A gimlet-eyed look at the last gasp of the Broadway musical. The last 25 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. Hardback
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.
