The "book musical" is a form of musical theater that became the dominant production form during the mid-20th century period that is now considered the "golden age" of the Broadway musical. The "book musical" gained gradual predominance from what were essentially musical revues, basically designed to showcase the work of songwriters, singers, dancers, and spectacular production values, in a series of often unrelated songs. In contrast, the "book musical" is heavily dependent on plot and character, integrates the script with the musical style and major musical themes, often contains as many scenes of spoken dialogue as it does musical numbers, and often seeks to use technical aspects that create an atmosphere of quasi-realism (as much as that remains a viable aspiration for a form where characters by definition spontaneously begin to sing and dance). Most of the quintessential chestnuts revived by high schools across the United States are "book musicals." Many more recent Broadway-style musicals have also been book musicals, but some of the most popular musicals since the early-to-mid-1970s have been "sung-through" musicals, in which virtually all the characters' lines are set to music, even transitional . This format, which more closely approaches the structure of opera, can be seen in such works as Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, and Rent. Jump to: navigation, search The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera refers to an art form particular to Europe, which is made up of a dramatic stage performance set to music. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. ... Les Misérables is an 1862 novel by the famous French novelist Victor Hugo, set in the Parisian underworld. ... Minge. ...

The first successful book musical was 1927's Show Boat, an adaptation of a widely read Edna Ferber novel of the era. Following this example, popular and classic literary works became a fertile source of adaptations by the creators of future book musicals. Jump to: navigation, search Show Boat is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (with the notable exception of Bill, the lyrics of which were written by P. G. Wodehouse). ... Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 - April 16, 1968), Jewish-American novelist, author, and playwrite. ...

Many imitators sprung up in the late 1920s and 1930s, often straying none too far from the musical revue template, with the emphasis on the songs and a flimsy romance or comedy thrown in chiefly to organize the musical numbers into a sequence. Of Thee I Sing (1931), with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Morrie Ryskind, Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1935), Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's The Boys from Syracuse, and Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Knickerbocker Holiday (both 1938) are examples of the trend toward more fully-integrated book musicals. Of Thee I Sing is a musical with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, to a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. ... Jump to: navigation, search George Gershwin photograph by Edward Steichen in 1927. ... George (left) and Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershowitz) (December 6, 1896 - August 17, 1983) American lyricist, collaborator with, and brother of George Gershwin He is interred in the Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. ... Jump to: navigation, search Morrie Ryskind [Morris Ryskind] (20 October 1895 in New York City, New York, USA - 24 August 1985 in Washington), was a Hollywood and Broadway writer, lyricist, and director. ... Jump to: navigation, search Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. ... Anything Goes is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. ... Jump to: navigation, search An autographed photo of Richard Rodgers Richard Rodgers (June 18, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was one of the great composers of musical theater, best known for his song writing partnerships with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. He wrote more than 900 published songs, and forty... Lorenz (Larry) Hart (May 2, 1895 - November 22, 1943) was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. ... The Boys from Syracuse is a musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeares play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott, who also directed. ... Jump to: navigation, search Kurt Weill, a photo taken in Salzburg, Austria, 1934 Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950), born in Dessau, Germany and died in New York, was a German composer active from the 1920s until his death. ... (James) Maxwell Anderson (15 December 1888 - 28 February 1959) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, author, poet, reporter and lyricist, and a founding member of The Playwrights Company (which included, at various times, Maxwell Anderson, S.N. Behrman, Elmer Rice, Robert E. Sherwood, Sidney Howard, Roger L. Stevens, John F... Knickerbocker Holiday was a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson (book and lyrics); it was directed by Joshua Logan. ...

Although these were highly popular and often widely acclaimed shows, the touchstone for the full flowering of the book musical is generally considered to be Oklahoma! (1943), the first in a series of collaborations between composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Future Rodgers and Hammerstein shows were huge successes almost without exception, and pivoted off the template set by Oklahoma!: a regional or historical setting, a wide range of colorful and often complex characters, and structural borrowings from more "high art" forms (such as extended operatic arias or balletic dance sequences). The costumes, technical effects and dance choreography tended to emphatically echo the emotional structure of the story and the milieu the show was set in, rather than eye-popping extravagance for its own sake. (Of course, over time, many book musicals found ways to incorporate old-fashioned spectacle without violating the narrative element, usually through judicious choice of subject matter. See Hello, Dolly, Funny Girl, and 42nd Street. Oklahoma! (1943) was the first musical play written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, working together. ... Jump to: navigation, search An autographed photo of Richard Rodgers Richard Rodgers (June 18, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was one of the great composers of musical theater, best known for his song writing partnerships with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. He wrote more than 900 published songs, and forty... (For work done with Richard Rodgers, see Rodgers and Hammerstein) Oscar Hammerstein II (July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960) was an American born Jewish writer and producer of musical comedies for almost forty years. ... Hello, Dolly! is a Broadway musical with a book by Michael Stewart and a score by Jerry Herman. ... Jump to: navigation, search Funny Girl is a 1964 semi-biographical musical that tells the story of Broadway star Fanny Brice. ... For the film of this name, see 42nd Street (film). ...

