Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919

From Greenwich Village Follies to The Toxic Avenger

By (author) Thomas S. Hischak

Not available to order

Publication date:

18 February 2011

Length of book:

522 pages

Publisher

Scarecrow Press

ISBN-13: 9780810877726

Although the venue Off Broadway has long been the birthplace of innovative and popular musicals, there have been few studies of these influential works. Long-running champs, such as The Fantasticks and Little Shop of Horrors, are discussed in many books about American musicals, but what of the hundreds of other Off-Broadway musicals?

In
Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919, Thomas Hischak looks at more than 375 musicals, which are described, discussed, and analyzed, with particular attention given to their books, scores, performers, and creators. Presented chronologically and divided into chapters for each decade, beginning with the landmark musical Greenwich Village Follies (1919), the book culminates with the satiric The Toxic Avenger (2009).

In this volume, any work of consequence is covered, especially if it was popular or influential, but also dozens of more obscure musicals are included to illustrate the depth and breadth of Off Broadway. Works that introduced an important artistic talent, from performers to songwriters, are looked at, and the selection represents the various trends and themes that made Off Broadway significant. In addition to essential data about each musical, the plot and score are described, the success (or lack of) is chronicled, and an opinionated commentary discusses the work's merits and influences on the musical theatre in general. The first book of its kind, this highly readable volume will please both the theatre scholar and the average musical theatre patron or fan.
The text opens with an alphabetic list of Off-Broadway musicals starting with A . . . My Name is Alice and ending with Zombies from Beyond. There follows a chronological year-by-year listing of Off-Broadway musicals. This is followed by an opening general historical essay and is in turn followed by a chronological decade-by-decade list of the Off-Broadway. This volume concludes with an alphabetic guide to recordings of the musicals, a bibliography, and a name and production index. These are preceded by a postscript in which the author bemoans the future of Off-Broadway theater because its very success is destroying it through roadway transfers as well as actors being recruited by cinema and television as a consequence of their off-Broadway recognition. . . . With excellent writing making it difficult to put down Off-Broadway Musicals is a fun read for both scholars and fans.