About the book

About The Best Musicals

From the Dust Jacket: There is a certain magic about the Musical-a certain thrill and excitement that conjures up the memorable evergreen songs, the stars, the spectacular productions. That magic is now re-created in pictures and text in the most comprehensive book ever to be written on the subject-from the earliest Broadway musicals of the nineteenth century up to today's smash hits. The Best Musicals is packed with information covering the musical's fascinating history, going into hundreds of shows and performers and placing them in historical context, and it is a joy to look at. The 174 historic and original illustrations (16 pages are in full color) cover all periods and all types of musicals to date. Although The Best Musicals concentrates on the "book" musical, a special section is devoted to the Hollywood adaptations of the great stage musicals and the best of the original musical films by the best of the original musical films by such master as Busby Berkeley, Stanley Donen, and Gene Kelley. A special feature of the book is the large reference section: Who's Who, of 100 principal composers, lyricists, and authors of stage and screen, with checklists of their work in both media; Musical calendar listing opening dates and theaters of the principal musicals from 1866 to date; Plot summaries of principal musicals; Index of over 1000 favorite evergreen songs and the shows of origin; Discography, filmography, complete plot summaries, bibliography, and comprehensive index. The Best Musicals is not only the definitive reference book, it is also compulsive reading for anyone remotely interested in that most durable of all forms of entertainment-the musical.

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