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This book tells the full story of Jerry Herman's life and career, from his early work in cabaret to his recent compositions for stage, screen, and television. It draws on extensive open-ended interviews with Jerry Herman as well as with scores of his theatrical colleagues, collaborators, and close friends. The resulting book—which sheds new light on each of his musicals and their scores—abounds in anecdotes and behind-the-scenes details about the world of musical theater. Readers will find a sharply drawn portrait of Herman's private life and his creative talents. The author's insights into Herman's music and lyrics, including voluminous examples from each of his musicals, are as instructive as they are edifying and entertaining.

Oklahoma! premiered on Broadway in 1943 under the auspices of the Theatre Guild, and is today performed more frequently than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. This book offers a fully documented history of the making of this celebrated American musical, drawing on research from rare theater archives, manuscripts, journalism, and other sources to record every step in its development. It is filled with details about how Rodgers and Hammerstein first came together, the casting process, how Agnes de Mille became the show's choreographer, and the drafts and revisions that ultimately gave the musical its final shape. The author shows the lofty aspirations of both the creators and producers, and the mythmaking that surrounded Oklahoma! from its very inception, demonstrating just what made it part of its times.

Francis Poulenc is a key figure in twentieth-century classical music, as well as an unorthodox and striking individual. This book draws upon Poulenc's music and other primary sources to write an authoritative life of this great artist. Although associated with five other French composers in what came to be called “Les Six,” Poulenc was very much sui generis in personality and in his music, where he excelled over a wide repertoire-opera, songs, ballet scores, chamber works, piano pieces, sacred and secular choral works, orchestral works and concertos. This book fully covers this wide range, while also describing the vicissitudes of Poulenc's life and the many important relationships he had with major figures such as Satie, Ravel, Stravinsky, Diaghilev, Cocteau and others.