American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama: 1869-1914 - Hardcover

Bordman, Gerald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195037642 ISBN 13: 9780195037647

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1994

Synopsis

This three-volume work will accomplish for the American non-musical theatre what Bordman's American Musical Theatre did for our song-and-dance entertainments: it chronicles, in order by opening, every Broadway comedy and drama, show by show, season by season, offering a plot synopsis, principal players, and important statistics. Scenery and costumes are described where they might be of interest, and comments of the plays' contemporary critics are quoted. In many instances, extended excerpts from the play are included to give the reader a fuller understanding of its nuances and its period dialogue. Also included, and worked chronologically into the text, are details about cheap-priced, cliff-hanging melodramas, such as Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl and His Sister's Shame, which were among America's most popular diversions in theatres catering to blue-collar playgoers until silent films drew away their audiences. Examples of shows produced and designed for other than New York are included.
This volume deals with the great expansion of American theatre after the Civil War, the careers of such prominent actors and actresses as Edwin Booth, Mrs. Fiske, the Drew and Barrymore families, the first important American playwrights like Clyde Fitch, producers like David Belasco, and the influence of foreign plays and players. This stage history, besides giving a sense of each production, touches on the literary worth of the plays, provides brief biographies of major figures, and sets all of this against the economic and social backgrounds of the time. Readers will close the book feeling they, like their parents and grandparents, have sat through performances of these shows of another era.

About this title

About the Author:

Gerald Bordman is the author of many books, including American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Jerome Kern: His Life and Music, and Days to be Happy, Years to be Sad: The Life and Music of Vincent Youmans.

From Booklist:

The first in a projected three-volume work, this book documents American theater during the period following the Civil War until 1914. Other volumes will survey the colonial to pre-Civil War era and the period from mid-1914 on. Bordman is an authority on American theater, having previously edited The Oxford Companion to the American Theatre (2d ed., 1992) and American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, 2d ed. [RBB Jl 92], among other works.

The present volume presents a year-by-year description of American comedy and drama, primarily from "first class" New York houses. Bordman admits in his preface that this concentration is "distressingly unfair," since many of the more intriguing plays produced during the period were confined to cheaper priced theaters. However, the plays produced for elite audiences are more accessible in manuscript form or through contemporary reviews. Bordman does, however, include some of the melodramas and comedies that became enormously popular, such as Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl, which, in one form or another, was a hit for 40 years. Lesser houses offered plays dealing with contemporary American issues, while foreign drama dominated the first-class houses for much of the period.

The book is arranged by year. Bordman begins his examination of each year with a brief introduction surveying major developments and trends and then goes on to discuss, in order of their opening, the major plays. His discussion is interspersed with brief biographies of important people, such as writers, players, and theater managers. Unlike The Oxford Companion to the American Theatre, which has a dictionary arrangement, American Theatre: A Chronicle is essentially a narrative. This arrangement has some drawbacks in terms of access, since information is embedded in the narrative. The indexes to plays and to people are vital. It might have been helpful if Bordman had prefaced each section with a list of the major plays and personalities that are discussed. However, the arrangement has a distinct advantage in putting theater into a historical and cultural context and showing interrelationships between plays, writers, actors, managers, producers, and so on. In addition, Bordman's own style, his vast knowledge of the subject, and the many interesting facts and asides he includes in the narrative help provide a real taste of what theater was like during the time.

The index of plays has a subsection that lists sources, such as short stories or novels, for many of the plays. The index of people lists playwrights, writers whose work provided source material, producers, directors, and designers. Performers appear in the index only if they are mentioned on six or more pages. In addition, there is an appendix that provides brief information about the major theaters.

Bordman's useful approach in American Theatre: A Chronicle provides a historical survey similar to that offered by the many volumes of Best Plays Theater Yearbook, begun early in the century and now published by Applause Books. American Theatre is highly recommended as a complement to The Oxford Companion to the American Theatre for larger public and academic libraries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0195037642
• ISBN 13: 9780195037647
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 808