Synopses & Reviews
This is the second volume in an unprecedented series devoted to the New York stage in the twentieth century. It provides a description of approximately 1,800 theatrical productions given in the New York professional theatre for the decade 1930-1940. Every legitimate theatre production--including plays, musicals, revues, and revivals--is chronicled in an easily referenced, alphabetical format. Not restricted to English-language productions, the collection includes every known foreign-language production visiting the city and reviewed in the English-language press. The volume also provides extensive entries for ethnic theatre offerings including plays produced in Italian, Yiddish, and French. A comprehensive listing for each entry includes (wherever possible) title, genre category, subject categories, author, translator, revisionist, music, lyricist, source book or other work, director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, lighting designer, producer, theatre, opening date, and length of run. The text following each entry offers, as comprehensive as possible, a view of the work described. It gives important historical background, a summary of the plot, amusing anecdotes, and an idea of the critical reaction to the performance. Representative quotes of critics are incorporated verbatim or in paraphrase, with source. The volume concludes with a selected bibliography. Ten appendixes provide the following quick-reference listings: a chronological calendar of productions, plays listed by category, major play awards, novels and plays providing sources for plays and musicals, institutional theatres and their offerings, foreign-performing troupes, long-run hits of the period, abbreviations of newspapers and periodicals cited in the text, the season-by-season breakdown of production totals, and all Broadway and Off Broadway theatres at which the plays described were produced. An introductory overview of issues and developments on the New York stage from 1930 to 1940 provides essential background information for understanding the context in which the chronicled works were first viewed. This important reference tool will be of special interest to students and historians of drama.
Review
From Greenwood Press of Westport, CT, comes a broadly documented survey by Samual L. Leiter, The Encyclopedia of the New York Stage, 1930-1940. It carries a comprehensive listing of some 1,800 professionally staged productions, including plays, musicals, revues, and revivals. Each entry includes full data on individuals involved, and historic background, a plot summary, and quotes from reviews.Backstage
Review
. . . This is an important source on the theater for reference collections. Libraries having the earlier work will certainly want to purchase this companion volume. . .American Reference Books Annual
Synopsis
This the second volume in an unprecedented series devoted to the New York stage in the 20th century provides a description of approximately 1,800 theatrical productions given in the New York professional theatre for the decade 1930-1940. Every legitimate theatre production--including plays, musicals, revues, and revivals--is chronicled in an easily referenced, alphabetical format. Not restricted to English-language productions, the collection includes every known foreign-language production visiting the city and reviewed in the English-language press. The volume also provides extensive entries for ethnic theatre offerings including plays produced in Italian, Yiddish, and French.
About the Author
SAMUEL L. LEITER is Professor of Theatre at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
The New York Stage, 1930-1940
Appendix 1: Calendar of Productions
Appendix 2: Play Categories
Appendix 3: Awards
Appendix 4: Sources of Plays
Appendix 5: Institutional Theatres
Appendix 6: Foreign Companies and Stars
Appendix 7: Longest Running Shows of the 1930s
Appendix 8: List of Review Source Abbreviations
Appendix 9: Seasonal Statistics
Appendix 10: Theatres
Selected Bibliography
Index of Proper Names
Index of Titles