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M-G-M's Greatest Musicals (originally published as The World of Entertainment! Hollywood's Greatest Musicals) is not a biography of Arthur Freed (1894–1973), producer of the most outstanding series of musicals in motion picture history, but a turbulent, behind-the-scenes, film-by-film account of the making of his movies (which, to the exclusion of all else, were his life). From 1940 to 1970, under the auspices of M-G-M's celebrated Freed Unit, Hollywood's master actors, writers, directors, choreographers, composers, and set designers created The Wizard of Oz, Girl Crazy, Meet Me in St. Louis, Annie Get Your Gun, An American in Paris, Show Boat, Singin' in the Rain, Gigi, and nearly forty others. The author brings to vivid life the unexpected crises and everyday magic of the Freed Unit. Richly detailed, profusely illustrated with hundreds of rare photos, this book describes the lives and careers Freed touched and often shaped—Judy Garland, Vincente Minnelli, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, and others like Saroyan, Berlin, Kern, Gershwin—and in the process reveals how a romantic, sentimental man became the uncontested master of the movie musical.
The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals by Dan Dietz Pdf
The debut of Oklahoma! in 1943 ushered in the modern era of Broadway musicals and was followed by a number of successes that have become beloved classics. Shows produced on Broadway during this decade include Annie Get Your Gun, Brigadoon, Carousel, Finian’s Rainbow, Pal Joey, On the Town, and South Pacific. Among the major performers of the decade were Alfred Drake, Gene Kelly, Mary Martin, and Ethel Merman, while other talents who contributed to shows include Irving Berlin, Gower Champion, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Agnes de Mille, Lorenz Hart, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, Cole Porter, Jerome Robbins, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein II. In The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz examines every musical and revue that opened on Broadway during the 1940s. In addition to providing details on every hit and flop, this book includes revivals and one-man and one-woman shows. Each entry contains the following information: Opening and closing dates Plot summary Cast members Number of performances Names of all important personnel, including writers, composers, directors, choreographers, producers, and musical directors Musical numbers and the names of performers who introduced the songs Production data, including information about tryouts Source material Critical commentary Details about London and other foreign productions Besides separate entries for each production, the book offers numerous appendixes, such as a discography, film versions, published scripts, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and non-musical productions that utilized songs, dances, or background music. A treasure trove of information, The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals provides readers with a complete view of each show. This significant resource will be of use to scholars, historians, and casual fans of one of the greatest decades in musical theatre history.
Must-See Musicals by Richard Barrios,Turner Classic Movies Pdf
Spanning nine decades and showcasing the most memorable songs, dazzling dancing, and brightest stars ever to grace the silver screen, Must-See Musicals is the guide to the greatest musicals of all time from the most trusted authority on film: Turner Classic Movies. Movie musicals have been a part of pop culture since films began to talk, over nine decades ago. From The Jazz Singer in 1927 all the way to La La Land in modern times, musicals have sung and danced over a vast amount of territory, thrilling audiences the entire time. More than any other type of entertainment, musicals transport us to marvelous places: a Technicolor land over the rainbow in The Wizard of Oz; a romantic ballroom where, in Top Hat, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance cheek to cheek; a London theater where the Beatles perform before hysterical crowds in A Hard Day's Night; even to a seemingly alternate reality where eager throngs still throw rice as they watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show. These titles, and many more, show us that a great musical film is a timeless joy. Covering fifty of the best spanning the dawn of sound to the high-def present, Turner Classic Movies: Must-See Musicals -- written by renowned musical historian Richard Barrios-is filled with lush illustrations as well as enlightening commentary and entertaining "backstage" stories about every one of these unforgettable films.
The Movies' Greatest Musicals, Produced in Hollywood USA by the Freed Unit by Hugh Fordin Pdf
The Wizard of Oz, Singin' in the Rain, Easter Parade, Gigi. These and many other classics of the American musical film were the products of Arthur Freed and his incredble MGM production unit, which ruled over Hollywood's golden age like a royal family. Freed brought together the top talent of the day - actors, writers, directors, choreographers, composers, and set designers - and gave them all the freedom to express themselves creatively and without concern for the usual constraints of monet, time, location, and equipment. The results are the films that will still have people singing and dancing for generations to come. Now, in anecdotes drawn from over 500 hours of taped interviews, studio documents, and with over 300 photographs, Hugh Fordin brings the Freed Unit together again for a nostalgic and fascinating look back at what happened - and what might have happened - in the movies' greatest musicals.
The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals by Dan Dietz Pdf
During the Twenties, the Great White Way roared with nearly 300 book musicals. Luminaries who wrote for Broadway during this decade included Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Rudolf Friml, George Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Hart, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Sigmund Romberg, and Vincent Youmans, and the era’s stars included Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and Marilyn Miller. Light-hearted Cinderella musicals dominated these years with such hits as Kern’s long-running Sally, along with romantic operettas that dealt with princes and princesses in disguise. Plots about bootleggers and Prohibition abounded, but there were also serious musicals, including Kern and Hammerstein’s masterpiece Show Boat. In The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz examines in detail every book musical that opened on Broadway during the years 1920-1929. The book discusses the era’s major successes as well as its forgotten failures. The hits include A Connecticut Yankee; Hit the Deck!; No, No, Nanette; Rose-Marie; Show Boat; The Student Prince; The Vagabond King; and Whoopee, as well as ambitious failures, including Deep River; Rainbow; and Rodgers’ daring Chee-Chee. Each entry contains the following information: Plot summary Cast members Names of creative personnel, including book writers, lyricists, composers, directors, choreographers, producers, and musical directors Opening and closing dates Number of performances Plot summary Critical commentary Musical numbers and names of the performers who introduced the songs Production data, including information about tryouts Source material Details about London productions Besides separate entries for each production, the book offers numerous appendixes, including ones which cover other shows produced during the decade (revues, plays with music, miscellaneous musical presentations, and a selected list of pre-Broadway closings). Other appendixes include a discography, filmography, a list of published scripts, and a list of black-themed musicals. This book contains a wealth of information and provides a comprehensive view of each show. The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals will be of use to scholars, historians, and casual fans of one of the greatest decades in the history of musical theatre.
