Reviews

"Theater buffs will be delighted to find that this scholarly, definitive work is also a hugely entertaining read." — Publisher's Weekly

"Large in spirit as well as scope, and as precise, humble, and wise as that Sondheim lyric with which it begins." — Lloyd Rose, The Washington Post

"This book is a home run: it is by far the best book ever written about Broadway, a magisterial critical history which will be required reading for virtually anyone interested in musical theater." — Kim Kowalke, The Eastman School of Music

"A substantial work of American music history. Scrupulous but not fussy, learned but not pedantic, Stempel is a fine storyteller who delights in clarity and knows a good joke when he sees one. The precision of his thinking and writing gives the book an aura of authority keenly attuned to the tradition he critiques and celebrates." — Richard Crawford, University of Michigan, emeritus, and author of America’s Musical Life: A History

"Stempel has hit the trifecta: for academics, it’s a definitive work of scholarship; for students, it’s the perfect textbook; for ordinary lovers of musical theater, it’s a treat to savor at the end of a long day." — Rose Rosengard Subotnik, Brown University