George Abbott, Vinnette Carroll, and Harold (Hal) Prince were trailblazing figures who helped shape and define the Broadway musical over the course of the 20th century.
Their careers expanded the boundaries of the genre, highlighting the critical role of the director in the creation of a new musical. As theatre history, the essays in this volume help to complicate and deepen the reader’s understanding of the musical genre of Broadway and of the enduring legacies of these three pioneers. As lessons in theatrical direction, they illustrate the particular issues involved in directing musicals, as well as the stakes of working commercially at the highest levels of the industry.
The Great North American Stage Directors series provides an authoritative account of the art of directing in North America by examining the work of twenty-four major practitioners from the late 19th century to the present. Each of the eight volumes examines three directors and offers an overview of their practices, theoretical ideas, and contributions to modern theatre. The studies chart the life and work of each director, placing his or her achievement in the context of other important theatre practitioners and broader social history. Written by a team of leading experts, the series presents the genealogy of directing in North America while simultaneously chronicling crucial trends and championing contemporary interpretation.
List of Figures Series introduction, James Peck (Muhlenberg College, USA) Acknowledgments Introduction. Henry Bial (University of Kansas, USA) & Chase Bringardner (Auburn University, USA) George Abbott 1. Speedy Entertainment: How the Abbott Touch Shaped the Mid-Century Musical, Alisa Roost (Hostos Community College, USA) 2. The Abbott Legacy, Bud Coleman (University of Colorado at Boulder, USA) 3. The Critic’s Darling, Henry Bial (University of Kansas, USA) Vinnette Carroll 4. The Remaining One-Third: Vinnette Carroll and the Urban Arts Corps, La Donna L. Forsgren (University of Notre Dame, USA) 5. An Architect of Feeling: Vinnette Carroll and Her Broadway Gospel Musicals, Brian Granger (Mary Baldwin University, USA) 6. Vinnette Carroll, Langston Hughes, and the Creation of the Gospel Song-Play, Hillary Miller (Queens College, City University of New York, USA) Harold Prince 7. Hal Prince Assumes Direction of a Genre, Paul R. Laird (University of Kansas, USA) 8. “A Show Every Year Like Clockwork”: Harold Prince’s Illustrious Career as a Revolutionary Musical Theatre Director and Creative Producer, Barbara Wallace Grossman (Tufts University, USA) 9. Producing Phantoms: Hal Prince and the Mega in the Mega-Musical, Chase Bringardner (Auburn University, USA) Notes on Contributors Index
Henry Bial is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Kansas, USA. Chase Bringardner is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre at Auburn University, USA.
Reviews for Great North American Stage Directors Volume 4: George Abbott, Vinnette Carroll, Harold Prince
Provides a valuable in-depth look into the development of a stage directors’ work and how their efforts affected the development of the performative arts. * CHOICE *
