Jerome Kern (1885-1945) is considered one of the most versatile and influential of all American theatre and film composers. His pioneer work in developing a truly American musical sound inspired many of the great songwriters of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and his songs include dozens of beloved standards still heard today, such as “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” The Jerome Kern Encyclopedia consists of entries on people, theatre and film musicals, songs, subjects, and themes related to the composer. Not only are all of Kern’s stage and screen projects from 1904 to 1946 covered, but there are also entries on all the major librettists and lyricists with whom he worked, as well as producers, directors, actors, and other individuals who figured prominently in his career. Approximately 100 of Kern’s most important songs are discussed, and other entries address awards, collaborations, working methods, song styles, and other related subjects. The encyclopedia also includes a brief biography of Kern, a chronology of his life and work, and appendices on recordings, interpolations, revivals, and remakes. The most complete work on one of America’s greatest composers, this fascinating, readable, and extensive look at Kern will appeal totheatregoers, movie musical fans, students, teachers, and professionals in musical theatre.

"The Jerome Kern Encyclopedia consists of entries on people, theater and film musicals, songs, subjects and themes related to the composer. Not only are all of Kern's stage and screen projects - from 1904 to 1946 - covered, but there are also entries on all the major librettists and lyricists with whom he worked, as well as producers, directors, actors, and other individuals who figured prominently in his career. Approximately one hundred of Kern's most important songs are discussed, and other entries address awards, collaborations, working methods, song styles, and related subjects." - back cover

For nearly a century, New York's famous "Tin Pan Alley" was the center of popular music publishing in this country. It was where songwriting became a profession, and songs were made-to-order for the biggest stars. Selling popular music to a mass audience from coast-to-coast involved the greatest entertainment media of the day, from minstrelsy to Broadway, to vaudeville, dance palaces, radio, and motion pictures. Successful songwriting became an art, with a host of men and women becoming famous by writing famous songs.

In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook—the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies—and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews. An acclaimed poet, editor, and cultural critic, David Lehman hears America singing—with a Yiddish accent. He guides us through America in the golden age of song, when “Embraceable You,” “White Christmas,” “Easter Parade,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” “My Romance,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Stormy Weather,” and countless others became nothing less than the American sound track. The stories behind these songs, the shows from which many of them came, and the shows from which many of them came, and the composers and lyricists who wrote them give voice to a specifically American saga of love, longing, assimilation, and transformation. Lehman’s analytical skills, wit, and exuberance infuse this book with an energy and a tone like no other: at once sharply observant, personally searching, and attuned to the songs that all of us love. He helps us understand how natural it should be that Wizard of Oz composer Harold Arlen was the son of a cantor who incorporated “Over the Rainbow” into his Sabbath liturgy, and why Cole Porter—the rare non-Jew in this pantheon of musicians who wrote these classic songs shaped America even as America was shaping them. (Part of the Jewish Encounter series)

Show Tunes, the most comprehensive musical theatre reference book ever, chronicles the work of Broadway's greatest composers, from 1904 through 2009. Almost 1,000 shows and 10,000 show tunes are included, with additional musicals and composers added to the fourth edition. This fact-packed volume is informative, insightful, provocative, and entertaining: the definitive survey of a fascinating field. It is a must for musical theatre enthusiasts, performers, students, collectors, and anyone who enjoys Show Tunes.

One of the most distinguished lyric-writers of his time, Ira Gershwin wrote for his brother George as well as Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, Harold Arlen and others. Limelight presents a selection of stage and screen lyrics written for sundry situations and now arranged in arbitrary categories, to which have been added many informative annotations and disquistions on their why and wherefore, their whom-for, their how, and matters associative. "Gershwin's comments, witty and irreverent, and his anecdotes about the making of many favorites, are invariably interesting and frequently surprising." Chicago Tribune

Thornton Wilder is one of America’s greatest writers, and the only author to win Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and drama. Equally well known for his plays and novels, his unique and diverse body of work also includes essays, journals, lectures, and film and television scripts. In The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia, Thomas S. Hischak exhaustively covers Wilder’s life and extensive career. Entries not only contain every one of his novels, plays, and scripts, but also his letters, journals, and all other existing works by Wilder, published or unpublished. In addition, this valuable reference features entries on the individuals who worked with Wilder and friends and family members who were a great influence on him. With a biography of Wilder to introduce the work and a chronology and selected bibliography to augment the entries, The Thornton Wilder Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive reference available on one of America’s greatest playwrights and finest novelists.

For more than five decades, Woody Allen has been one of the most critically acclaimed talents in American cinema. Allen has been nominated for best director seven times by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—winning for his 1977 film Annie Hall—and he has received more Oscar nominations for best screenplay than any other individual. But Allen’s accomplishments are not limited to the big screen. In addition to writing and directing nearly fifty films—many of which he starred in—Allen has been a television writer, a stand-up comedian, a playwright, and the author of several short stories. TheWoody Allen Encyclopedia is a compendium of information and commentary about every aspect of Allen as an artist. In this volume, Thomas S. Hischak details all of Allen’s works for the cinema, television, and the stage, as well as all of his fiction; his comedy albums; his performances in other directors’ movies; and even documentaries about him. In addition to such critically acclaimed films as Sleeper, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Zelig, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point, and Midnight in Paris, entries in this volume feature many of his collaborators, including actors, actresses, cinematographers, editors, designers, producers, and cowriters. This resource also highlights themes in Allen’s work, the music he utilizes in his films, and his working methods, as well as box-office figures and awards. An extensive and comprehensive overview of this artist’s remarkable career, The Woody Allen Encyclopedia is a must-have for film aficionados and will be of great interest to all readers, from professors and students to Allen’s most devoted fans.

Although the venue Off Broadway has long been the birthplace of innovative and popular musicals, there have been few studies of these influential works. Long-running champs, such as The Fantasticks and Little Shop of Horrors, are discussed in many books about American musicals, but what of the hundreds of other Off-Broadway musicals? In Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919, Thomas Hischak looks at more than 375 musicals, which are described, discussed, and analyzed, with particular attention given to their books, scores, performers, and creators. Presented chronologically and divided into chapters for each decade, beginning with the landmark musical Greenwich Village Follies (1919), the book culminates with the satiric The Toxic Avenger (2009). In this volume, any work of consequence is covered, especially if it was popular or influential, but also dozens of more obscure musicals are included to illustrate the depth and breadth of Off Broadway. Works that introduced an important artistic talent, from performers to songwriters, are looked at, and the selection represents the various trends and themes that made Off Broadway significant. In addition to essential data about each musical, the plot and score are described, the success (or lack of) is chronicled, and an opinionated commentary discusses the work's merits and influences on the musical theatre in general. The first book of its kind, this highly readable volume will please both the theatre scholar and the average musical theatre patron or fan.