New book on history of musicals
New book on history of musicals
#1New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/13/13 at 4:28pm
I haven't seen another thread about this recent book, "Anything Goes", by Ethan Mordden. Here's a review from the LA Times' theatre critic, Charles McNulty. Anybody read it, have any thoughts about the book?
Best pull quote: "If Sondheim had written OKLAHOMA, the farmer and the cowman would still be fighting".
LA Times review
#2New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/13/13 at 4:37pm
I am an Ethan Mordden devotee and did indeed read ANYTHING GOES. And frankly, while I loved it and all of his new insights and anecdotes, for the first time reading Mordden, I wanted more. I felt there was more to talk about, though he did indeed talk about plenty. But it pleased this fan of his writing very much. He's the finest theater historian writing today. I'll take his uber-bitchy book on the last 25 years of Broadway Musicals (written in 2003) over every Peter Filichia book combined.
If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Mordden, pick up a copy of his books on the 50s, 60s and 70s on Broadway, and his lavishly illustrated coffee table book on Rodgers and Hammerstein for a start. When he delves into a specific topic or decade rather than broad overviews, he's really unbeatable. But he's always good, enjoyable and downright funny.
Updated On: 10/13/13 at 04:37 PM
#2New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/14/13 at 11:47amI had the "pleasure" of reading One More Kiss and The Happiest Corpse and his personal bias really left a bad taste and I've had no desire to pick up anything else by Mordden. Though his gay romance fiction seems to be popular.
#3New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/14/13 at 11:47am
Duplicate post.
elmore3003
Leading Actor Joined: 3/31/04
#4New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/14/13 at 3:08pmMordden's latest is another of his twee thinking, attempts to be cute, and reiteration of often inaccurate information. At least we didn't get the 30 year-old photograph of him in this one.
Pawnee Bill
Swing Joined: 10/13/13
#5New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/14/13 at 3:19pmJV: Mordden's previous books on the musical concentrated on smallish subjects--musicals of a particular decade, or Rodgers and Hammerstein. This time he's tackling the entire history of the musical from The Beggar's Opera and Gilbert and Sullivan through Show Boat and The Cradle Will Rock right up to Wicked and Bonnie & Clyde. That's almost three hundred years of a theatre genre to deal with, so he had to leave out or deal lightly with some of it. I was disappointed on how little there was about Dreamgirls. On the other hand, the insights are fresh, which is almost shocking when you consider how often he has written about musicals in the past. And he has started posting on his blog about shows he had to skip over in his book. There's a huge essay on Goldilocks, and I'm hoping he's going to give us more such.
#6New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/14/13 at 3:22pm"Anything Goes", by Ethan Mordden...anyone else read that as Ethel Merman?
#7New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/14/13 at 7:14pmPawnee Bill, I absolutely understand that. I suppose I could have said, "300 pages wasn't enough for me!", but of course, poor Ethan probably wouldn't want to write a 900 page tome on the Musical Theater, either. I've read his blog recently, and it's most welcome and fun to read.
#8New book on history of musicals
Posted: 10/14/13 at 7:18pm
Actually, I think Mordden would LOVE to write a 900-page tome on musical theater (and if you put his existing works together, you'd get more than 900 pages).
I suspect his publisher demanded restraint.
(Note: this isn't a slam against the author. I love his books.)
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