Enchanted evenings

the long version

The classic musicals of Broadway can provide us with truly enchanted evenings. But while many of us can hum the music and even recount the plots from memory, we are often much less knowledgeable about how these great shows were put together. What was the inspiration for Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, or Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel? Why is Maria's impassioned final speech in West Side Story spoken, rather than sung? Now, in Enchanted Evenings, Geoffrey Block offers theater lovers an illuminating behind-the-scenes tour of some of the best-loved, most admired, and most enduring musicals of Broadway's Golden Era. The book's particular focus is on the music, offering a wealth of detail about how librettist, lyricist, composer, and director work together to shape the piece. Drawing on manuscript material such as musical sketches, autograph manuscripts, pre-production librettos, and lyric drafts, Block reveals the winding route the works took to get to their final form. Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Kurt Weill, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Sondheim, and other luminaries emerge as hardworking craftsmen under enormous pressure to sell tickets without compromising their dramatic vision and integrity. Packed with information, including a complete discography, plot synopses, and song-by-song scenic outlines for each of the fourteen shows, Enchanted Evenings is an essential reference as well as a riveting history.