EX - Library book with all the usual stamps and markings. Some shelf wear. Plastic protective cover taped DJ. Tanned tape imprints on end page. Pages are clean and binding is tight.

American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle

Business & Money

Bordman, Gerald

Economics

Oxford University Press

"Provocative and artfully argued"--The Los Angeles Times. Tracing the early history of the operetta on the American stage, this lively book examines origins of the musical theater in America. Bordman examines the public response to the mid-nineteenth century importations, showing how Americans then attempted to create their own operettas. Full of details about the producers and stars of the nineteenth-century entertainment world, this book will inform and entertain.

American Operetta: From H.M.S. Pinafore to Sweeney Todd

Arts & Photography

Music

Portrays the life of the composer of popular songs, Vincent Youmans, and describes his contributions to the development of the American musical comedy

Days To Be Happy, Years To Be Sad: The Life and Music of Vincent Youmans

A companion volume to American Operetta, this book traces the historical development of that quintessential American art form, the musical comedy. Full of fascinating details and telling insights, it also includes the long-lost text of the 1884 hit Adonis, the first musical comedy to run over 500 performances on Broadway.

American Musical Comedy: From Adonis to Dreamgirls

"In American musical theater, Bordman has become as important a historian as Stephen Sondheim is a writer," according to Library Journal. The author of the monumental American Musical Theater: A Chronicle ("absolutely the best reference book on its subject"--Newsweek) here completes his trilogy which began with American Operetta and American Musical Comedy, each focusing on a specific musical theatre genre. Revues--Broadway musicals where plot was unimportant or nonexistent and the emphasis was on comedy skits, specialty vocal and dance numbers, catchy songs, and chorus lines of beautiful girls--flourished for half a century, from the 1890s to about 1950. After looking at some forerunners of the revue form, Bordman examines the 1894 Passing Show, generally accepted as the first traditional revue and then traces the genre's development, its long decline and ultimate fate. He then pays homage to the apothesis of the revue, the almost yearly editions of the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1927) which featured leading comics, singers, and songwriters and prided itself on "glorifying the American girl." In the 1930s, Bordman points out, revues were more modest in scale and more satiric in intent and featured performers like Fred Astaire, Fred Allen, Clifton Webb, and Ethel Waters. The postwar period, Bordman notes, saw few memorable revues and television took over many of the functions of the revue. The most successful recent revues--Ain't Misbehavin', Eubie, and Sophisticated Ladies--hve been primarily retrospective concerts of older music. So it may be that the revue now belongs simply to history. But as anyone knows who has ever been fortunate enough to see a revue--or to vicariously enjoy one through this book--what a legacy! About the Author: Gerald Bordman's most recent book is The Oxford Companion to American Theatre.

American Musical Revue: From The Passing Show to Sugar Babies

Humor & Entertainment

This three-volume work will accomplish for the American non-musical theatre what Bordman's American Musical Theatre did for our song-and-dance entertainments: it chronicles, in order by opening, every Broadway comedy and drama, show by show, season by season, offering a plot synopsis, principal players, and important statistics. Scenery and costumes are described where they might be of interest, and comments of the plays' contemporary critics are quoted. In many instances, extended excerpts from the play are included to give the reader a fuller understanding of its nuances and its period dialogue. Also included, and worked chronologically into the text, are details about cheap-priced, cliff-hanging melodramas, such as Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl and His Sister's Shame, which were among America's most popular diversions in theatres catering to blue-collar playgoers until silent films drew away their audiences. Examples of shows produced and designed for other than New York are included. This volume deals with the great expansion of American theatre after the Civil War, the careers of such prominent actors and actresses as Edwin Booth, Mrs. Fiske, the Drew and Barrymore families, the first important American playwrights like Clyde Fitch, producers like David Belasco, and the influence of foreign plays and players. This stage history, besides giving a sense of each production, touches on the literary worth of the plays, provides brief biographies of major figures, and sets all of this against the economic and social backgrounds of the time. Readers will close the book feeling they, like their parents and grandparents, have sat through performances of these shows of another era.

