American Theatre: A Chronicle Of Comedy And Drama 1869-1914 (1994)

Performing Arts / Theater / General -

NOT_MATURE -

Gerald Bordman

03/10/1994
Overview
This three-volume work will accomplish for the American non-musical theatre what Bordman's American Musical Theatre did for our song-and-dance entertainments: it chronicles, in order by opening, every Broadway comedy and drama, show by show, season by season, offering a plot synopsis, principal players, and important statistics. Scenery and costumes are described where they might be of interest, and comments of the plays' contemporary critics are quoted. In many instances, extended excerpts from the play are included to give the reader a fuller understanding of its nuances and its period dialogue. Also included, and worked chronologically into the text, are details about cheap-priced, cliff-hanging melodramas, such as Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl and His Sister's Shame, which were among America's most popular diversions in theatres catering to blue-collar playgoers until silent films drew away their audiences. Examples of shows produced and designed for other than New York are included. This volume deals with the great expansion of American theatre after the Civil War, the careers of such prominent actors and actresses as Edwin Booth, Mrs. Fiske, the Drew and Barrymore families, the first important American playwrights like Clyde Fitch, producers like David Belasco, and the influence of foreign plays and players. This stage history, besides giving a sense of each production, touches on the literary worth of the plays, provides brief biographies of major figures, and sets all of this against the economic and social backgrounds of the time. Readers will close the book feeling they, like their parents and grandparents, have sat through performances of these shows of another era.
Original Language

English

Buy Print
amazon logo

Buy on amazon

More by Author

Jan 01, 2010
Hailed as "absolutely the best reference book on its subject" by Newsweek, American Musical Theatre:...
Jan 01, 1996
This volume chronicles every Broadway production as well as every major off-Broadway show as its cov...
Nov 21, 1996
This book concludes Gerald Bordman's acclaimed survey of American non-musical theatre. It deals with...
Mar 01, 2001
Gerald Bordman's American Musical Theatre has become a landmark book since its original publication ...
Jan 01, 1994
No Description Available
Jan 01, 1987
No Description Available
Jan 25, 1996
This is a volume in Bordman's monumental history of the non-musical American theatre. It analyses ea...
Jan 01, 1992
A delightful cornucopia of information about the American stage from its beginnings to the present d...
Jan 01, 1980
A biography of the American composer Jerome Kern, which follows his career from his early days on Br...
Mar 10, 1994
This three-volume work will accomplish for the American non-musical theatre what Bordman's American ...

Comments


No Comments Yet
Be the first to share what you think