Synopses & Reviews
Harry Bache Smith remains the most prolific librettist in the American musical theatre. He was the author of 300 libretti (123 of which actually opened on Broadway), including some 6,000 songs composed with some of the most notable composers of the day, including Reginald De Koven, John Philip Sousa, Victor Herbert, Ludwig Englander, Jerome Kern, Raymond Hubbell, Robert Hood Bowers, Sigmund Romberg, and Walter Donaldson. Between 1890 and 1930, his presence pervaded American operetta, musical comedy, and revue, and his influence on music theatre form was inescapable. A study of Smith's extraordinary career not only reveals the fascinating life of an ebullient workaholic but offers an important history of the American musical theater during its formative years at the beginning of the 20th century.
Synopsis
Harry B. Smith was the most prolific writer of librettos for the American musical theatre in history with nearly half of his 300 works actually opening in New York City. In addition, Smith was instrumental in adapting and popularizing foreign musicals in America, enabling a significant influence of writing and composing styles on American shows. He worked with every major composer in American between 1880 and 1920, and consequently this examination of his work and process is highly instructive of the history of the American musical.