The Complete Book of 2000s Broadway Musicals [Hardcover]

The seventh and most recent in a series of 'Complete Books of Broadway Musicals,' which started with the 1940s, this volume is comprehensive in coverage, including summaries and information such as each show's personnel, dates, number of performances, known changes, other productions, etc. In these respects, and with the book's organization, series author Deitz (emeritus, composition, world literature, & modern drama, Western Carolina Univ.) succeeds.... Incorporating quotes from the major reviews of the time is both warranted and valuable.... Verdict...[T]heater buffs with eagerly read this volume cover to cover.... [O]wing to the well-organized information and amount of detail, this offering merits addition to theater collections.The latest in Dietzs excellent series covers the 213 musicals that opened on (or were set to open on) Broadway between 2000 and 2009, from the familiar (Avenue Q, Spamalot) to the obscure (Casper, which didnt make it out of the preview tour). The technical details for each production include opening and closing dates; number of performances; names of the writers, composers, directors, and casts; and a brief description. This is followed by a full listing of the musical numbers and a narrative (ranging from one to three pages) about the show. There are eight appendixes, including a chronology by season; a chronology by classification; and a list of shows by theater. Recommended for medium-sized and large public library reference collections as well as academic libraries supporting performing-arts programs.The 2000s brought in a spate of tongue-in-cheek musicals such as Urinetown and The Drowsy Chaperone that make fun of Broadway conventions and perhaps signal the passing of an era compared to the family-friendly shows of the 1990s. Dietz continues his detailed encyclopedic series of Broadway historieshe has already covered 1940 through 1999with this volume, which largely chronicles the lack of quality in new scores and book musicallÄ