Offers an alphabetical survey of the most popular Broadway musicals in history, with commentaries, synopses, behind-the-scenes information, and lists of songs and cast members for each musical.
Gene Kelly by Earl J. Hess,Pratibha A. Dabholkar Pdf
Whether as a curiosity or a beloved idol, Gene Kelly (1912–1996) lives on in our cultural memory as a fantastic dancer in MGM musicals, especially Singin’ in the Rain. But dancing, however extraordinary, was only one of his many gifts. This book, for the first time, offers a full picture of Gene Kelly as the Renaissance man he actually was—dancer, yes, but also choreographer, actor, clown, singer, director, teacher, and mentor. Kelly was star of radio and television as well as film, avant-garde as artist and auteur but also ahead of the curve in opening the world of dance to differences of race, ethnicity, and gender. Gene Kelly: The Making of a Creative Legend takes us from Kelly’s youth in Depression-era Pittsburgh through his years on Broadway and ascendance to stardom in Hollywood. Authors Hess and Dabholkar pay particular attention to his work with the US Navy, solo directing, and lesser-known but considerable accomplishments in television, radio, and on the stage in later years. The book gives us a rare inside look at Kelly’s relationships with dancing partners and peers from Leslie Caron, Vera-Ellen, and Cyd Charisse to Fred Astaire, and at his directorial collaboration with Stanley Donen and Vincent Minnelli; and at his solo directing. The authors show us significant but little-examined facets of Kelly’s character and career, such as the political convictions that got him graylisted in Hollywood; his passion for creating cine-dance and serving as an ambassador of dance in America; and his forging of links between dance, civil rights, and the “common man.” Steeped in research and replete with photographs, this career biography uniquely encompasses all phases of Gene Kelly’s life and work—and finally gives us a full portrait of this central figure in the history of the film musical during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
American Musical Theater: Grove Music Essentials by Geoffrey Block,Kate Van Winkle Keller,Anne Dhu McLucas,Sandra Jean Graham,Orly Leah Krasner,Todd Decker,Paul R. Laird Pdf
A survey of the history of musical theater in the United States. This ebook is a static version of an article from Grove Music Online, a continuously updated online resource, offering comprehensive coverage of the world’s music written by leading scholars. For more information, visit www.oxfordmusiconline.com.
African American Perspectives in Musical Theatre by Eric M. Glover Pdf
From Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins's 1879 musical Peculiar Sam to Lynn Nottage's 2021 musical MJ, the 'Black musical' does not get the credit it deserves for sustaining the genre we know and love. This introductory book is devoted to representative African-American perspectives in musical theatre from the literature of slavery and freedom, 1746-1865, to the contemporary period, offering the reader case studies of what the 'Black musical' is, how it works, and why it matters. Based on Glover's experience teaching Black musical theatre at a conservatory and in the liberal arts, he draws his close readings of Eubie Blake, Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins and Charlie Smalls from theory and practice. Moreover, Glover investigates how the ballet, the musical comedy, the opera, the play with music and the revue are similar and different narrative sub-genres. Finally, the book reflect on issues such as blackface minstrelsy, 'the Chitlin Circuit', non-traditional casting and yellowface. Published in the Topics in Musical Theatre series, this short book gives the reader new ways of seeing the aesthetically and politically capacious category of Black musical theatre from an anti-racist approach.
The author pulls back the curtain on some of the greatest, most important American musicals, taking you on a tour of the milestones in the history of musical theatre. These are musicals that broke all the old rules and created new ones, and changed the way we looked at musical theatre forever: the savage political satire of The Cradle Will Rock in 1937; the surprisingly dark sexuality of Pal Joey in 1940; the profound innovations of Oklahoma! in 1943; the absurdist social satire of Anyone Can Whistle in 1964; the convention-shattering experiment that was Hair in 1967; the intimacy and emotional power of Jacques Brel in 1968; the provocative honesty of the gay-themed Ballad of Little Mikey in 1994; the abstract sophistication of the jazz/pop/R&B-flavored Songs for a New World in 1995; the emotional immensity of the "anti-spectacle" Floyd Collins in 1995; the overwhelming influence of the 1996 rock musical Rent. Offering insightful, provocative opinions on character, plot, musical and textual themes, lyrics, subtext, motivation, backstory, and historical context, the author reveals new details about what makes each one of these musicals great.
Finally, a book as glorious as its subject: this lush showcase for everyone who loves musicals covers the 101 most influential, popular, and enduring Broadway shows--all of which have toured the country and been performed in theatres large and small everywhere. Each listing includes expert commentary that sets the play in historical and cultural context, plus features on the creators and performers, plot synopses, cast and song lists, production details, backstage anecdotes, and more. Four or five beautifully reproduced photographs from each show--the majority never before published--accompany the text and make the shows leap off the page. Appendices and special features include cast albums, poster artists, revivals, guilty pleasures, Off-Broadway musicals, notable flops, and much more.