{"product_id":"the-secret-life-of-the-american-musical-how-broadway-shows-are-built","title":"The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built","description":"\u003cp\u003eA New York Times Bestseller  For almost a century  Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in childhood in a darkened theater  grows into something more serious for high school actors  and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love  marriage  and children  who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what  exactly  is a musical?  In The Secret Life of the American Musical  Jack Viertel takes them apart  puts them back together  sings their praises  marvels at their unflagging inventiveness  and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process  he invites us to fall in love all over again by showing us how musicals happen  what makes them work  how they captivate audiences  and how one landmark show leads to the nextby design or by accident  by emulation or by rebellionfrom Oklahoma! to Hamilton and onward.  Structured like a musical  The Secret Life of the American Musical begins with an overture and concludes with a curtain call  with stops in between for I Want songs  conditional love songs  production numbers  star turns  and finales. The ultimate insider  Viertel has spent three decades on Broadway  working on dozens of shows old and new as a conceiver  producer  dramaturg  and general creative force; he has his own unique way of looking at the process and at the people who collaborate to make musicals a reality. He shows us patterns in the architecture of classic shows and charts the inevitable evolution that has taken place in musical theater as America itself has evolved socially and politically.  The Secret Life of the American Musical makes you feel as though youve been there in the rehearsal room  in the front row of the theater  and in the working offices of theater owners and producers as they pursue their own love affair with that rare and elusive beastthe Broadway hit.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44945524523061,"sku":"ByrdShop_0374256926","price":28.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780374256920.jpg?v=1769892068","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-secret-life-of-the-american-musical-how-broadway-shows-are-built","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}