Boy Loses Girl: Broadway's Librettists / Edition 288

by Thomas S. Hischak author of The Oxford Companion to the American Musical

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810844407
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/23/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.82(w) x 8.66(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Thomas S. Hischak is professor of theatre, State University of New York College at Cortland. In 1996 he received the Stanley Drama Award (playwriting) for his screenplay Cold War Comedy. He has published numerous plays and books including The Tin Pan Alley Song Encyclopedia.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Writing Little Books: An Introduction Chapter 2 CHAPTER ONE The American Idea: George M. Cohan Chapter 3 CHAPTER TWO Oh, Boy! Oh, Lady! Guy Bolton and P.G. Woodhouse Chapter 4 CHAPTER THREE High Jinks and Pipe Dreams: Otto Harbach and 'scar Hammerstein II Chapter 5 CHAPTER FOUR Strike Up the Band: George F. Kaufman and Fellow Wits Chapter 6 CHAPTER FIVE Blossom Time: Dorothy Donnelly and Other Early Librettists Chapter 7 CHAPTER SIX Hooray for Anything Red, Hot, and Blue! Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse Chapter 8 CHAPTER SEVEN Charley, Flora, Fiorello, and the Yankees: George Abbott and Company Chapter 9 CHAPTER EIGHT The New Yorkers: The Fields Family Chapter 10 CHAPTER NINE Flahooley's Rainbow: E.Y. Harburg and Fellow Conspirators Chapter 11 CHAPTER TEN Applause on the Town: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Chapter 12 CHAPTER ELEVEN On a Clear Day: Alan Jay Lerner Chapter 13 CHAPTER TWELVE Flying High, Taking a Chance: B.G. De Sylva and Others in the 1930s and 1940s Chapter 14 CHAPTER THIRTEEN Hallelujah, Gypsy! Arthur Laurents Chapter 15 CHAPTER FOURTEEN Guys and Dolls and Stockings: Abe Burrows and Others in the 1950s Chapter 16 CHAPTER FIFTEEN To the Forum, in the Park, into the Woods: Stephen Sondheim's Collaborators Chapter 17 CHAPTER SIXTEEN Carnival on the Roof: Michael Stewart, Joseph Stein, and Peter Stone Chapter 18 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Getting an Act Together: Gretchen Cryer and Others in the 1960s and 1970s Chapter 19 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN The Kiss of Ragtime: Terrence McNally Chapter 20 CHAPTER NINETEEN The Producers: The 1980s, 1990s, and Beyond Chapter 21 Bibliography Chapter 22 Index Chapter 23 About the Author

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating and knowledgeable account of the way American musicals were and are developed — collaboratively to be sure, but seen from the viewpoint of librettists.

Syracuse Post-Standard/Stars - Neil Novelli

A major achievement is the recognition the book gives to writers heretofore ignored, e.g. Otto Harbach, Peter Stone, George Furth, Michael Stewart, and to the lengthy careers of Joseph, Herbert, and Dorothy Fields....Large academic research collections and performing arts collections...

Choice Reviews

A fascinating and knowledgeable account of the way American musicals were and are developed — collaboratively to be sure, but seen from the viewpoint of librettists.
— Neil Novelli

Syracuse Post-Standard/Stars

A major achievement is the recognition the book gives to writers heretofore ignored, e.g. Otto Harbach, Peter Stone, George Furth, Michael Stewart, and to the lengthy careers of Joseph, Herbert, and Dorothy Fields....Large academic research collections and performing arts collections...

Choice

A major achievement is the recognition the book gives to writers heretofore ignored, e.g. Otto Harbach, Peter Stone, George Furth, Michael Stewart, and to the lengthy careers of Joseph, Herbert, and Dorothy Fields....Large academic research collections and performing arts collections...

CHOICE