Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s

It's interesting to read these Mordden histories together, as I have been doing. The '30s one, "Sing for Your Supper," is downbeat. That era, which we tend to think of as a golden time on Broadway, is for Mordden one of wasted opportunity. The '40s and the '50s are, as you can imagine, when he's in clover. And I thought this one, on the '60s, would again fall back into despair. But to my delight, he unearths gems I was unfamiliar with, and champions old favorites of mine -- Ben Franklin in Paris, Camelot -- that are either overlooked or pooh-poohed. And there is much in this book that is uplifting, as it points towards the Sondheim shows of the '70s, as it skillfully illustrates the increasing role of economics on the reality of mounting a show. For anyone with any interest in the Broadway musical -- how it got to be where it is today -- than Mordden is the indespensible guide, guiding us through the nooks and crannies of song.

I discovered Ethan Mordden through his books on movies. I enjoyed his style and then started reading his books on Broadway Musicals.I am not an expert on musicals by any stretch of the imagination. However, I found "Open a New Window" very readable and interesting. I was continually surprised to find people in musicals that I never would have imagined. (Vincent Price starring in a Broadway musical in 1968? My universe is still reeling.) To someone who knows "Funny Girl" and "Cabaret" as films, it was revealing and useful to read about the plays they started as.As for complaints that Mordden overlooks the big picture in the development of the musical, I would disagree. Granted, I am no expert, but to me he kept referring to the social changes going on and kept emphasizing how the subject matter of musicals kept becoming darker. "Open a New Window" isn't a heavy, scholarly tome, but it is fun and accessible to readers who are curious about Broadway musicals while not obsessed with the subject.

Ethan Mordden's Open a New Window (The Broadway Musical in the 1960's) continues his series looking at the development of musical theatre in New York decade by decade. This book has the burden of describing a decade that will more than likely be a great deal familiar to his readers, certainly more so than previous books. This is more than compensated for by just how personal the author makes the book. The volume interjects opinion into fact (on occasion, blending the two). This element is often quite enjoyable particularly in such juicy (and necessary) asides as George Abbott being taken down a couple of notches. This book is actually more fun as a read than previous volumes while still being consistently sharp in its analysis. A fine addition to this worthy series.

As someone can't resist a book, no matter how bad, on musicals past, I feel like I've found a new best friend in Ethan Mordden. He knows his subject, thinks for himself and writes extraordinarily well. He's quick to confute the common memory - pointing out the unremembered virtues of Camelot, Funny Girl and even The Unsinkable Molly Brown, yet perceptively skewering Hair, Dear World and Zorba. His identification of trends and repeating patterns is brilliant, and at the same time he gave me several good belly laughs, notably when he referred to Ilya Darling as the culmination of 3000 years of Greek culture. A treasure of a book. I'm ready for the 70s, Mr. Mordden.

In this installment of Ethan Mordden's decade-by-decade series of books about the Broadway (and off-Broadway) musical, Mordden covers the 1960s. Perhaps because I know this decade's shows more intimately than I know most of the shows in the earlier decades Mordden has covered, I was surprised to discover a rather large number of factual errors in this one. And every once in a while in this book Mordden writes something truly bizarre, like his comment that the title song of "Cabaret" comments on "not voting when democrats oppose communazis in elections." Huh? Or his citing of the fact that "Hallelujah, Baby!" lost money even though it won the Tony for Best Musical, which is true but rather misleading if you don't also mention that it had already closed when it won the Tony. As always, Mordden is a very entertaining writer. He is not shy about stating his opinions, but even when I disagree with him, I almost always enjoy reading him. This is probably not a book for someone who doesn't already know the subject fairly well. I suspect most musical-comedy addicts will find it hard to put down, as you greedily wait to see what Mordden will say about every show. There are a few shows that Mordden doesn't cover (among them, "Billy" and "Something More"), probably for lack of space. This book definitely could have been a bit longer. But that is my main complaint, except for those factual errors and the several truly bizarre statements. Isn't it great to want a book to be longer than it is?