Experiencing Broadway Music

September 15, 2016

"The Listener's Companion" series aims "to give readers a deeper understanding of pivotal musical genres and the creative work of its iconic composers and performers." This latest entry reviews the music of the Great White Way by looking at a selection of some of the most important and enduring shows. Opening with a brief time line of American musical theater, the ten chapters place those productions in historical context and are accompanied by suggested titles for listening and viewing. Early musicals, the Great American Songbook, Broadway's golden age, concept musicals, and megamusicals are all represented, including Show Boat, Porgy and Bess, Hair, A Chorus Line, Les Miserables, Rent, Spring Awakening, and, just in time for its first national tour, Hamilton. Sherrell, a Broadway pianist, does an excellent job of setting the stage for each show discussed in what she calls "dramatized listening experiences." Helpful features include a glossary of terms and a list of selected reading. VERDICT As a supplementary text for a theater class or an engaging read for theater fans, this one takes top billing.--Carolyn M. Mulac, Chicago

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2016
This entry in the Listener's Companion series covers 15 American musicals, including such classics as Anything Goes, Showboat, and Porgy and Bess as well as the contemporary Rent, Wicked, and Hamilton. Musician Sherrell uses these shows to illustrate why Broadway musicals are so significant in modern popular culture. Chapters cover the plot and songs of each show profiled, and Sherrell intersperses discussion of musical styles and themes throughout the narrativeher various explanations of the music of Hamilton are nothing short of dazzling. There are many glossy coffee-table guides and encyclopedic works on musicals, but this close-lens look will appeal to both Broadway fans and music lovers in general.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)