Andrew Lamb – författare

From the Parisian operettas of Jacques Offenbach in the 1850s to such current blockbuster musicals as Les Misérables and Rent, musical theatre has given joy to audiences throughout the world. This lively book—an illustrated history of popular musical theatre—provides a compendium of fascinating details about the origins and development of the genre over a century and a half.Andrew Lamb moves from country to country, showing how different cultures interpreted and were influenced by different types of musical theatre. He examines, for example, the development of the European operetta style from French and Viennese works to such less-well-known schools as the Spanish zarzuela. He also traces the evolution of English-language works from the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan and American vaudevilles and extravaganzas to the latest Broadway and West End musicals. For each significant work he provides a brief description of the plot and references to the principal musical numbers. While his focus is on composers, librettists, and lyricists, he also gives information about principal performers, directors, and other creative influences. In a masterful way he conveys the differences between works of the same composer and works by various composers, and shows how they reflect changing cultural tastes and musical and dramatic conventions. Displaying a deep and wide-ranging expertise, this authoritative book is an invaluable resource for all lovers of the musical theatre.

Leslie Stuart (1864-1928) was a British songwriter best remembered as the composer of the hit show, Florodora. He began writing popular songs as a teenager, first for blackface and vaudeville performers, and eventually for more "legitimate" shows and revues. Florodora (1899), written in collaboration with London's most fashionable librettist, Owen Hall, was a musical-comedy sensation. Its combination of the traditional slow love ballads and waltzes with more rhythmic and long-lined numbers made it a worldwide success. He continued to compose through the first decade of the 20th century, laying the groundwork for the coming innovations in British and American musical theater.

Leslie Stuart (1864-1928) was a British songwriter best remembered as the composer of the hit show, Florodora. He began writing popular songs as a teenager, first for blackface and vaudeville performers, and eventually for more "legitimate" shows and revues. Florodora (1899), written in collaboration with London's most fashionable librettist, Owen Hall, was a musical-comedy sensation. Its combination of the traditional slow love ballads and waltzes with more rhythmic and long-lined numbers made it a worldwide success. He continued to compose through the first decade of the 20th century, laying the groundwork for the coming innovations in British and American musical theater.

The definitive biography of Henry Russell, famed nineteenth-century songwriter and performer.Henry Russell was an entertainer and songwriter—arguably the leading popular singer, on both sides of the Atlantic, in the 1840s—who is best remembered today for his song "A Life on the Ocean Wave" and for such classics as "Woodman, Spare that Tree! and "Cheer Boys, Cheer!" A child performer as a singer, he was born to a distinguished Jewish family and was already working in his teens as a musician and as a vocalist. Russell travelled to America in 1836 and established himself there as a popular singer and songwriter. Returning to England five years later, he produced a number of musical programs, which were among the most popular entertainments of the day. His songs went beyond sentimental themes and subjects to include purposeful social commentary, attacking, among other topics, slavery and the mistreatment of the mentally ill. Russell’s combination of showmanship and songwriting made him the Elton John of his day. This revised edition has been updated using newly available archival and other sources, as well as new illustrations.