The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen: The Last Twenty-Five Years of the Broadway Musical

For Ethan Mordden, the closing night of the hit musical, 42nd St. sounded the death knell of the art form of the Broadway musical. After that, big orchestras, real voices, recognizable books and intelligent lyrics went out the window in favor of cats, helicopters, yodeling Frenchmen, and the roof of the Paris Opera. Mordden takes us through the aftermath of the days of the great Broadway musical. From the long-running Cats to Miss Saigon, Phantom, and Les Miserables, to gems like The Producers, he is unsparing in his look at the remains of the day. Not content to scold the shows' creators, Mordden takes on the critics, too, splaying their bodies across the Great White Way like Sweeney Todd giving a close shave. Once more, it's curtain going up, but Mordden is not applauding.

Author: Ethan Mordden
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 10/15/2004
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.33lbs
Size: 9.52h x 6.42w x 1.05d
ISBN: 9780312239541

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 11/01/2004 pg. 86
Booklist 11/01/2004 pg. 460
Choice 02/01/2005 pg. 1031

About the Author

Ethan Mordden is the author of many books on the Broadway musical including One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970's (Palgrave Macmillan).