Synopses & Reviews
A major new anthology of groundbreaking American musicals.
During the 1990's, a new generation of composers, lyricists and librettists emerged radically changing the face of American musical theatre. With Broadway becoming mostly a museum for revivals and Disney blockbusters, these new artists have fashioned a more highly personal and challenging form of musical theatre less interested in pure entertainment and the creation of diversions. Their work bears the influence of composers like Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill, Mark Blitzstein and Leonard Bernstein and their music and lyrics demand a greater commitment from the listener. The work is often dark and the stories they illuminate cut to the heart of post-modern America.
This anthology collects for the first time the groundbreaking work of these innovative new artists:
Rent
Book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson
"The breakthrough musical for the 90's."—Jack Kroll, Newsweek
"Reinventing Broadway. A raw and riveting milestone in musical theatre."—Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Floyd Collins
Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, book by Tina Landau
"This is the original and daring musical of our day—a powerhouse."—New York Magazine
Parade
Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, book by Alfred Uhry
"A defining moment in Broadway musical theatre."—Clive Barnes, New York Post
Nominated for 9 Tony Awards and 13 Drama Desk Awards
Winner of 2 Tony Awards and 6 Drama Desk Awards, including Best New Musical
The Wild Party
Music and lyrics by Michael John La Chiusa, book by Michael John La Chiusa and George C. Wolfe
"The first musical triumph of the 21st Century."—Daily News
Nominated for 7 Tony Awards
Wiley Hausam is the former associate producer of The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival and current director of the Songbook Series at Joe's Pub in New York, which features the work of new musical theatre composers. He has recently formed his own production and consultation company in New York City.
Synopsis
FLOYD COLLINS by Adam Guettel and Tina Landau
"This is the original and daring musical of our day...a powerhouse." --John Simon, New York Magazine
RENT by Jonathan Larson
"Reinventing Broadway. A raw and riveting milestone in musical theater." --Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
PARADE by Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry
"A defining moment in Broadway musical theater." --Clive Barnes, New York Post
THE WILD PARTY by Michael John La Chiusa and George C. Wolfe
"The first musical triumph of the 21st Century." --Finton O'Toole, Daily News
This anthology collects for the first time the groundbreaking work of these innovative artists. In the tradition of such classic musicals as West Side Story and Sweeney Todd, a new generation of composers, lyricists and librettists have extended and transformed the serious musical. Their work bears the influence of composers and authors, such as Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins, Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince, and even Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Yet these artists have fashioned a new, highly personal and challenging form of lyric theater that darkly cuts to the heart of postmodern America.
Includes: Floyd Collins, set mostly in the pitch blackness of a cave in rural Kentucky in 1925, this piece, based on real events, presents a soul alone with himself while, above ground, the circus of modern media life unconsciously tries to rob Floyd of his human dignity; Rent, set amidst a gentrification war in New York City's Lower East Side in the mid-1990s, portrays a community of youthful racial diversity and sexual openness brought together, first by the struggle to be an artist in a materialist society and then by the fight to prevent disease from snuffing out their youthful lives and love; Parade juxtaposes anti-Semitism and racism against African-Americans in an Atlanta, Georgia, still haunted in 1913 by the ghosts of the Civil War; and The Wild Party, set near Manhattan's Morningside Heights just before the Crash of 1929, observes sensual and spiritual decadence through show business people desperate to love and be loved.
Synopsis
A major new anthology of groundbreaking American musicals.
Table of Contents
Rent / book, music, and lyrics by Jonathan Larson -- Floyd Collins / music and lyrics by Adam Guettel ; book by Tina Landau -- Parade / music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown ; book by Alfred Uhry -- The wild party / music and lyrics by Michael John La Chiusa ; book by George C. Wolfe.