Read Enchanted Evenings:The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber for Free Online Page A

artistic integrity.
    Acute manifestations of the latter conflict have been attributed to the careers of Gershwin, Rodgers, Weill, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, and Sondheim. The former issue is embodied in (but by no means confined to) the differences between the Rodgers and Hart and the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows; the career of Porter, who, after a string of hits (and then some flops) in musicals modeled after
Anything Goes
, responded in
Kiss Me, Kate
to the “anxiety of influence” generated by Rodgers and Hammerstein; and the controversial but frequently alleged schism between the European and the American musicals of Weill. 7 At the risk of giving away the plot, the view espoused here is that the song and dance musical comedies that prevailed in the 1920s and ’30s and the integrated musicals that became more influential in the 1940s and ’50s both allow a meaningful dramatic relationship between songs and their shows. A subtext of the ensuing discussion is that selling tickets does not necessarily mean selling out artistic integrity.
    In each chapter readers will hear again from opening-night theater (and occasionally music) critics. These critics were usually the first to offer prophetic pontifications for Broadway audiences eager to discover whether or not they should feel smug or inadequate in their appreciation or rejection of a show. The critics (again, mostly theater critics) can be reviled but they cannot be ignored, especially since, despite their lack of specialized musical training, they have consistently demonstrated remarkable precognition (or inspired self-fulfilling prophecies) regarding the critical as well as the popular fate of Broadway shows. Although they must produce their work under enormous pressure and seemingly against all odds, receiving little sympathy in the process, opening-night critics frequently call attention to issues that will reappear to haunt a show. Such early perceived problems and issues as
Show Boat
’s second act or the jarring stylistic heterogeneity of
Porgy and Bess
or
The Most Happy Fella
do not go away but remain to be reassessed and reinterpreted by future generations.
    The degree to which the stage works we love should be performed in authentic versions—to the often questionable extent this is possible—has been a source of debate in America for more than two centuries. Writing about nineteenth-century American approaches to European opera, Richard Crawford defines accessibility as “the tailoring of the music to suit particular audiences and circumstances” and authenticity “as an ideal countering the marketplace’s devotion to accessibility.” 8 According to Crawford, accessibility “privileges occasions over works” and “
invests ultimate authority in the present-day audiences
.” “Authenticity privileges works over occasions” and “
invests ultimate authority in works and the traditions within which they are composed
.” The desirability of—or resistance to—establishing an authentic musical and literary text for a show and the struggle between authenticity and accessibility will loom as a major issue in several chapters of this survey, in particular those on
Show Boat, Anything Goes, On Your Toes, Porgy and Bess
, and the James Goldman-Stephen Sondheim-Hal Prince-Michael Bennett
Follies
. 9 Kern and Hammerstein, the principal creators of
Show Boat
, themselves produced a second “authentic” version that would be more “accessible” to audiences desiring the newer Rodgers and Hammerstein model.
Anything Goes
revivals in 1962 and 1987 would be equipped with a new book and many songs interpolated from other Porter shows. The 1983
On Your Toes
would match a new book with the original score (albeit somewhat rearranged).
    The original “operatic” sung form (emphasizing authenticity) of
Porgy and Bess
has clearly prevailed in recent years over its “Broadway” form with spoken dialogue (emphasizing accessibility). Nevertheless,