Review by Choice Review
Purdum is a political reporter for Vanity Fair and Politico and author of An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (2014) and A Time of Our Choosing: America's War in Iraq (2003). He changes course here, focusing on the careers of the two most important creators in the Golden Age of Broadway musicals. Although much has been written about Rodgers and Hammerstein, Purdum justifies his new account, introducing new information and elements overlooked previously. In essence, he shows that when the two men joined forces in 1942, they brought something new to the musical stage. However, in the process they became so wealthy that it affected their creativity. Purdum does an excellent job of covering business aspects and acknowledging the contributions of sometimes-neglected artists, for example, composer/arrangers Robert Russell Bennett and Trude Rittmann and set designer Jo Mielziner. And Purdum demonstrates excellent use of primary and secondary sources and provides a good bibliography and a section of excellent photos. This volume joins such glitzier works as Ethan Mordden's Rodgers and Hammerstein (CH, Jan'93, 30-2575). Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Richard D. Johnson, emeritus, SUNY College at Oneonta
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
LAKE SUCCESS, by Gary Shteyngart. (Random House, $18.) Overwhelmed by his young son's autism diagnosis and dodging a subpoena from the S.E.C., this book's antihero leaves behind a job at a Manhattan hedge fund and hops on a Greyhound bus, hoping to reconnect with an ex-girlfriend teaching Holocaust studies in El Paso. Shteyngart's frantic humor keeps the story afloat and gleefully satirizes the upper class. SOMETHING WONDERFUL: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution, by Todd S. Purdum. (Picador, $20.) This book is an authoritative portrait of the duo behind some of our best-loved musicals: "Oklahoma!," "South Pacific," "The King and I" and more. For all their masterpieces, the pair was often seen as stodgy and middlebrow. Purdum, a writer for Vanity Fair, shows how that wasn't at all the case. EARLY WORK, by Andrew Martin. (Picador, $17.) An aimless, struggling young writer is undone by a love affair, but this intelligent debut novel is about more than the calamity of romance: Martin stuffs his narrative with a cast of compelling characters, many of them authors, as they negotiate their desires. Our reviewer, Molly Young, praised the book, calling it "a tidy and perfectly ornamented novel with no unsanded corners or unglossed surfaces." BRING THE WAR HOME: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, by Kathleen Belew. (Harvard University, $16.95.) Belew, a historian at the University of Chicago, traces the beginning of the radical right in America to the Vietnam War. The book makes the argument that the white power movement led to the deadly Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, which Belew sees as a reaction to the war. While much of the book draws on events from the 1970s and 1980s, it has particular resonance today. ALL THE NAMES THEY USED FOR GOD: Stories, by Anjali Sachdeva. (Spiegel & Grau, $17.) In tales that leap across the globe, characters struggle to reconcile their hopes and dreams with their fates. Our reviewer, Julie Orringer, praised the collection, writing, "The brilliance of these stories - beyond the cool, precise artistry of their prose - is their embrace of both the known and the unknown, in a combination that feels truly original." NO ONE TELLS YOU THIS: A Memoir, by Glynnis MacNicol. (Simon & Schuster, $17.) Childless, single and in her 40s, MacNicol had a grim thought - that she had officially become "the wrong answer to the question of what made a woman's life worth living." Her smart memoir celebrates women who forge their own paths, ignoring the cultural scripts they've been handed.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 14, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The songs of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein have provided the background music to many of our lives. Here, readers will learn the stories behind the music and how this most successful of writing duos crafted some of the finest musicals to grace the American stage, including Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, and The Sound of Music. Although the biographies of Rodgers and Hammerstein are naturally threaded throughout, this is much more the story of the music rather than the men. Written chronologically, the book details the evolution of the Broadway musical, from lighter-than-air plots and songs that could be plugged in at will, to more cohesive and deeper offerings like Show Boat and Pal Joey, and, finally, to Rodgers and Hammerstein, who were determined, as Purdum puts it, to broaden and deepen their art. This meant intertwining plot, music, and dance to tell their stories, but also taking on social issues for instance, racial prejudice in South Pacific and cross-cultural conflict in The King and I. Ironically, Purdum also shows how some of these musicals fall short to contemporary ears in just those areas, the treatment of spousal abuse in Carousel being a prime example. The often-distant relationship between Rodgers and Hammerstein means that they don't quite come alive for readers, but the music and the stories of how it came to be certainly does. Something wonderful, indeed.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