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama: 1869-1914

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

The American musical is this country's greatest contribution to the theater. With the publication of American Musical Theatre, Bordman has made available the definitive reference work on this original American art form. Beginning with an introductory chapter on our lyric stage before 1866, Bordman covers every musical that has ever opened on Broadway, offering a plot synopsis and a description of the physical production of each. In addition, the book contains numerous biographies of actors, song writers, librettists, and producers. Three comprehensive indexes provide easy access to the wealth of material in the book. For the paperback edition, Bordman has added a new section on the most recent Broadway seasons.

When Gerald Bordman's Oxford Companion to American Theatre appeared in 1984, the distinguished actor Jose Ferrer proclaimed, "I'm in awe of the scholarship and research that have gone into the making of this book." The Los Angeles Times Book Review called it "the almost perfect gift book for both the student and the theatre lover," while Back Stage hailed it as "a major reference work [that] provides a wealth of authoritative information." The book quickly established itself as the standard one-volume resource on the American stage. Now Bordman gives us an abridgement of his massive original volume, eliminating many entries on minor plays and figures but preserving those articles that are of the widest general interest. The major achievements of playwrights Eugene O'Neill, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and many more are represented in hundreds of biographical sketches and summaries of individual plays. Also here are entries on performers ranging from Edwin Booth to John Barrymore, from Jessica Tandy to James Earl Jones. Extensive coverage is given to that most American of theatrical forms, the musical, and the often neglected achievements of the nineteenth century are also represented. In addition, this volume updates information on contemporary topics and includes a number of new articles. Altogether there are more than 2,000 entries, accessibly and attractively arranged in the two-column, A-Z format for which the Companion series is famous. Affordable, compact, and eminently "companionable," this work retains those qualities of erudition and entertainment that so distinguished the parent volume and makes them available to a much wider readership.

The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre

Poetry

When Gerald Bordman's Oxford Companion to American Theatre appeared in 1984, critics and the general public highly praised it, including the distinguished actor José Ferrer who proclaimed, "I'm in awe of the scholarship and research that have gone into the making of this book." The book quickly established itself as the standard one-volume resource on the American stage. Now Bordman gives us an abridgement of his massive original volume, eliminating many entries on minor plays and figures but preserving the articles of the widest general interest. Containing over two thousand entries, it presents hundreds of biographical sketches and summaries of individual plays which cover the major achievements of playwrights Eugene O'Neill, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, and many more. The volume also includes entries on performers ranging from Edwin Booth to John Barrymore, and from Jessica Tandy to James Earl Jones. It offers extensive treatment of that most American of theatrical forms, the musical, and of the often neglected achievements of the nineteenth century. In addition, this volume updates information on contemporary topics and includes a number of new articles. Affordable, compact, and eminently "companionable," this work retains those qualities of erudition and entertainment that so distinguished the parent volume and makes them available to a much wider readership.

The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre (Oxford Paperback Reference)

In what has become the biography of the father of American musical theatre, Gerald Bordman demonstrates a keen understanding and sympathy for Kern the man, as well as Kern the musician. No "rags-to-riches" folk hero, Jerome Kern grew up on the periphery of the American-Jewish elite, achieved early success, and moved throughout his life among the era's leading personalities and performers. Bordman follows Kern's career from its beginnings on Broadway and London's West End before World War I to his death in 1945. He reveals how Kern's 1914 hit "They Didn't Believe Me" established the pattern for the modern popular ballad; how his famous Princess Theatre shows during World War I helped end the dominance of European musicals on Broadway; and how with Show Boat he initiated the Americanized operetta style that dominated the American stage for decades. Examining the scores for all of Kern's shows and films (including fascinating discussions of such famous songs as "Look for the Silver Lining," "Ol' Man River," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"), Bordman demonstrates not only how Kern dramatically changed perceptions of what theatre music should or could be, but also how developments around Kern influenced him and his music.

Jerome Kern: His Life and Music

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bordman, Gerald. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Bordman, Gerald

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Bordman, Gerald. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle

American Operetta: From H.M.S. Pinafore to Sweeney Todd

Days To Be Happy, Years To Be Sad: The Life and Music of Vincent Youmans

American Musical Comedy: From Adonis to Dreamgirls

American Musical Revue: From The Passing Show to Sugar Babies

American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama: 1869-1914

American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle

The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre

The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Jerome Kern: His Life and Music