Sondheim's Broadway Musicals (The Michigan American Music) - Softcover

Stephen Banfield

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472080830 ISBN 13: 9780472080830

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 1995

Synopsis

With thirteen Broadway musicals to his credit, Stephen Sondheim's career in the musical theatre has outdistanced those of most of his contemporaries. Each of his shows has presented new challenges to audiences, and each has cast fresh perspectives on the nature and potential of the American musical, as well as probing deeply, often painfully, into the nature of our culture.

Sondheim's Broadway Musicals is the first book to take an in-depth look at Sondheim's work. Stephen Banfield examines each of Sondheim's musicals for Broadway, from West Side Story and Gypsy to the 1987 musical Into the Woods, and includes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, Anyone Can Whistle, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along, Sweeney Todd, and Sunday in the Park with George. Banfield also discusses Sondheim's other work, such as the 1991 show Assassins and his music for the 1990 film Dick Tracy - for which "Sooner or Later" won him an Academy Award for Best Song.

About this title

Review:

This book—the first in-depth investigation of Sondheim's work—treats its subject with intellectual rigor and ardent appreciation." - American Theatre

About the Author:

Stephen Banfield is Stanley Hugh Badock Professor of Music, University of Bristol, UK. His other books include: Sensibility and English Song: Critical Studies of the Early Twentieth Century, Gerald Finzi: An English Composer, and Jerome Kern. Sondheim's Broadway Musicals, which was awarded the Kurt Weill Prize, for a best book on musical theatre, and the Lowens Award.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0472080830
• ISBN 13: 9780472080830
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 472