A theater history told with candor—critics Andrew Sarris and Clive Barnes are “idiots”—wit, and expertise. A distinguished...
An authoritative history of the “entire Chicago saga—a play, a silent film, a talkie, and only then the musical”—and beyond.
Does anyone know more about the Broadway musical than the prolific Mordden (When Broadway Went to Hollywood, 2016, etc.)? Now, instead of exploring another aspect of the genre’s history, the author focuses on the many iterations of one musical, the “fleet and ruthless” Chicago, a story of two women awaiting trial in a Chicago jail for murdering men. Like other satirical musicals, Chicago is “silly, loony, irreverent, and sexy, in the Offenbach tradition.” Mordden sees the “too easily underestimated show” as dealing with two of America’s “great myths,” the city itself and the 1920s. After opening chapters provide useful summaries of the city’s history, the author turns to Maurine Watkins, a Tribune reporter, and her 1926 play Chicago, which drew upon a pair of murder trials she reported on. Working in the “crook play-cum-courtroom drama” tradition, she “reinvents genre” in her play about the nature of power in America. Next came the silent movie version in 1927, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Mating wicked doings with farce, his movie was the “tale of a troubled marriage. Of a decent and loving guy married to a user.” The second movie version, Roxie Hart (1942), directed by William A. Wellman and starring Ginger Rogers, was closer to the play than DeMille’s version. Mordden takes two chapters to discuss the brilliant 1975 Bob Fosse choreographed version of Chicago, starring Gwen Verdon, with its “razzamatazz” music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb. This multiple Tony winner, writes the author, was the “consummation of the musical satire.” Choreographer/director Rob Marshall won the Academy Award as Best Director for his 2002 Chicago, which captured Best Picture, one of few musicals ever to do so.
A theater history told with candor—critics Andrew Sarris and Clive Barnes are “idiots”—wit, and expertise. A distinguished investigation into the art form intellectuals scorn as “cotton candy.”Pub Date: April 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-19-065179-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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