Category Archives: History

Essential Musicals: My Fair Lady

Posted on May 8, 2020 by boz

My Fair Lady has been called “the perfect musical,” but it took several decades and several attempts before George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion eventually found its singing voice. The journey began in the 1930s with a chance encounter between … Continue reading →

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Essential Musicals: Guys and Dolls

Posted on May 7, 2020 by boz

From the Mississippi River banks to the Oklahoma plains, and beyond, the best musicals effectively evoke their settings. Guys and Dolls was the first (and so far best) Broadway musical to bring Broadway to life — not the Broadway of … Continue reading →

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Essential Musicals: Oklahoma!

Posted on May 6, 2020 by boz

I called Show Boat the most influential American musical, but historian Thomas Hischak argues, “Not only is Oklahoma! the most important of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, it is also the single most influential work in the American musical theater.” … Continue reading →

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Essential Musicals: Show Boat

Posted on May 4, 2020 by boz

To learn the functional basics about any subject and to accumulate a working vocabulary of that field, you should know something about its history. Even artistic revolutionaries like Picasso studied the Old Masters. You wouldn’t drive forward into moving traffic … Continue reading →

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