No songwriting duo is as ubiquitous in American pop culture as Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, argues Purdum (An Idea Whose Time Has Come) in this thorough biography of the pair that largely focuses on two decades of wild success beginning with Oklahoma! and triumphantly concluding with The Sound of Music. Purdum follows Rodgers and Hammerstein separately through their formative years before their meeting in the early 1940s ushered in a sweeping revolution on Broadway. Though many pages are devoted to somewhat formulaic chronologies of the duo's hallmark productions and also their less-successful ventures, such as Allegro, Purdum sufficiently explores their conflicting personalities, savvy business practices (they established a music publishing company and produced other plays), and sheer innovation, all of which led to the endurance of their work. Despite waning critical acclaim in the twilight years of their partnership, Rodgers and Hammerstein continued to have commercial success (largely fueled by The Sound of Music). Purdum's anecdote-filled account is a sterling primer on the influential duo, both for newcomers to their work and to those looking to rekindle an old flame. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Veteran reporter-writer Purdum (An Idea Whose Time Has Come) shows how composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein were not only a great show-writing team but revolutionary for their time. Between 1943 and 1949, they expanded the boundaries of Broadway musical theater with Oklahoma!, Carousel, and South Pacific, along the way amassing huge fortunes. As a team, they won every award there was, including two Pulitzers, and in 1951, the top shows on Broadway were theirs: South Pacific and The King and I. Hammerstein's multiple drafts of his lyrics let readers see how he molded them as he wrote and rewrote. Purdum presents ample evidence of Rodger's equally meticulous attention to detail. Their essays in social conscience may sound timid today, but they stood out back then, most notably in the song "You've Got To Be Taught To Hate" from South Pacific. Purdum's comments concerning both their personal and musical failures (most notably, 1947's Allegro) are clear, fair, and to the point. VERDICT This lively book will appeal to anyone who loves theater, songwriting, or biography. [See Prepub Alert, 10/4/17.]-David Keymer, Cleveland © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
From an incomparable partnership, musical theater rang out with ebullience, lyricism, and soaring melodies.Composer Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) had worked with the lyricist Lorenz Hart before teaming up with Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960) in 1942; Hammerstein already had decades of experience in theater, beginning in 1915 when he joined a university troupe as a writer and performer. As Politico senior writer Purdum (An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 2014) amply shows in his joyous, brisk, and gossipy dual biography, their partnership brought out the best in both men: from Hammerstein, lyrics of "shimmering loveliness." His lyrics, Julie Andrews remarked with admiration, were "rich, brilliantly constructed and so very specific to the worlds they created together," scored by Rodgers' "melodically glorious" music. They worked independently but with uncanny synergy: Hammerstein wrote the words first, sending them to Rodgers, who composed with incredible speed. Once asked how long it took him to compose the entire score of Oklahoma!, he estimated "about five hours." Purdum calls their creativity "alchemy," which aptly describes the magic that resulted in some of the most iconic Broadway shows of the mid-20th century, including Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. The author traces the chronology of each showeven the lesser-known productions and the flopsfrom lighting upon an idea through developing a storyline, writing music, finding a director, hiring a cast (many young singers rose to stardom in the duo's musicals), and assembling a team. Although they closely managed their productions, they depended on other talented participants, notably orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett; choreographers Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins; vocal arranger Trude Rittmann; and scenic designer Jo Mielziner. Aside from work, Rodgers and Hammerstein were not confidants, although they signed their correspondence "love." Yet they revealed depths of emotion in music, as one friend put it, that "parses the grammar of the heart."An exuberant celebration of musical genius. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
