Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical

Product Description

How the preeminent Broadway composer bridged the gap between Rodgers and Hammerstein and postmodernism

Review

“This is a lively and elegant account of the ways in which Sondheim and his collaborators deconstruct the realist master narratives that shaped ‘golden age’ Broadway musicals in creating the first postmodern musicals. McLaughlin’s penetrating new readings of Sondheim’s musicals represent an illuminating analysis of the changing dramaturgical principles that have dominated American musical theatre from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Jason Robert Brown.
Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical will surely be required reading for students and scholars of modern musical theatre.”

–Robert Gordon, professor of drama and director of the Pinter Centre for Research in Writing and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London

“How I wish I’d had
Stephen Sondheim and the Reinvention of the American Musical before I did eleven productions of Sondheim musicals. Grateful to have it now. McLaughlin asks, answers, and fires new synapses both beautifully and economically. A must-read for any Sondheim lover.”

–Christianne Tisdale, acclaimed theater, film, and television actress

“An astonishing achievement. If McLaughlin had been a neurosurgeon, he could not have gone into Stephen Sondheim’s brain any better than he does in this remarkable and readable book. McLaughlin is so precise and illuminating that we come away having even more respect for Sondheim than we had when we started the book.”

–Peter Filichia, author of
Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season, 1959 to 2009

“Finally, an investigation of Sondheim’s work that is as rigorous and profound as the artist it celebrates. McLaughlin recognizes that Sondheim’s unique genius requires the kind of serious critical examination usually reserved for other art forms. In doing so, his deeply insightful scholarship cements Sondheim’s canonical legitimacy among the great writers of the twentieth century.”

–Manoel Felciano, Tony-nominated for Best Featured Actor, 2006 Broadway revival of
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Book Description

Finally, an investigation of Sondheim’s work that is as rigorous and profound as the artist it celebrates. McLaughlin recognizes that Sondheim’s unique genius requires the kind of serious critical examination usually reserved for other art forms. In doing so, his deeply insightful scholarship cements Sondheim’s canonical legitimacy among the great writers of the twentieth century. — Manoel Felciano, Tony-nominated for Best Featured Actor, 2006 Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

About the Author

Robert L. McLaughlin, Bloomington, Illinois, is professor of English at Illinois State University. He is coauthor of
We’ll Always Have the Movies: American Cinema during World War II and editor of
Innovations: An Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Fiction.