Synopses & Reviews
In this welcome addition to the immensely popular Yale Broadway Masters series, Larry Starr focuses fresh attention on George Gershwinand#8217;s Broadway contributions and examines their centrality to the composerand#8217;s entire career. Starr presents Gershwin as a composer with a unified musical visionand#8212;a vision developed on Broadway and used as a source of strength in his well-known concert music. In turn, Gershwinand#8217;s concert-hall experience enriched and strengthened his musicals, leading eventually to his great and#8220;Broadway opera,and#8221; Porgy and Bess. Through the prism of three major showsand#8212;Lady Be Good (1924), Of Thee I Sing (1931), and Porgy and Bess (1935)and#8212;Starr highlights Gershwinand#8217;s distinctive contributions to the evolution of the Broadway musical. In addition, the author considers Gershwinand#8217;s musical language, his compositions for the concert hall, and his movie scores for Hollywood in the light of his Broadway experience.
Review
and#8220;and#8230;.a sad story but a very illuminating one, and the book is an enthralling read.and#8221;and#8212;Peter Dickinson, Gramophone
Review
and#8220;Larry Starr's valuable new bookand#8230;is not a traditional biographyand#8230;but rather an insightful, technically intricate yet easy-to-follow study of Gershwin's music, particularly as it came out of the Broadway tradition.and#8221;and#8212;Tim Page,
The Washington PostReview
and#8220;If George Gershwin provided much that the world's listeners have savored as America's musical daily bread, Larry Starr's spirited book goes a long way toward showing how he did it.and#8221; and#8212;Richard Crawford, author of America's Musical Life: A History
Synopsis
This fresh look at three of George Gershwinand#8217;s musicals (Lady Be Good, Of Thee I Sing, and Porgy and Bess) shows how his Broadway experience influenced all of his musical output.
About the Author
Larry Starr is a Professor of music history, University of Washington. He lives in Seattle.