Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s

History of the Broadway Musical #5

by Ethan Mordden

In the 1960s, the Broadway musical was revolutionized from an entertainment characterized by sentimental standards, such as Camelot and Hello, Dolly!, to one of brilliant and bittersweet masterpieces, such as Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof. In Open a New Window, Ethan Mordden continues his history of the Broadway musical with the decade that bridged the gap between the romantic, fanciful entertainments of the fifties, such as Call Me, Madam, to the seventies when sophisticated fare, such as A Little Night Music and Follies, was commonplace. Here in brilliant detail is the decade and the people that forever transformed the Broadway muscial.

Genres: Theatre, Music, History, Nonfiction

387 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Joe Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great volume in Ethan Mordden’s epic decade-by-decade examination of the Broadway musical. In this edition the author shows us that the 1960s were the best of times and the worst of times. New classics like ‘Hello, Dolly!’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ opened and enjoyed record breaking runs but the new economics of NYC theater caused some shows with seemingly healthy runs to lose money.
Mordden also examines the way show tunes drifted away from the record charts during the 1960s as rock replaced traditional pop. The enormous profits of such 1950s cast albums as ‘My Fair Lady’ started to disappear.
The book also points out how installing dance critic Clive Barnes as the drama critic of the New York Times was a very damaging development - he would arrive late to shows and also criticized mainstream Broadway pop as being outdated.
Mordden is a terrific guide through the good, the bad and the ugly of 1960s Broadway.

[Paul Hasbrouck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume brings the Broadway Musical into 1960's and changing world. For musicals face the growing threats of rock music, in radio, tv and movies, the cost of creating a musical is goings up and shrinking of the entertaining pool(again tv and movies seem to reaching out for the singers, dancers and the character actors that filled musicals of previse decades). But even with these problems Broadway created great hits.
This decade starts with CAMELOT, a fantasy of knights and ladies and ends with 1776, with the Founding Fathers. In between are hits like, Hello Dolly, Mame, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret and the dozens of flops, near hits and out of town disasters that fill pages of book.
So at the end exit the 1960's and enters the 1970's.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broadway in the 1960s glittered as the decade with the largest group of classical musicals. Marking the end of the Rodgers and Hammerstein era, the 1960s marked the beginning of a new era when “dark” musicals such as “Company,” “A Little Night Music,” and “Cabaret” became standard fare for the Broadway stage.

Readers with an interest in musical theater, in Broadway, or in theater history will find much to appreciate in the pages of this book. Pictures from many of the shows of the decade and an extensive index will help readers locate shows and actors.

Recommended.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual Mordden looks at the decade’s overall picture plus individual shows. The big picture includes that rising costs mean even a successful show such as She Loves Memofht not earn back its costs and that doing shows in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s style was done (Mordden argues Camelot was the last, with Cabaret the first of the next wave).
Along with reviews of dozens of shows both famous and obscure this makes for a good picture of Broadway in this decade.

[Heather McC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated a 2.5, the subject matter has the possibility to be fascinating but the writing and storytelling comes off as a bit dry (more textbook than anything else). There were occasional highlights, paragraphs of interest, but for the most part the book was skimmed out of tediousness.

[liam donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s certainly interesting to hear Mordden’s takes on shows like George M!, Fade Out Fade In, and Zorba. The chapter on Funny Girl is tremendous.

That being said, Mordden seems unable to categorize this decade as succinctly as he usually does — he introduces the concept of musical comedy vs play, but quickly abandons it. I suppose this is reflective of the “inbetweeness” of the decade, but it nonetheless makes reading the book at times feel like reading a list. Additionally, his complete rejection of rock scores has not aged well.

All in all, you can’t find stuff like this anywhere else, both the good and the bad included.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of Ethan Mordden's decade-by-decade books on Broadway musicals are delightful, knowledgeable histories, written as if dictated by your favorite snarky, gossiping best buddy. This particular volume doesn't seem as fascinating as the '40s, '50s and '70s books, perhaps because Mordden seems let down by this transitional period when shows were moving from traditional, big stories (Camelot) to loose, funky, unstructured entertainments (Cabaret, Hair). Still fun, and it had me seeking out the soundtracks to some of the most obscure shows he mentions.