The Secret Life of the American Musical

Posted on 13 March 2017 by Jack Viertel

A New York Times BestsellerFor almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical It often begins in childhood in a darkened theater, grows into something serious for high school actors, and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again Americans love musicals Americans invented musicals Americans perfected musicals But what, exactly, is a musical In The Secret Life of the American Musical, Jack Viertel takes them apart, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their embarrassing shortcomings In the process, he invites us to fall in love all over again by showing us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion from Oklahomato Hamilton and onward.Structured like a musical, The Secret Life of the American Musical begins with an overture and concludes with a curtain call, with stops in between for I Want songs, conditional love songs, production numbers, star turns, and finales The ultimate insider, Viertel has spent three decades on Broadway, working on dozens of shows old and new as a conceiver, producer, dramaturg, and general creative force he has his own unique way of looking at the process and at the people who collaborate to make musicals a reality He shows us patterns in the architecture of classic shows and charts the inevitable evolution that has taken place in musical theater as America itself has evolved socially and politically The Secret Life of the American Musical makes you feel as though you ve been there in the rehearsal room, in the front row of the theater, and in the working offices of theater owners and producers as they pursue their own love affair with that rare and elusive beast the Broadway hit. New Download [ The Secret Life of the American Musical ] Author [ Jack Viertel ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Jack Viertel s strong writing and impressive depth of knowledge is probably worth 4.5 5 stars, but my enjoyment of the book was really only around the 3 star level so I m splitting the difference here.Part of my disappointment is that I expected this to be a behind the scenes look at the business side of Broadway literally, how you bring a show to the stage from start to finish In reality, this is a book length deconstruction of how the songs within the show succeed or fail The book is divvie Jack Viertel s strong writing and impressive depth of knowledge is probably worth 4.5 5 stars, but my enjoyment of the book was really only around the 3 star level so I m splitting the...A really good and interesting book, just what I was looking for Two of the chapters are almost completely off topic but the rest is a gem I had no previous musical theatre education but while reading this book I had no problems at all It also was very entertaining and the w...Despite the use of the word built in the title, this book has nothing to do unfortunately with the staging, casting, performing, choreography, or physical production of musicals, but only with how they are constructed as a work The author has an interesting template big opening number, star turn, big 1st act closer, etc but the book mostly consists of him saying t...Well researchedabsolutely Informativedefinitely I felt like I was taking a college course but I was lacking essential background knowledge Easily readablewellyes but too much information I was thrilled when I won this book on Goodreads I love theater My family is musical and they love to perform on stage Currently two grandchildren are performing in a local theatre presentation of Annie in the roles of Annie and Molly the youngest orphan Proud grandma that I am I have s Well researchedabsolutely Informativedefinitely I felt like I was taking a college course but I was lacking essential background knowledge Easily readablewellyes but too much information I was thrilled when I won this book on Goodreads I love theater My family is musical and they love to perform on stage Currently two grandchildren are performing in a local theatre presentation of Annie in the roles of Annie and Molly the youngest orphan Proud grandma that I am I have seen the show four times and will be at the closing With this said, this book just didn t get to the core for me of why I and so many others like me love musicals The academic theories were all there regarding the format for a good show an...This wasok I really enjoyed it for the first few chapters, but then it became way too formulaic to me I was hoping to find outabout the actual creation of the shows, where the ideas came fromso than the formula of songs I want, act I finale, etc and examples of each of those and whether or not they were effective I would be really interested to read a book in the work that goes into creating a musical,...Well nigh irresistible to an erstwhile theater kid, and anyone who s ever loved a musical will surely feel the same Viertel s favorite musicals and mine don t always line up I m with him on Guys and Dolls and Fiddler on the Roof, but I ve never seen Carousel, prefer The Sound of Music to South Pacific, and never managed to warm up to Sondheim , but his enthusiasm is contagious, his analysis thoughtful, and his love of musicals and firm belief in their importance is apparent on every page A de Well nigh irresistible to an erstwhile theater kid, and anyone who s ever loved a musical will surely feel the same Viertel s favorite musicals and mine don t always line up I m with him on Guys and Dolls and Fiddler on the Roof, but I ve never seen Carousel, prefer The Sound of Music to South Pacific, an...Jack Viertel is a tote A tote, according to my group of friends, is someone who is so totally into a subject that you become swept up in their enthusiasm Jack Viertel knows Broadway shows and writes eloquently and knowledgeably about the architecture that makes them tick I loved his totie take on the subject and loo...I love musicals, and I m glad to have read something from a strictly American standpoint Webber and the creators of Les Mis and Miss Saigon are talented, but I want to know aboutthan that Viertel breaks down the structure of a good musical and exp...This looks totally fun Positive NY Times review.Excellent.

13 March 2017

Jack Viertel