Millie Taylor is Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Winchester, UK. She worked as a freelance musical director and, for almost twenty years, toured Britain and Europe with a variety of musicals including West Side Story, Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors and Sweeney Todd. Recent publications include British Pantomime Performance (2007), Singing for Musicals: A Practical Guide (2008), Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment (2012), and with Dominic Symonds the edited collection Gestures of Music Theatre: The Performativity of Song and Dance (2014).
The history of musical theatre has been told countless times, and often in the same way; so it is refreshing to read a study of the musical that offers a myriad tellings of the tale. Like holding a diamond up to Broadway and West End shows, each chapter in Taylor and Rush's fascinating book offers a different perspective. For students and scholars of the musical, the book provides a rich seam of thought-provoking discussions written in an accessible and engaging way. Bouncing between Britain and America in its central focus, it explores the musical as a ‘transnational’ form – one that has developed on either side of the Atlantic, yet one that has always been caught in a tussle between two different worlds. In the expert hands of Millie Taylor and Adam Rush, readers will experience an exciting set of transatlantic adventures in musical theatre. * Dominic Symonds (Professor of Musical Theatre, University of Lincoln, UK) *