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评论 (4)
Kirkus评论
As a work of human genius, a really great musical need not have a single idea in its head and yet the great gushing uplift that fills one's spirit needs no apologies. The late Lerner's celebration of the musical theatre herein is itself carried along on his still richly alive breath but with an added measure of genius. This is the word from within. Few lyricists of this century command the intellectual brilliance, aside from the simple verbal brilliance, that the author of My Fair Lady, Camelot, Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever commands. Lerner was a Harvard graduate bent on the law when he decided to give himself up to the musical theatre. The present study shows full evidence of a scholarly mind tempered with wit and modesty. We are all in his debt not only for this superb survey of the musical theatre from its European beginnings to the present but also for his decision to lay open the riches of his experience. He not only knew many of the most inspired composers and lyricists of our lifetimes, he also knew and worked intimately with the sons and daughters of earlier giants in the tradition from the 19th century onward. He is soaked in his subject. His discussion of his contemporaries is generous and just. Much of his greatest praise is for Irving Berlin (""America's Franz Schubert,"" whose ""Alexander's Ragtime Band"" profoundly influenced popular musical theatre), Jerome Kern (The Master who in Showboat invented the sturdy, emotionally true book that is not simply a series of turns), George Gershwin (""the greatest musical genius America has produced"") and Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, Vincent Youmans, Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, Noel Coward, and Frank Loesser, as well for later masters. Earlier chapters cover Offenbach, Johann Strauss, Franz Lehar, Emmerich Kalman and other kings of operetta, as well as Gilbert and Sullivan. ""Ask every person if he's heard the story,/And tell it strong and clear if he has not;/That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory/Called Camelot. . ./Don't let it be forgot/That once there was a spot/For one brief shining moment that was known/As Camelot."" A very moving book. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
The late lyricist Alan Jay Lerner offers an engaging anecdotal history of the rise and growth of the American musical theater. Lerner initiates his text with historical accounts of the early nineteenth-century incarnations of musical theater (e.g., opra bouffe), moving on to the operetta form of the turn of the century, and then through the musical revues of the 1920s and 1930s and the more developed form that emerged during World War II and beyond. Lerner affectionately discusses the great composers (Berlin, Kern, Coward, Gershwin, etc.) and provides fascinating true-to-life tales about actors, producers, singers, writers, choreographers, and the pitfall-fraught road that takes a musical from first rehearsal to opening night in New York. Lerner's final literary contribution, completed shortly before his recent death, aptly displays wonder and delight at a lifelong profession and passion. Bibliography; to be indexed. MAB. 782.81'09 Musical review, comedy, etc. History / Musical shows, to 1985 [OCLC]
Choice 评论
Completed shortly before Lerner's death, this informal history of the musical theater employs a chronological approach beginning with 19th-century European antecedents (Offenbach, Strauss, Gilbert and Sullivan) and continuing to 1985. It concentrates on the New York stage with some consideration of London. It does a good job of relating the theater to social movements, thus giving the author the opportunity to express his deeply felt sentiments on public issues. Lerner's anecdotes about his own career in the theater are the volume's major feature, and they complement his autobiography, The Street Where I Live (CH, May '79). As a history, however, it does not replace other standard accounts, e.g., Gerald Bordman's American Musical Theater: A Chronicle (CH, Mar '79) or Cecil Smith and Glenn Litton's Musical Comedy in America (2nd ed., 1981). The volume, produced in England, includes numerous illustrations, some of London productions. The number of obvious errors and omissions prompt one to exercise caution when using this volume as a source. A short bibliography and an inadequate index complete the work. Recommended for comprehensive or popular collections because of the author's fame.-R.D. Johnson, SUNY College at Oneonta
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
With the existence of excellent histories of the American musical by Gerald Bordman, Ethan Mordden, Stanley Green, et al., do we really need another? Yes, if the author is as witty, articulate, and penetrating as the late lyricist of My Fair Lady, Camelot, and a host of other shows. Lerner knew socially or collaborated with many of the Broadway composers he mentions, so in addition to providing a highly entertaining history of the musical on both sides of the Atlantic, he also includes personal reminiscences and anecdotes. Lerner is at times opinionated and judgmental, but his ``celebration'' is remarkably thorough for this type of book and filled with wonderful photographs. This fine last offering by one of Broadway's giants is recommended for most libraries and for all fans of musical comedy. Eric W. Johnson, Univ. of Bridgeport Lib., Ct. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.