Overview

"Show Tunes fully chronicles the shows, songs, and careers of the major composers of the American musical theatre, from Jerome Kern's earliest interpolations to the latest hits on Broadway. Legendary composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, Berlin, Bernstein, and Sondheim have been joined by more recent songwriters like Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Flaherty, Michael John LaChiusa, and Adam Guettel. This majestic reference book covers their work, their innovations, their successes, and their failures. Show Tunes is simply the most comprehensive volume of its kind ever produced, and this newly revised and updated edition discusses almost 1,000 shows and 9,000 show tunes. The book has been called ""a concise skeleton key to the Broadway musical"" (Variety) and ""a ground-breaking reference work with a difference"" (Show Music)-or, as the Washington Post observed, ""It makes you sing and dance all over your memory."" The eagerly anticipated Fourth Edition, updated through May, 2009, features the entire theatrical output of forty of Broadway's leading composers, in addition to a wide selection of work by other songwriters. The listings include essential production data and statistics, the most extensive information available on published and recorded songs, and lively commentary on the shows, songs, and diverse careers. Based on meticulous research, the book also uncovers dozens of lost musicals-including shows that either closed out of town or were never headed for Broadway-and catalogs hundreds of previously unknown songs, including a number of musical gems that have been misplaced, cut, or forgotten. Informative, insightful, and provocative, Show Tunes is an essential guide for anyone interested in the American musical."

Full Product Details

Author:   Steven Suskin
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Edition:   4th Revised edition
Dimensions:   Width: 25.40cm , Height: 5.10cm , Length: 18.30cm
Weight:   1.534kg
ISBN:  

9780195314076

ISBN 10:   0195314077
Pages:   624
Publication Date:   01 April 2010
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

PREFACE ; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ; HOW TO USE THIS BOOK ; PART 1 ; Composers of the Early Years ; INTRODUCTION ; Jerome Kern ; Irving Berlin ; George Gershwin ; Vincent Youmans ; Richard Rodgers ; Cole Porter ; Arthur Schwartz ; Harold Arlen ; Vernon Duke ; Burton Lane ; Kurt Weill ; Marc Blitzstein ; Harold Rome ; PART 2 ; New Composers of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s ; INTRODUCTION ; Hugh Martin ; Leonard Bernstein ; Frederick Loewe ; Jule Styne ; Frank Loesser ; Richard Adler ; Jerry Bock ; Bob Merrill ; Meredith Willson ; Stephen Sondheim ; Charles Strouse ; Harvey Schmidt ; Cy Coleman ; Jerry Herman ; John Kander ; Mitch Leigh ; PART 3 ; New Composers of the 1970s and Beyond ; INTRODUCTION ; Stephen Schwartz ; Larry Grossman ; Marvin Hamlisch ; Alan Menken ; William Finn ; Maury Yeston ; Stephen Flaherty ; Michael John LaChiusa ; Jason Robert Brown ; Adam Guettel ; PART 4 ; INTRODUCTION ; Notable Shows by Other Composers ; APPENDIX 1 ; Chronological Listing of Productions ; APPENDIX 2 ; Bibliography ; SONG TITLE INDEX ; SHOW INDEX ; PEOPLE INDEX

Reviews

The book is invaluable for reliable fact and for the chasing of references

Estimable and essential... invaluable for reliable fact and for the chasing of references

Author Information

Steven Suskin is the author of The Sound of Broadway Music: a Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations [OUP, February 2009], Second Act Trouble, the Opening Night on Broadway series and a half-dozen other books about the Broadway musical. He has also written hundreds of columns and reviews for Playbill, Variety and other publications. He began his theatrical career as a teenaged assistant at the David Merrick office, followed by twenty-five years as a manager and producer.

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