LEVE, James [Charles Strouse].
Kander and Ebb.
New Haven: Yale University Press , 2009.
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First Edition of James Leve's Kander and Ebb; Inscribed by Him to Broadway Composer Charles Strouse
First edition of James Leve's critical study of the celebrated Broadway songwriting team, a volume in the Yale Broadway Masters series. Octavo, original publisher's boards, illustrated with black-and-white photographs and music stanzas. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the leaf facing the title page, "To Charles Strouse, Best Wishes. Jim Leve." The recipient, Charles Strouse, was a Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning composer whose fifty-year career produced some of the most enduring works in the history of American musical theater, among them Bye Bye Birdie, Applause, and Annie, as well as the theme song for the classic sitcom All in the Family ("Those Were the Days"). His partnership with Martin Charnin on Annie produced one of Broadway's most successful scores ever, with "Tomorrow" and other songs from the production becoming enduring American musical standards admired by generations. His reach knew no genre or generation, from a number-one Billboard hit in 1958 to Jay-Z's Grammy-winning sampling of "It's the Hard-Knock Life" four decades later, and his honors include three Tony Awards and induction into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Theater Hall of Fame. From the collection of Strouse and his wife, the choreographer Barbara Siman, with his ownership stamp and sticker to the front free endpaper. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with bumping and light toning to the top of the boards. Foreword by Geoffrey Block. Jacket illustration of John Kander and Fred Ebb by Steven Caras.
Kander and Ebb (2009), the first volume in the Yale Broadway Masters Series by James Leve, Associate Professor of Musicology at Northern Arizona University, is the first full-length scholarly study of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, whose collaboration of more than forty years produced over twenty musicals and constitutes the longest such partnership in Broadway history. Drawing on personal papers and numerous interviews, Leve analyzes the unique nature of their collaboration, discusses their contribution to the concept musical, examines their most popular works including Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, and reassesses their so-called flops as well as their incomplete and abandoned projects, producing a volume that is simultaneously a critical biography, a structural analysis of their scores, and a historiographical reassessment of their place in the American musical theater tradition. The two most celebrated works of the Kander and Ebb partnership, Cabaret (1966) and Chicago (1975), each received critically acclaimed Broadway revivals and were adapted into Academy Award-winning films, with Rob Marshall's film of Chicago winning the Oscar for Best Picture in 2003, securing the partnership's legacy in both theatrical and cinematic culture. Raymond Knapp of UCLA called the book the first important study of Kander and Ebb and a very useful work thoughtfully presenting material not otherwise readily available, while Thomas L. Riis praised it as a wise and musically informed interpretation of the team's remarkable creative process, rich in fascinating detail, and the volume stands as an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand two of the most darkly sophisticated and theatrically inventive composers in the history of the American musical.
Kander and Ebb.
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