(Applause Books). David Merrick is the most astonishing showman of our time, and perhaps of all time. No other producer, not even Florenz Ziegfeld nor the combined lights of the Shubert brothers, has equalled his percentage of hits or his demonic flair for publicity. In this first-ever biography, Howard Kissel from his decade-long investigation reveals the man, the mask, and the myth of David Merrick. The charismatic and reclusive mogul emerges as a Broadway version of Howard Hughes, with his own panoply of eccentricities, genius and neuroses. Merrick's much publicized and oftentimes staged battles and feuds are re-ignited here full force with such major personalities as Barbra Streisand, Jackie Gleason, Ethel Merman, Lena Horne, Woody Allen, Peter Ustinov, Andy Griffith, Anthony Newley, Peter Brook, and Carol Channing. Over a hundred interviews with the major players in Merrick's drama from his pre-Merrick St. Louis childhood as David Margoulies to his latest divorce has yielded the first serious interrogation of a life that until now has been the sole creation of Merrick's own invention and press wizardry.

Merrick was one of the most astonishing showman of our time. No other producer has equaled his percentage of hits or his demonic flair for publicity. His hits include Gypsy; A Taste of Honey; Hello, Dolly!; Promises, Promises; & 42nd Street. In this biography, Kissel reveals the man, the mask & the myth of Merrick. The charismatic & reclusive mogul emerges with his own eccentricities, genius & neuroses. His much-publicized & oftentimes staged battles & feuds were with such personalities as Barbra Streisand, Ethel Merman, Lena Horne, Woody Allen, Andy Griffith, & Carol Channing. Includes over 100 interviews with the major players in Merrick's life. Illustrations.

This handbook is the first to provide a systematic investigation of the various roles of producers in commercial and not-for-profit musical theatre. Featuring fifty-one essays written by international specialists in the field, it offers new insights into the world of musical theatre, its creation and its promotion. Key areas of investigation include the lives and works of producers whose work is part of a US and worldwide musical theatre legacy, as well as the largely critically-neglected role of the musical theatre producer in the making, marketing, and performance of musicals. Also explored are the shifting roles of producers in musical theatre and their popular portrayals, offering a reader-friendly collection for fans, scholars, students, and practitioners of musical theatre alike.

Publicity, nerve, and verve made David Merrick possibly the most successful producer in the history of Broadway. Not since the days of David Belasco or Florenz Ziegfeld had the theatre produced such a spectacular producer-star. He was dubbed The Barnum of Broadway or, less flatteringly, The Abominable Showman, and Clive Barnes of the New York Times said he had showmanship running out of his ears. Although he was best known for his musical productions, including Hello Dolly! (1964) and 42nd Street (1980), he produced many nonmusicals as well; Cecil Smith of the Los Angeles Times wrote that he was one of the most sensitive and effective producers of fine dramas in modern Broadway. Merrick's career, tempered by a legal background, is an undisputed testimony to his artistic sensibilities, his razor-edged business acumen, his talent for public relations, and his unrelenting drive. This study chronicles the life and career of one of the last of Broadway's independent producers, David Merrick, who produced eighty-eight plays on Broadway during his professional lifetime. Following a chronology of his career and a biographical sketch, all his plays, plus film productions, are carefully documented with credits, runs, synopses, and review citations. An annotated bibliography includes his own writings and a chronologically organized listing of books and articles about him. An appendix is devoted to major awards given to Merrick, his productions, and other principals and stars involved with them; and a second appendix lists theatre productions that were made into films. Carefully cross-referenced and indexed, the book adds to the growing number of studies that organize essential resources for research and scholarship in American theatre.

Up close and personal with Broadway’s brightest lights of the past, present, and future. * Firsthand accounts, rare interviews, backstage anecdotes * Insider ideas from Disney, Jujamcyn, Mackintosh, Weissler, Papp, Merrick, Ziegfeld, more! Broadway’s most esteemed visionaries tell all—how they got started in the business, how they chose projects, how they raise money, why some of their shows were huge hits and others flopped, and much more. From Flo Ziegfeld and David Merrick, from Joseph Papp, from Cameron Mackintosh, from today’s up-and-coming new generation of producers—here are priceless words of wisdom. Readers will find insights on how to deal with investors, work in a team, troubleshoot, and learn from mistakes. Filled with entertaining backstage anecdotes, this book is a must-have primer for educators, students, and budding producers.

As the composer/lyricist for Godspell, Pippin, Wicked, and other musicals, Stephen Schwartz has enjoyed one of the mostsignificant careers in American musical theater for more than four decades. Schwartz has also achieved success on the big screen, contributing to such films as Enchanted, The Prince of Egypt, and Pocahontas. For his work, he has received six Tony nominations, three Grammys, and three Academy Awards. The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz: From Godspell to Wicked and Beyond is a detailed examination of Schwartz’s various projects throughout his career. Musicologist Paul R. Laird discusses at length Schwartz’s major shows and also considers his other ventures, such as the music and lyrics for animated features from Disney and Dreamworks. The book focuses on two major aspects of Schwartz’s creations: the process of collaboration resulting in a project’s completion and a descriptive analysis of his music and lyrics. Laird also describes each show’s critical reception and its place in the larger history of musical theater. Based on extensive interviews with Schwartz and a number of his major collaborators, this book provides a rare look into the creation of the composer and lyricist’s shows and films. The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz is intended for fans as well as students and professional researchers in music, theater, and the musical theater.

Born into a poor Virginian family, John Treville Latouche (1914-56), in his short life, made a profound mark on America's musical theater as a lyricist, book writer, and librettist. The wit and skill of his lyrics elicited comparisons with the likes of Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, and Cole Porter, but he had too, noted Stephen Sondheim, a large vision of what musical theater could be, and he proved especially venturesome in helping to develop a lyric theater that innovatively combined music, word, dance, and costume and set design. Many of his pieces, even if not commonly known today, remain high points in the history of American musical theater. A great American genius in the words of Duke Ellington, Latouche initially came to wide public attention in his early twenties with his cantata for soloist and chorus, Ballad for Americans (1939), with music by Earl Robinson-a work that swept the nation during the Second World War. Other milestones in his career included the all-black musical fable, Cabin in the Sky (1940), with Vernon Duke; an interracial updating of John Gay's classic, The Beggar's Opera, as Beggar's Holiday (1946), with Duke Ellington; two acclaimed Broadway operas with Jerome Moross: Ballet Ballads (1948) and The Golden Apple (1954); one of the most enduring operas in the American canon, The Ballad of Baby Doe (1956), with Douglas Moore; and the operetta Candide (1956), with Leonard Bernstein and Lillian Hellman. Extremely versatile, he also wrote cabaret songs, participated in documentary and avant-garde film, translated poetry, adapted plays, and much else. Meanwhile, as one of Manhattan's most celebrated raconteurs and hosts, he developed a wide range of friends in the arts, including, to name only a few, Paul and Jane Bowles (whom he introduced to each other), Yul Brynner, John Cage, Jack Kerouac, Frederick Kiesler, Carson McCullers, Frank O'Hara, Dawn Powell, Ned Rorem, Virgil Thomson, Gore Vidal, and Tennessee Williams-a dazzling constellation of diverse artists working in sundry fields, all attracted to Latouche's brilliance and joie de vivre, not to mention his support for their work. This book draws widely on archival collections both at home and abroad, including Latouche's diaries and the papers of Bernstein, Ellington, Moore, Moross, and many others, to tell for the first time, the story of this fascinating man and his work.