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Boy Loses Girl: Broadway's Librettists
Whenever the distinguished Broadway songwriter Stephen Sondheim is asked what comes first, the music or the lyrics, he always answers, "the book." All theater lovers know that Irving Berlin wrote the score for Annie Get Your Gun , that Rodgers and Hammerstein did the songs for The Sound of Music , and that Frank Loesser penned the musical numbers for Guys and Dolls . But who wrote the librettos for these Broadway classics? The libretto is the script of a musical, what the characters say and do when they are not singing or dancing. It is the backbone of every musical play yet too few theatergoers know who these important librettists are.
Boy Loses Girl is the first book to look at the careers, works and characteristics of Broadway's most important libretto writers during the past one hundred years. Here are all the major authors, from George M. Cohan, who wrote the librettos for all his musicals, to Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan who scripted The Producers . Meet Otto Harback, Alan Jay Lerner, Dorothy Fields, Abe Burrows, Peter Stone, George S. Kaufman, Guy Bolton, Dorothy Donnelly, Joseph Fields, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Arthur Laurents, George Abbot and others. Current and up-and-coming writers like Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens, William Finn, and Michael John LaChiusa are also covered. One hundred years of libretto writing are explored as the growth and changes in the Broadway musical are charted through the work of these important writers. Boy Loses Girl presents a whole new perspective for looking at the American musical theater.
For scholars and enthusiasts of the American musical theatre; frequent theater goers.
Boy Loses Girl is the first book to look at the careers, works and characteristics of Broadway's most important libretto writers during the past one hundred years. Here are all the major authors, from George M. Cohan, who wrote the librettos for all his musicals, to Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan who scripted The Producers . Meet Otto Harback, Alan Jay Lerner, Dorothy Fields, Abe Burrows, Peter Stone, George S. Kaufman, Guy Bolton, Dorothy Donnelly, Joseph Fields, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Arthur Laurents, George Abbot and others. Current and up-and-coming writers like Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens, William Finn, and Michael John LaChiusa are also covered. One hundred years of libretto writing are explored as the growth and changes in the Broadway musical are charted through the work of these important writers. Boy Loses Girl presents a whole new perspective for looking at the American musical theater.
For scholars and enthusiasts of the American musical theatre; frequent theater goers.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2002
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February 2, 2011
The analysis in this show is pretty thin. A lot of musicals are discussed, but none are examined for really more than a page or two. Despite the fact that this book is entirely about librettos I feel I actually learned very little about what makes a good libretto. It's great that someone tackled the subject but to make any kind of statement more analysis of librettos is needed.
Displaying 1 of 1 review