View source for Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater by Larry Stempel

{{infobox1
|title=Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater
|author=Larry Stempel
|reviewer=Louise Laurie
|genre=Entertainment
|summary=A big, weighty book covering the history of two centuries of Broadway musical theater (sic).  Boasting ''decades of painstaking research'' this is a coffee table addition for lovers of musicals - on whatever side of the pond.
|rating=4
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=826
|publisher=W W Norton and Co
|date=October 2010
|isbn=978-0393067156
|cover=0393067157
|aznuk=0393067157
|aznus=0393067157
}}

Stempel is an associate professor of music at an American university so I would imagine that this book is primarily a labour of love.  In the Preface Stempel bemoans the loss of important research material over the years, whether it be musical scores, playbills or similar.  It happens. It is a fact of life.  Simply thrown away or discarded as being considered not important.  It's only a musical, after all.  A bit light and frothy.  Stempel thinks otherwise - and takes his time telling us exactly why.
 
Although most of us would acknowledge that New York is 'where it's at', the vast geographic area of the States gets various mentions, other important cities get a bit of a look in.  As for the musicals themselves, well, I suppose many of us would cite ''Cats'' as a modern-day example of a good, popular musical show.  Stempel would agree.  But, he tells us, back down the years, back down the decades and back down the centuries, there were various and quite distinct musical presentations.  Minstrel shows (now would be frowned upon and definitely not PC), burlesque, variety and vaudeville.  These would all come under the banner of ''storyless musicals''.  A fine example of a musical 'with a story' would be Les Miserables (or affectionately now called just Les Miz).
 
The book is broadly chronological.  And while some us would regard all things musical as a good night out, a bit of escapism, a bit of sparkle in a dull and wet British winter perhaps, Stempel is keen to point out that ''culturally speaking, musicals matter.''  Oh yeah, I hear you say.  A nation's psyche has its part - an important part - to play.  And in this American publication, Stempell gives American illustrations, in the main, to underline important points he wishes to make. But you may be interested to know that the origins of all theatre companies came from Great Britain.  The fact that we share a common language probably helped.
 
Simply put, if the subject matter or theme of the musical did not engage the audience, for whatever reason, then it stood to be a flop.  And at the end of the day, it's all about bums on seats (dreadful phrase but it's apt here).  Stempell underlines the fact that being an actor was - and to a certain extent, still is - a precarious way to make a living, pay the bills.  And as New York was fast becoming the prominent American city of choice I loved the quote, courtesy of one Mark Twain who said ''Make Your Mark In New York''.  And the pace quickened, various musical productions had a powerful impact of Joe Public.  ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' to name one.  I think it was helped by the fact that it derived from the best-selling book of the same title.  
 
To break up rather dense paragraphs of text, there are plenty of illustrations (mostly in black and white), parts of musical scores, posters and playbills.  These are terrific pieces of entertainment history in themselves, in my opinion.  This is a scholarly approach to musical theatre.  With chapter headings such as ''Variety Stages'', ''The Native Wit'' and ''The Script Angle'' I think you will get a flavour of what I mean.  All the great names are here, as well as some of the lesser-known ones (again, American).  When I was reading this part of the book, I was reminded of how a good song, a really good song is timeless.  Some, in fact, can be stand-along hits in their own right; ''Memories'' from ''Cats'', for example.
 
There's an awful lot of information to chew over in this book.  But you can easily get to the decade, or era that you're specifically interested in and gloss over other parts, if you want.  Or read a chapter at a time and draw breath in between.  A serious book on musicals for people serious about their musicals.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
 
If this book appeals then you might also enjoy [[Stage Presence:  The Actor as Mesmerist by Jane Goodall]].

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