Jukebox Musicals

What was Broadway's first Jukebox Musical?

What does 42nd Street have in common with Moulin Rouge! and Mamma Mia! ?

Will Broadway ever fall out of love with the Jukebox Musical form?

Essential Musicals: Jukebox Musicals defines what is meant by this much over-used term whilst taking care to draw a distinction between it and a revue. Taking a historical, survey approach it looks at when these shows first appeared on Broadway and how they become a dominant genre, offering a critical approach as to how something that used to be an anomaly is now the norm.

Through a chronological look at 10 case studies this book asks questions related to rising production costs through to audience appeal behind bringing well-known catalogs of music to the stage. It ponders the question: is there a shortage of original music being written for the musical genre or is there something else at play? Examining the origins, development and reception for each of these shows it offers an academic discussion of the most divisive sub-genres of the musical form.

Published in Methuen Drama's Essential Musicals series, this book is perfect for students of Musical Theatre, drawing together different resources to dig into the backstories of Broadway’s biggest hits and mining the historical record for nuggets of information that illuminate our understanding and enhance our enjoyment of musical theatre’s unique brand of magic.