On Broadway: Art and Commerce on the Great White Way. By Steven Adler. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004; pp. 250. $27 paper; $55 cloth; Our Musicals, Ourselves: A Social History of the American Musical Theatre. By John Bush Jones. Brandeis University Press, Waltham, MA (Lebanon, NH: UPNE), 2003; pp. 383. $29.95 cloth.

Extract

While few would argue that commercial theatre on Broadway today is the artistic heart of the American theatre, fascination with Broadway and its productions has not diminished, as witnessed by Steven Adler's thorough and thought-provoking study of contemporary producing, On Broadway: Art and Commerce on the Great White Way. Having interviewed sixty-six professionals in the field over a period of five years, Adler is able to cover his subject from many angles as he allows each person to offer opinions on everything from the corporate involvement in Broadway to the absence of scenes from nonmusicals on the annual Tony Awards broadcast.