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The American Musical: History & Development
The American Musical is a unique fusion of drama and music, which has become especially important during the past fifty years. Peter Riddle provides us with a detailed exploration of the evolution and development of this form of music theatre in North America. The American Musical: History & Development traces the origins of music theatre from its eighteenth-century European roots to the present. Highlights include an exploration of the minstrel show, burlesque, and the revue along with discussions about Kern and Hammerstein’s Show Boat, Cole Porter, the Gershwin Brothers, Rodgers and Hart, Oklahoma, Richard Rogers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Stephen Sondheim, and Andrew Lloyd Weber.
215 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Peter H. Riddle
13 booksLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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April 30, 2020
This is absolutely terrible - even as a broad overview of US American musical theatre. In Riddle's conception, the musical developed teleologically... from Show Boat to Oklahoma! to Stephen Sondheim. The composer of Sweeney Todd gets something like 6 chapters dedicated to him and his work. Hair, by contrast, barely gets its name mentioned at all, and its authors' names go unmentioned.
This book is also riddled with odd value judgments (x is more like an opera than a "true" musical, other musicals incorporated tragedy but it wasn't as forceful as in y, z's use of dance was "true" ballet). I say the judgments are odd because they don't seem made to advance a particular thesis, only to clarify the author's opinions. This book's chief claim to value is it is simple and accessible and might, in theory, be something one could assign to undergraduates. But the book just doesn't have enough useful content for a classroom.
This book is also riddled with odd value judgments (x is more like an opera than a "true" musical, other musicals incorporated tragedy but it wasn't as forceful as in y, z's use of dance was "true" ballet). I say the judgments are odd because they don't seem made to advance a particular thesis, only to clarify the author's opinions. This book's chief claim to value is it is simple and accessible and might, in theory, be something one could assign to undergraduates. But the book just doesn't have enough useful content for a classroom.
Displaying 1 of 1 review