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| Author: Thomas S. Hischak
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $23.78
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 29780
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 960
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.2
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 2.2
ISBN: 0195335333
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.14097303
EAN: 9780195335330
ASIN: 0195335333
Publication Date: June 2, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-8 of 8 | | « PREV | | |
 The Book every musical fanatic needs! June 28, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Oxford Companion to the American Musical is a surprisingly detailed overview of the the American musicals of Broadway, film and television as witnessed/researched through author Thomas Hischak. The most exciting part of this book is its careful research of the television musical, until now all but glossed over in books on the subject of musical theatre. There was a point in time where television churned out musicals and it is nice to see them get their due. Holiday Specials by Rankin and Bass added much to our song lexicon and it is nice to see them so well represented.
Obviously, the book has its omissions, something that is inevitable when a book has this size and scope. But entries are lovingly chosen and carefully researched and those that are left out are judiciously put aside, or accounted for under other entries. For example: I am a big fan of the musical flop Nick and Nora. N&N does not have it's own entry, but it is mentioned in several other places such us under Joanna Gleason's entry.It is amazing, through cross referencing, just how much author Hischak has accounted for.
One special note: an earlier reviewer of this book makes mention of the musical Destry Rides Again as being named merely "Destry." This is false, as any student of Stanley Greene's Broadway Musicals: Show By Show will tell you. The musical was indeed called Destry Rides Again.
Any true fan of musical theatre will find minor quibbles with any book that may leave out the particular pieces of minutia that fascinate them. However, this book is one of the best of its kind and it is cram packed FULL of wonderful details and oft cast aside information. A must read.
 An Oxford Miss June 15, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
From the title I was expecting a definitive volume dedicated to the American musical. I already own the Oxford Companion to Wine and have seen other editions in the series and have been impressed with their completeness. This book is by no means complete and is so inconsistent in its references (and cross references)that it appears to be not so much a scholarly reference book as an extended favorites list of the author. An obscure show from the late 70's, Carmelina, is referenced in the article on Georgia Brown (Star) and in the section on Burton Lane (Composer), but there is no listing for the show. A more in depth explanation of the criteria used for inclusion in the preface might be useful in the next edition.
 Almost Everything you Wanted to Know, but... May 14, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The great fun of a book like this, for me, anyway, is: before reading it in depth, to flip through and get a sense of its range, strengths (inclusions & obscurities), and weaknesses (omissions & errors). After spending about an hour with The OCAM, I find it an anomaly. On the one hand it is awesomely filled with nitty-gritty (How many books on the American Musical include "Follow That Bird", let alone Richard Adler's TV "Damn Yankees" rip-off "Olympus 7-0000"?), yet surprisingly incomplete. An article on opera singers on Broadway omits Cesare Siepi's turn in "Bravo Giovanni". Also, the show itself is missing (granted, neither was a major high-point, but... "Follow That Bird"?). The recent musical drama "Parade" is covered, but not Jerry Herman's earlier off-broadway musical of the same name (nor, Herman's "Mme Aphrodite" in the bio on him). The book goes out of its way to mention that the '50s TV version of "The Great Waltz" is NOT on DVD. It is, from a company called VAI. And the musical version of "Destry Rides Again", cited in an article on the "frontier" in musicals, was called, simply "Destry". Anyhow, you get the idea. Amidst some truly mind-blowing trivial "completeness" there is ALSO some surprising gaffes. Nevertheless, the completeness outweighs the gaffe by such a degree, that the book is WELL WORTH your while.
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