ABSTRACT
Musical Theater: An Appreciation, Second Edition offers a history of musical theater from its operating origins to the Broadway shows of today, combined with an in-depth study of the musical styles that paralleled changes on stage. Alyson McLamore teaches readers how to listen to both the words and the music of the stage musical, enabling them to understand how all the components of a show interact to create a compelling experience for audiences.
This second edition has been updated with new chapters covering recent developments in the twenty-first century, while insights from recent scholarship on musical theater have been incorporated throughout the text. The musical examples discussed in the text now include detailed listening guides, while a new companion website includes plot summaries and links to audio of the musical examples. From Don Giovanni to Hamilton, Musical Theater: An Appreciation both explores the history of musical theater and develops a deep appreciation of the musical elements at the heart of this unique art form.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|34 pages
The Antecedents to the Genre of “Musical Theater”
part 2|64 pages
The Musical Stage in the Nineteenth Century
chapter 6|13 pages
The Serious and the Not-So-Serious
part 3|47 pages
Diverging Paths in the Twentieth Century
part 4|55 pages
Beginnings of a Golden Age
part 5|36 pages
A Greater Maturity
part 6|49 pages
New Partnerships
part 7|38 pages
New Faces of the 1940s and 1950s
part 8|83 pages
New Faces of the 1960s and 1970s
part 9|115 pages
The Late Twentieth Century—and Beyond