Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theater |
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Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theater
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by John Bush Jones
Sales Rank: 74412
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List Price: $27.95
$18.45
At Amazon
on 6-18-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 426 pages
Published by: Brandeis; New Ed edition January 1, 2004
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0874519047
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0874519044
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
Weighs: 1.2 pounds
Product Review
"The strength of this sweeping thesis is its scope. It seeks to demonstrate and analyze how Broadway and Off-Broadway have held up a mirror to political and social currents in American society at large. But the fun comes from showing how events and trends in widely separated decades all sprang from similar currents of thought. By looking at the entire continuum of musicals as a single ongoing dialog between Broadway and America, the book serves up fresh insights and eyebrow-raising parallels on each page. It starts in the 19th century and runs right up 2001's Urinetown, from which it concludes that the political musical remains alive and well." --Playbill
"Our Musical, Ourselves . . . may foreshadow a new era in the study of the musical . . . [an] accessible read . . . [a] must read for the musical theatre scholar a text that finally fills the void of a needed comprehensive history of the musical that, more importantly, places each musical squarely in the context of the time in which it was created."--Theatre History Studies
"[A]n overview of the American musical for the entire twentieth century . . . a strength of the book, in addition to the author's obvious enthusiasm for his subject matter, is that it has something to say about dozens of shows not even mentioned by [other] authors."--Kurt Weill Newsletter
"The very fact that [Our Musicals, Ourselves] looks at potential interfaces between social and political developments and the Broadway musical is laudable . . . The study's expansive scope, its attempts at connecting historical narrative with a narrative of genre evolution, as well as Jones's near encyclopedic knowledge of social and political themes in Broadway productions provide an great starting point for further analysis of specific periods, sub-genres, and issues in American musical theater."--American Studies
Product Review
"An great overview of the American musical, its history, its significance and its influence, told in a most entertaining way. A truly admirable work." (Joseph Stein, playwright, Fiddler on the Roof )
Reader Reviews
This book by a long-time professor of theatre arts at Brandeis University is a fascinating study of the social forces influencing the evolution of the Broadway music. Starting with the early part of the 20th-century and working his way slowly to the present day, John Bush Jones groups musicals according to their themes and intent, calling some simply 'diversionary' (the sort that is so often thought to be aimed at the 'tired businessman') and others 'issue-driven,' (those with a theme which somehow mirrors the society at large). Clearly his interest is primarily with the latter, although he does discuss some of the unconscious thematic issues of the former. He does sometimes tend to get a bit caught up in his own premises and oversell them, but by and large this is a scholarly, and entirely readable, history of an art form that was invented on our shores and brought to its peak here, although it has been imitated prolifically elsewhere. He makes the point that most of the creators were Jewish (as he is) but doesn't offer much of an explanation for why this might be so. He focuses repeatedly on such things as shows with African-American, Jewish, political, sociological and psychological themes. He offers a fine analysis of the so-called 'concept musical' (e.g., 'Company' or 'Chorus Line') which he prefers to call 'fragmented musicals,' a description which points out their lack of an ordinary linear plot line. One could argue with some of his emphases and analyses, but one has to respect the depth and breadth of his research and knowledge. He analyzes sociopolitical themes at length in such musicals as 'Show Boat,' 'The Cradle Will Rock,' 'Pal Joey,' 'Oklahoma,' 'South Pacific,' 'Carousel,' 'Sweeney Todd,' 'Fiddler on the Roof,' and others. Sometimes he finds hidden meanings that I had a hard time agreeing with, but I can only admire his imaginative look at some musicals that many of us tend to see as primarily 'diversionary.' The book includes appendices listing the most popular or important musicals grouped roughly by decade and the number of performances they achieved. And there is also an extensive bibliography. I've read many books about the musical theatre and this one is unique in its perspective; it brings an interesting slant to the subject. Thus, it is a worthy addition to the long list of important books about the art form. Scott Morrison
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Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theater
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Price: $18.45
Updated on 6-18-2008.
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