
The Secret Life of the American Musical
How Broadway Shows Are Built
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Narrated by:
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David Pittu
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By:
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Jack Viertel
About this listen
For 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 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 musicals apart, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their more 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 Oklahoma! to Hamilton and onward.
©2016 Jack Viertel (P)2016 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Featured Article: The Show Must Go On—Premier Audiobooks Now Playing for Theater Fans
A good play or musical is emblematic of what we love about entertainment—a chance to escape, to be fully immersed in another world, to engage with our most human emotions in a moment brought brilliantly to life by the talents of impeccable performers. It's possible to get your fix of the Great White Way in the comfort of your own home. Here are just a few of our favorite theater audiobooks to tide you over until curtain call.
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Story
In 2008, In the Heights, a new musical from up-and-coming young artists, electrified Broadway. The show’s vibrant mix of Latin music and hip-hop captured life in Washington Heights, the Latino neighborhood in upper Manhattan. It won four Tony Awards and became an international hit, delighting audiences around the world. For the film version, director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) brought the story home, filming its spectacular dance numbers on location in Washington Heights.
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As always, stunning!
- By MJ on 06-16-21
By: Lin-Manuel Miranda, and others
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Putting It Together
- How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George
- By: James Lapine
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper, Alyssa Bresnahan, Eva Kaminsky, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friendship and the highs and lows of that journey, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
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Revisiting a truly great theatrical experience
- By Robert Beuth on 08-10-21
By: James Lapine
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The Untold Stories of Broadway
- Tales from the World's Most Famous Theaters, Volume 1
- By: Jennifer Ashley Tepper
- Narrated by: John David Farrell, Rebecca Surmont
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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From Broadway debuts to landmark productions. Score a front row seat to hear hundreds of stories about the most important stages in the world, seen through the eyes of the producers, actors, stage hands, writers, musicians, company managers, dressers, designers, directors, ushers, and door men who bring The Great White Way to life each night. You'll never look at Broadway the same way again.
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Great Broadway book!
- By NYreader on 09-23-14
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I Was Better Last Night
- A Memoir
- By: Harvey Fierstein
- Narrated by: Harvey Fierstein
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Harvey Fierstein’s legendary career has transported him from community theater in Brooklyn, to the lights of Broadway, to the absurd excesses of Hollywood and back. He’s received accolades and awards for acting in and/or writing an incredible string of hit plays, films, and TV shows.
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Loved it
- By Mary Ellen Guadagno on 03-09-22
By: Harvey Fierstein
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Lord Knows, At Least I Was There
- Working with Stephen Sondheim
- By: Paul Ford, Mandy Patinkin - foreword
- Narrated by: Paul Ford
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Atlanta-born Paul Ford first fell in love with the American musical theater at the age of five, he never imagined that his future skills as a "piano thumper" would lead him to a career on Broadway playing rehearsals or in the "pit" for classic Stephen Sondheim musicals and numerous concerts, birthday tributes, and television spectaculars. Now retired, the candid (and admittedly opinionated) author looks back on the performances and personalities that defined the American musical theater in the waning years of the 20th century.
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Mostly Sondheim
- By Anonymous User on 11-24-23
By: Paul Ford, and others
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Stephen Sondheim in His Own Words
- By: Stephen Sondheim
- Narrated by: Stephen Sondheim
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
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Stephen Sondheim was a multi-award-winning American composer whose works have garnered more than 60 Tony Awards, as well as an Oscar for Best Song and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive.
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Insight into one of the greats!
- By Donald A. Harper on 08-31-22
By: Stephen Sondheim
An Informative Lecture
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So detailed
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He uses iconic shows such as “Gypsy”, “Guys and Dolls”, “My Fair Lady”, “Hairspray”, “Follies”, “The Book of Mormon”, West Side Story” and “South Pacific” (to name just a few) to explain and explore the patterns underlying much of musical theater.
If you are a musical theatre fan this will be a trip to Disneyland for you. I finished this book in 2 days and I LOVED every single “behind the scenes” minute of it!
Read this book!
What a delight to read!
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For the former theater kids
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While his heart is with the great classic shows that he grew up with—he was born in 1949—he is open-minded enough to be able to recognize the merits of more modern successes like Hamilton, even when they break the rules. Even if you've heard some of the stories he tells before (I have), the book is still a hugely enjoyable tour of the Broadway musical as a form.
A Treat for Lovers of the Broadway Musical
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I wish my theater degree had included a course taught by him!
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Just finished this book and plan to go back and order some CDs based on the author's recommendations.
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Brilliant
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Would you consider the audio edition of The Secret Life of the American Musical to be better than the print version?
The reader comes close to actually performing some of the music, which is something I couldn't do reading the lyrics.Who was your favorite character and why?
Stephen Sondheim -- always brilliant!What does David Pittu bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
A love of the material that never flags. A wonderful reading.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No -- like a box of chocolates, it should be read slowly, and savored.Any additional comments?
A sequel would be terrific -- Secrets of the British Musical perhaps...Reminded Me of How Much I Love Musicals
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Musicals make so much more sense
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