This is a survey of Broadway musicals all through the 20th century, from the Tin Pan Alley-driven comedy works of the early part of the century, to the integrated musical plays that flourished in the heyday years of midcentury, and to the rock era, concept musicals, and the arrival of British playwrights and musicals late in the century. Some of the theater world's leading composers, writers, and directors are profiled, and the book considers some of the most unforgettable shows (but not forgetting the forgettable ones), illustrates the fragility of the libretto, explains the compensating...

The return to New York in 2002 of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song--with a totally new book by playwright David Henry Hwang--was considered the most revolutionary chapter in the history of Broadway revivals. Why? The musical, a clear hit when it was originally produced in 1958, had later acquired a debatable reputation for quaint, racially offensive Asian stereotypes. Yet Hwang's controversial rewrite--driven at least in part by concerns about such offenses--was a box-office failure. Drawing upon fresh interviews with members of both the original and the revival casts, whose...