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Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway
by Frederick Nolan
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| Book
Details |
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Hardcover: 390 pages ; Dimensions (in
inches): 1.25 x 9.50 x 6.50
Paperback: 420 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.09 x 9.17 x 6.10
Publisher: Oxford University Press; (December 1994)
ISBN: 0195068378 (hardcover) 0195102894 (paperback)
(hardcover)
(paperback)
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| Table
of contents |
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- Max and Frida
- Love at First Sight
- A Lonely Romeo A Couple of College Kids
- Doldrums
- The Blond Beast
- Campfire Days
- The Brief Career of Herbert Richard Lorenz
- Guilding the Guild
- Crest of a Wave
- More Gaieties
- The Great Ziegfeld
- "One Dam Think After Another"
- A Great Big Beautiful Hit
- A Willing Ham of Dillingham
- Oscar Hammerstein Was Right
- Makes of Melody
- Wall Street Lays an Egg
- Ten Cents a Dance
- Hard times on Broadway
- Hollywood Bound
- A Jolson Story
- Goldwin's Folly
- Night Madness
- Yesterday's Man
- Billy Rose's Jumbo
- "The Saddest Men I Never Knew"
- Twice in a Lifetime
- "The biggest Opening Since The Grand Canyon"
- A Special After-dark Existence
- Musical Comedy Meets his Masters
- "If it's good Enough for Shakespeare.."
- The French have a world for It
- Bother And Bewildered
- I Could Have been A Genius
- Nobody's Heart
- To Keep My Love Alive
- What Have I Lived for?
(hardcover)
(paperback)
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| Reviews |
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A breezy and frank, yet exhaustively
researched biography of Broadway's "Laureate of Lyrics," who,
with Richard Rodgers, authored the hit musicals Pal Joey and On Your Toes,
as well as a host of classic popular songs including "My
Funny Valentine," "The Lady is a Tramp,"
and many others. When the 24-year-old Hart met the 16-year-old Rodgers,
some said it was, for Hart, "love at first sight," though Rodgers
claimed never to be aware of what Nolan calls Hart's "sexual ambivalence."
From their big splash in 1925 with the hit song "Manhattan,"
through the innovative Pal Joey (1940) and their
sort-of falling out in 1942 (which resulted in Rodgers teaming with Oscar
Hammerstein to do Oklahoma!), the two set the standard for musical comedy
on Broadway and in Hollywood. If Hart's homosexuality was, as Nolan claims,
his "personal tragedy," drink and the high life were the means
to his early death at 47 in 1943. Nolan's account of Hart's life provides
a wonderful look at Broadway's Golden Age, and a quite readable, informal
peak backstage. Unfortunately, his failure to secure permission to use Hart's
lyrics leaves a hole in an otherwise fine effort.
Ron Antonucci - From Booklist
This revealing biography explores the life of one of Broadway's all-time
greats, the brilliant lyricist who penned My
Funny Valentine, Blue Moon and many other
classics. As half of the legendary "Rodgers and Hart", Lorenz Hart lived
a life of dizzying heights and crushing lows. Frederick Nolan captures them
all in this intimate look at the lyrical genius.
Ingram
Lorenz Hart singlehandedly changed the craft of lyric writing, transforming
the commerical song lyric from one of tired clichés and cloying sentimentality
to one with unexpected phrases that would twang the nerves or touch the
heart. Endowed with both a buoyant wit and a tender sincerity, Hart brought
a poetic complexity to his art penning such memorable hits as My Funny Valentine,
Isn't It Romantic?, The Lady is a Tramp, and Blue Moon. Lorenz Hart: A Poet
on Broadway presents the public triumphs of a true genius of the American
musical theatre, and the personal tragedies of a man his friend Mabel Mercer
described as "the saddest man I ever knew." A veritable who's who of Broadway's
golden age, including Joshua Logan, Gene Kelly, George Abbott, and many
more, recall their uncensored, often hilarious, sometimes poignant memories
of the cigar-chomping wordsmith who composed some of the best lyrics ever
concocted for the Broadway stage, but who remained forever lost and lonely
in the crowds of hangers-on he attracted.
Skillfully pulling together the chaotic details of Hart's remarkable life,
beginning with his bohemian upbringing in turn-of-the-century Harlem, through
his early success with Richard Rodgers, and life in Hollywood in the Thirties.
He goes on to look at Hart's final decade as one of the undisputed kings
of Broadway while simultaneously his personal life disintegrated into a
madness of alcohol and self-loathing. This rich work captures the excitement,
the achievement, the dizzying heights, and the crushing lows of and American
original.
"Exhilarating and moving."--John Kander, composer
of Cabaret and The Kiss of the Spider Woman
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