Sing for your supper : the Broadway musical in the 1930s / Ethan Mordden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mordden, Ethan, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Musicals--New York (State)--New York--History and criticism.

Musicals.

Popular music.

New York (State)--New York.

Popular music--New York (State)--New York--1941-1950--History and criticism.

Broadway (New York, N.Y.).

Physical Description:

viii, 270 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

Summary:

In the 1930s, America was struggling in the midst of the Depression. Aficionados of the Broadway musical have always maintained that this was the decade of the serious, political show, but Ethan Mordden is here to correct the record, once and for all, and show that Broadway's lights burned brightly during the 1930s in some of the most enjoyable, fun-filled and starry vehicles that ever graced The Street. Cole Porter's Anything Goes featured that one-time stenographer from Astoria, Queens, Ethel Merman. Rodgers and Hart teamed up for On Your Toes, Babes In Arms and The Boys From Syracuse. Fred and Adele Astaire charmed first nighters in The Band Wagon. Porgy and Bess put African Americans center stage in Gershwin's operatic masterpiece. Helzapoppin tore The Majestic Theatre apart with a double helping of burlesque. Ethel Waters sent shivers down the spine in As Thousands Cheer. George M. Cohan, the quintessential Yankee Doodle Dandy, was rousing audiences nightly in I'd Rather Be Right, and Jumbo brought the circus to Broadway. Innovations in dance were pioneered by Albertina Rasch and George Balanchine. Joe Mielziner brought a bold new look to scenic design while composers like Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen filled the ear with luscious melody at a time when orchestra pits were filled to overflowing with strings, woodwinds and harp. While shows like Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock and Kurt Weil's Knickerbocker Holiday did put politics center stage, the accent on fun was heightened by some of the greatest clowns the Broadway stage has ever known - Fanny Brice, Bert Lahr, Beatrice Lillie and Mary Boland. With his trademark wit and style, Ethan Mordden completes his series of books on the Broadway musical and brings back a forgotten Broadway decade that was a treasure chest overflowing with theatrical riches. Tonight, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's "Curtain Going Up!" on a faraway place and time.

Contents:

1 A Lady Needs a Change: The State of the Art 5

2 Carry On, Keep Smiling: Musical Comedy I 35

3 We're Off to Feathermore: Nymph Errant, Anything Goes, and Jubilee 61

4 Harlem on My Mind: The Black Shows and Porgy and Bess 89

5 Leave It to Katarina: Operetta Begins Its Forty-Year Death Scene 105

6 Fun to Be Fooled: Revue 125

7 A Song with Social Significance: Politics 155

8 It's Better with a Union Man: The Leftist Revue 183

9 Life's a Dance: The Choreography of the 1930s 195

10 I Got Rhythm: The Music of the 1930s 217

11 All in Fun: Musical Comedy II 237.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0312239513

OCLC:

55960906