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.

part 1|34 pages

The Antecedents to the Genre of “Musical Theater”

chapter 1|8 pages

The Birth of “Staged” Music

chapter 2|8 pages

Developing Genres in the Eighteenth Century

Ballad Opera and Singspiel

chapter 3|10 pages

Developing Genres in the Eighteenth Century

Opera Buffa and Dramma Giocoso

part 2|64 pages

The Musical Stage in the Nineteenth Century

chapter 6|13 pages

The Serious and the Not-So-Serious

Italy, Germany, and Austria in the Nineteenth Century

chapter 7|11 pages

England in the Nineteenth Century

Gilbert and Sullivan

chapter 10|10 pages

Operetta in America, 1880–1903

part 3|47 pages

Diverging Paths in the Twentieth Century

chapter 11|9 pages

The Continuing Dominance of Operetta

chapter 12|13 pages

Challenges to Operetta

chapter 13|9 pages

The Princess Shows

chapter 14|8 pages

Increasing Drama on the Stage

chapter 15|6 pages

Musical Theater of the Lighter Kind

part 4|55 pages

Beginnings of a Golden Age

chapter 16|9 pages

Great Partnerships of the Early Book Musical

Kern and Hammerstein

chapter 17|11 pages

Great Partnerships of the Early Book Musical

Rodgers and Hart

chapter 18|12 pages

Great Partnerships of the Early Book Musical

The Gershwins (1)

chapter 19|7 pages

Great Partnerships of the Early Book Musical

The Gershwins (2)

chapter 20|6 pages

Great Solo Acts

Irving Berlin

chapter 21|8 pages

Great Solo Acts

Cole Porter and Other Efforts in the 1930s

part 5|36 pages

A Greater Maturity

chapter 22|16 pages

New Achievements From Familiar Names

Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin

chapter 24|7 pages

Politics and Social Commentary

part 6|49 pages

New Partnerships

chapter 25|10 pages

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Oklahoma!

chapter 26|10 pages

Rodgers and Hammerstein

Carousel and South Pacific

chapter 27|15 pages

Rodgers and Hammerstein

The King and I and The Sound of Music

chapter 28|12 pages

Lerner and Loewe

part 7|38 pages

New Faces of the 1940s and 1950s

chapter 29|14 pages

Leonard Bernstein

chapter 30|12 pages

Jule Styne and Frank Loesser

part 8|83 pages

New Faces of the 1960s and 1970s

chapter 32|9 pages

New Names in Lights in the 1960s

chapter 33|10 pages

Sondheim in the 1960s

Flash in the Pan?

chapter 34|10 pages

New Partnerships

Bock and Harnick

chapter 35|15 pages

New Partnerships

Kander and Ebb

chapter 36|11 pages

New Partnerships

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice

chapter 37|9 pages

Wunderkinder of the 1970s

chapter 38|17 pages

Sondheim in the 1970s

The Endless Experiments

part 9|115 pages

The Late Twentieth Century—and Beyond

chapter 39|10 pages

Andrew Lloyd Webber Without Tim Rice

Cats and Starlight Express

chapter 40|16 pages

The Luxuriant Lloyd Webber

chapter 41|12 pages

The New Team in Town

Schönberg and Boublil

chapter 42|12 pages

New Names, New Teams in the 1980s

chapter 43|11 pages

Stephen Sondheim

Never a Formula

chapter 44|16 pages

A Surge of “Soloists”

chapter 45|17 pages

Team Efforts—The 1990s and Beyond

chapter 46|19 pages

Whither Musical Theater?