In addition to Rodgers and Hammerstein, the leading songwriters for book musicals were capable of becoming brand names in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, with numerous hit shows to their credit. Some of the most prominent of this period include Cole Porter, the team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, Frank Loesser, Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, and Leonard Bernstein. Jump to: navigation, search Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. ... Jump to: navigation, search Alan Jay Lerner was a Jewish-American Broadway lyricist and librettist. ... Frederic Loewe, an Austrian-American composer (June 10, 1901 - February 14, 1988) worked with lyricist Alan J. Lerner in musical theater. ... Frank Loesser (June 29, 1910, New York City - July 26, 1969, New York City) was a composer and lyricist. ... Jule Styne (December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was a British born United States songwriter. ... Jump to: navigation, search Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22, 1930) is an American musical theater lyricist and composer. ... Jump to: navigation, search Jerry Herman (born Gerald Herman on July 10, 1933 in New York City) is an American composer/lyricist of the Broadway musical theater. ... Bernstein with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, at the 1974 Charles Ives Centenary Concert in Danbury, Connecticut. ...

However, gifted librettists, directors and choreographers were also important contributors to many of the form's classics. Perhaps the greatest director and choreographer in Broadway history, Jerome Robbins, was perhaps the key creative force on what are now considered four of the very greatest book musicals: On the Town, West Side Story, Gypsy, and Fiddler on the Roof. Jump to: navigation, search Jerome Robbins (October 11, 1918–July 29, 1998) was an American choreographer whose work has included everything from classical ballet to contemporary musical theater. ... On the Town is a musical that opened on Broadway at the Adelphi Theatre on December 28, 1944, with music by Leonard Bernstein, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, direction by George Abbott, and choreography by Jerome Robbins. ... West Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and was originally produced, choreographed, and directed by Jerome Robbins. ... Jump to: navigation, search A Gypsy (derived from Egyptian) may be: any member of any nomadic people (the term is sometimes considered derogatory), especially: the Roma and Sinti, found worldwide but mainly in Europe; Travellers found mainly in Great Britain, Ireland and the United States; and Luli in Central Asia. ... Fiddler on the Roof Poster 1964 Fiddler on the Roof is one of the great stage and film musicals. ...

Since the end of Broadway's "Golden Age" and the height of the Broadway musical's cultural influence and popularity (a period which suggestively mirrors the WWII-through-Vietnam interval, the era of peak American prosperity and, one might argue, complacency during this century), other artistically and/or commercially successful book musicals have included Oliver!, Follies, Grease, Chicago, A Chorus Line, The Wiz, Pippin, Dreamgirls, Annie, La Cage aux Folles, Ragtime, The Producers and Aida. Oliver! is a British musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. ... Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. ... The word grease can mean:- A type of industrial lubricant: see grease (lubricant). ... Chicago (officially named the City of Chicago) is the third largest city in the United States (after New York City and Los Angeles), with an official population of 2,896,016, as of the 2000 census. ... A Chorus Line is a Broadway musical that opened at the Shubert Theatre July 25, 1975 and closed there April 28, 1990 after 6,137 performances. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Wiz is both a 1975 Broadway musical and a 1978 film urbanized adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, featuring an all-African-American/Latino cast. ... Pippin, often also spelt Pepin, was the name of several important figures in the Carolingian family that ruled the Frankish Empire in what is now France and the western parts of Germany in the Middle Ages: Pippin the Elder Pippin the Middle Pippin the Younger (father of Charlemagne) Pippin the... Dreamgirls is an award-winning Broadway musical, which opened on December 20, 1981 at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway and ran for 1522 performances. ... Annie is a musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie. ... La Cage aux Folles is both a 1978 French film and a 1983 Broadway musical. ... Jump to: navigation, search Ragtime is an American musical genre, enjoying its peak popularity around the years 1900–1918. ... This article is about the 1968 film. ... Aida is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a story by Auguste Mariette. ...