Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Showstoppers is all about Broadway musicals' most memorable numbers--why they were so effective, how they were created, and why they still resonate. Gerald Nachman has interviewed dozens of iconic musical theater figures to get their inside stories for this book, including Patti LuPone, Chita Rivera, Marvin Hamlisch, Joel Grey, Edie Adams, John Kander, Jerry Herman, Sheldon Harnick, Tommy Tune, Harold Prince, Donna McKechnie, and Andrea McArdle, uncovering priceless previously untold anecdotes and details.
Synopsis
When Robert Preston shouted "Ya got trouble " in River City, when Carol Channing glided down a gilded staircase while waiters serenaded her with "Hello, Dolly ," when Barbra Streisand defied us to rain on her parade in Funny Girl, audiences were instantly enchanted. Showstoppers is all about Broadway musicals' most memorable numbers--why they were so effective, how they were created, and why they still resonate. Much of it is told through the eyes of the performers, songwriters, directors, and choreographers who first built these explosive numbers and lit the fuse. Gerald Nachman interviewed dozens of iconic musical theater figures, including Patti LuPone, John Raitt, Jerry Herman, Edie Adams, Dick Van Dyke, Joel Grey, Marvin Hamlisch, John Kander, Tommy Tune, Sheldon Harnick, and Harold Prince, uncovering priceless untold anecdotes and details.