A Fine Romance

In this lively and illuminating book, Geoffrey Block reveals the often productive but sometimes fraught relationship between the Broadway musical and the Hollywood studio system that brought it to the big screen. The volume is packed with new information and revealing analysis that will make the reader want to return to it time and again. A showstopper among the scholarship on the American musical! * Dominic Broomfield-McHugh, Professor of Musicology at the University of Sheffield and author of Loverly: The Life and Times of My Fair Lady * A quarter of a century ago, Geoffrey Block's Enchanted Evenings opened a door for the serious study of American musical theater. Now, this pioneering and prolific scholar has produced another compelling and meticulous exploration of the musical, bringing unusual empathy and enthusiasm for both stage and screen, and again offering a vivid and inspiring model for future work. * Jeffrey Magee, author of Irving Berlin's American Musical Theater * Geoffrey Block's A Fine Romance makes meticulous, detailed comparisons between the stage and screen versions of 12 musicals that shaped American popular culture. The film versions of these musicals brought their stories, songs, and dances to more audiences than the theater versions ever could. Rather than assuming the inferiority of the film versions because of their commercialism or broad appeal, Block gives them an open-minded treatment. He notes that the medium of film is different from the stage and reveals the many ways that artists took advantage of this to create film adaptations that merit serious treatment and admiration. In reading the book I gained a deeper appreciation of the versatility of the musical as a genre. * Kara Gardner, author of Agnes de Mille: Telling Stories in Broadway Dance *