The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built - Jack Viertel

Written by Jack Viertel
Read by David Pittu
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.
Release date: March 1, 2016
Duration: 11:23:25

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 childhood in a darkened theater, grows into something more 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 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.

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.

AudioFile—Fans of the American musical will delight in Jack Viertel’s informative, amusing analysis of the genre. David Pittu’s lively performance channels Viertel’s accessible language and friendly attitude. Viertel speaks with affection, from a base of knowledge and experience, and Pittu keeps listeners engrossed. In addition to his producing work, Viertel has taught critical classes on the Broadway musical at NYU’s Tisch School. Pittu gives careful attention to Viertel’s explanations of structure and patterns for a wide range of Broadway musicals, from GUYS AND DOLLS, OKLAHOMA, and GYPSY, to SOUTH PACIFIC, CAROUSEL, and more. Viertel’s entertaining investigation reveals the nuts and bolts–without losing the magic–that make American musical theater strong. Pittu makes it great listening, especially for Broadway musical mavens.