Review
"A columnist and critic offers an irreverent history of the Broadway musical, a diverse and lively art form that, judging from the flood of revivals these days, may be in its death throes. "Broadway Babies is an eccentric, funny, shrewd and somewhat dismaying book.."
-"St. Paul Pioneer Press
"Wise but wicked in his analysis...Steyn leaves no turn unstoned....At last, a book of theater criticism with real teeth; it may rankle, but it never bores."
-"Out Magazine
"[B]rilliantly opinionated British critic [Mark Steyn] knows the history of Broadway (and West End) musicals, and he makes us care that the current crop lacks conviction and craft. He excoriates meretricious gimmicks and he makes us yearn for shows that are authentic and believable because they are rooted in the human experience."
-"Wall Street Journal, 5/99
""Broadway Babies offers an unapologetically anecdotal and extremely personal account of musical theatre from "The Black Crook (1866) to "Rent (1996). With an emphasis on the last seventy years, Steyn charts the musical's highs, lows, and the banalities in-between, and he raises provocative questions about the future of the form. His discussion is peppered with observations from individuals associated with the most sublime - as well as the most ridiculous - shows ever produced, and he fearlessly takes on some of the sacred deities of the musical theatre. For even the most casual musical devotee, "Broadway Babies will surely provoke, frustrate, and occasionally entertain."
-"Broadside
"Steyn on Broadway is a very compelling autopsy report."
-"Booklist 4/99
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
-"St. Paul Pioneer Press
"Wise but wicked in his analysis...Steyn leaves no turn unstoned....At last, a book of theater criticism with real teeth; it may rankle, but it never bores."
-"Out Magazine
"[B]rilliantly opinionated British critic [Mark Steyn] knows the history of Broadway (and West End) musicals, and he makes us care that the current crop lacks conviction and craft. He excoriates meretricious gimmicks and he makes us yearn for shows that are authentic and believable because they are rooted in the human experience."
-"Wall Street Journal, 5/99
""Broadway Babies offers an unapologetically anecdotal and extremely personal account of musical theatre from "The Black Crook (1866) to "Rent (1996). With an emphasis on the last seventy years, Steyn charts the musical's highs, lows, and the banalities in-between, and he raises provocative questions about the future of the form. His discussion is peppered with observations from individuals associated with the most sublime - as well as the most ridiculous - shows ever produced, and he fearlessly takes on some of the sacred deities of the musical theatre. For even the most casual musical devotee, "Broadway Babies will surely provoke, frustrate, and occasionally entertain."
-"Broadside
"Steyn on Broadway is a very compelling autopsy report."
-"Booklist 4/99
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
The Broadway musical was a glorious seventy-year tradition, proceeding smoothly from Jerome Kern to Rodgers and Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim, and giving us along the way the best songs in American popular music, the art of lyric-writing, the structural integrity of the musical play and a new form of dramatic choreography. But what's left of that in a lush, 'through-composed' operetta such as Phantom of the Opera or a dance-free 'chamber opera' such as Aspects of Love? Mark Steyn considers the pioneers who made the Broadway musical the central thruway of American popular culture, and the reasons why it crumbled away to a dusty backroad. But, fifteen years after Cats, he also contemplates the health of British musicals and wonders whether they, too, have met their Sunset Boulevard.
