Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I had high hopes for this book when I bought it. But the old adage about not judging a book by its cover is true. The photos, layout, and table of contents were all so inviting. As much as I looked forward to reading this book, I could not make it past the middle of the second chapter. The writing is high school level at best. Simple sentences are strung together without much variety, flow, or cohesion. Many paragraphs are just a sentence or two long, touching on an aspect or work of a composer before abruptly dropping the matter and moving on to the next. The book is filled with unsubstantiated claims ("Life in Hollywood was free and easy. The people in the movie industry wandered in and out of each others' homes") and amateurish pseudo-psycho-analysis ("[Sondheim's] emotions were mangled as child and he spent most of his life fighting against any emotional attachments that would hurt him once again.") This book literally gave me a headache. I will think twice before buying another book from the editors at Applause Books.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Geniuses of the American Musical Theatre: The Composers and Lyricists
This volume collects, for the first time, twenty-eight biographies of the greatest songwriters and lyricists of Broadway musicals. It goes below the surface to see what made them tick and to uncover the secrets of their success - as well as the personal foibles that sometimes led to their downfall. Longtime theatre-lover and stage veteran Herbert Keyser takes us on a personal journey through the music that made these great artists so much a part of our history and our lives. Keyser has assembled a reader-friendly collection of stories that will capture your heart, bring a tear to your eye or a smile to your face, and all the while have you singing along. In presenting these life histories, full of drama, humor, and poignancy, The Geniuses of the American Musical Theatre gives us the story of the golden age of Broadway from a well-informed, witty, and warmhearted new perspective. The first book of its type ever assembled, it is a tremendous attraction for all those who love theatre and popular music, with intimate, little-known details of popular songwriters' lives.
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