The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen

From Publishers Weekly
In his six previous books (One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970s, etc.), Mordden chronicled the "Golden Age" of musical theater, which for him is the period between 1920 and 1970. This scattered but stinging critique focuses on modern musicals and the many ways in which Mordden finds them lacking. "Today the musical is suffering dislocation and alienation," he declares. "It no longer leads the culture. It follows, adopting the degenerative policies of schlock." Mordden freely admits that this book is a "rant," and though his fans will enjoy his clever putdowns and razor sharp wit, the writing is sorely lacking in structure. Facts, people, shows and summaries come fast and furious; there doesn’t seem to be a new musical, revival or even a concert presentation on or off Broadway that Mordden hasn’t seen since 1979. Unfortunately, the book races from show to show without regard to chronology, leaving readers wondering when his opinions will coagulate into a coherent angry thesis. It’s even hard to tell which shows Mordden loves since he uses the same arch tone throughout, repeatedly calling his readers "boys and girls" and the like. Casual musical theater-goers will be either baffled or put off by eccentric statements like, "I increasingly think that the farther we get from shows with a valid role for Barbara Cook, the farther we get from what is enjoyable," but old hands will know just what he means. Mordden’s knowledge of musical theatre is impressively displayed here, but readers will wish he had presented that knowledge in a more coherent manner.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Mordden continues his chronicle of the Broadway musical from the 1920s to the present, focusing on a singularly dispiriting period in the genre's history, during which Broadway became only a shadow of its once vigorous, audience-pleasing self. Mordden finds many causes for this decline: increased costs, artistic stagnation, uninspired producers, changing tastes in popular music, and the premature deaths of scores of talented actors, directors, and designers. As before (e.g., in One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970s, 2003), Mordden brings a wealth of research and insight to the table in interesting, detailed commentary on all the major hits and bombs. This time, however, he is sharper, wittier, even bitchier, than ever, for he has been personally engaged, if not outraged, by all the aesthetic missteps, the bad shows that flopped, the good shows that foundered, and the pompous, overblown shows that hit big in the most recent period of musical theater. As a result, this is a book that is fascinating as well as wonderful reading. Jack Helbig
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
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.



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Here, two authors sound off on the state of Broadway musicals. Composer/writer Grant (Maestros of the Pen) not only discusses the "what" but also the "how" and "why"; this is "an inquest into what happened to raise an inconsequential entertainment genre to a level of popular art, and then to lower it back again to an inconsequential entertainment genre." The chapters are thematic, covering all aspects of this highly collaborative theater. Grant's selection of shows reflects his appreciation for each contribution to the development or demise of the genre. While his criticism of what musicals have become is no less scathing than that of Mordden-he claims, "the Broadway of the 2000s is an Age of McMusicals"-Grant provides a clearly articulated discussion of the effects of a changing America, from technology, music, and soaring production costs, to the loss of an informed stage audience. Some of Grant's chapters do require background in music and performance to understand completely, but most of this thoroughly documented work will be accessible to anyone in theater. Mordden (One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970s) presents the latest in his series on Broadway musicals. This entry, however, is not a chronicle but "a rant, in defense of an enlightened genre hijacked by pop." While the criteria for a show's inclusion are unclear, Mordden follows themes as he argues why shows don't work anymore, whether they're poor imitations of past shows, "revisals" of classics, adaptations of movies, or poorly written books with lackluster scores. While tending to ramble, Mordden is highly entertaining-at least for those who agree with his conclusions. The criticisms are many and scathing, but Mordden's characteristic witticisms elicit amenable laughter. And for all his lambasting of the contemporary scene as a whole, Mordden is equally lavish in his praise of those deserving, whether an actor's performance or a memorable score, from an otherwise awful production. Both Grant's and Mordden's book are highly recommended for advanced theater collections.-Laura A. Ewald, Murray State Univ. Lib., KY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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