fabulous book - the only thing that kept me from reading it in one sitting was my inability to stop jumping up and playing all the recordings mentioned in the book. * Malcolm Gets, Tony Award-nominated actor *

Author Information

Laurence Maslon is an Arts Professor and Associate Chair at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter, he is the author of several books about the musical theater, including the companion volume to the PBS series Broadway: The American Musical as well as the editor of the Library of Americas two-volume set American Musicals (1927-1969), containing sixteen classic Broadway librettos.

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