Musical Theatre: A History is a new revised edition of a proven core text for college and secondary school students – and an insightful and accessible celebration of twenty-five centuries of great theatrical entertainment.

As an educator with extensive experience in professional theatre production, author John Kenrick approaches the subject with a unique appreciation of musicals as both an art form and a business. Using anecdotes, biographical profiles, clear definitions, sample scenes and select illustrations, Kenrick focuses on landmark musicals, and on the extraordinary talents and business innovators who have helped musical theatre evolve from its roots in the dramas of ancient Athens all the way to the latest hits on Broadway and London's West End.

Key improvements to the second edition:
· A new foreword by Oscar Hammerstein III, a critically acclaimed historian and member of a family with deep ties to the musical theatre, is included
· The 28 chapters are reformatted for the typical 14 week, 28 session academic course, as well as for a two semester, once-weekly format, making it easy for educators to plan a syllabus and reading assignments.
· To make the book more interactive, each chapter includes suggested listening and reading lists, designed to help readers step beyond the printed page to experience great musicals and performers for themselves.

A comprehensive guide to musical theatre as an international phenomenon, Musical Theatre: A History is an ideal textbook for university and secondary school students.

Foreword by Oscar Hammerstein III (Author of The Hammersteins)
Introduction: “Let's Start at the Very Beginning”
Chapter 1: Ancient Times to 1800 – “Playgoers, I Bid You Welcome!” Chapter Two: Continental Operetta (1840 – 1900) – “Typical of France”
Chapter 3: Music Halls and Minstrel Shows: When Ribaldry and Racism Sang and Danced
Chapter 3: “The Music of Something Beginning” – American Explorations (1624-1890)
Chapter 5: Object All Sublime - Gilbert & Sullivan (1880-1900)
Chapter 6: Vaudeville and Burlesque - From Small Time to Big Time
Chapter 7: The Merry Widow - Refusing to Say “I Love You”
Chapter 10 – A New Century: Herbert, Cohan & Berlin (1900-1913)
Chapter 9: Florenz Ziegfeld – The Follies and Beyond
Chapter 12: Jerome Kern and American Ascendance (1914-1919) 0>
Chapter 11: Career in Profile – Al Jolson
Chapter 12: The 1920s - Part I
Chapter 12: The 1920s Part II
Chapter 14: Depression Era Miracles (1930-1939)
Chapter 10: Rodgers & Hammerstein – A New Beginning (1940-1960)
Chapter 17 – After Oklahoma (post-1943) 1
Chapter 17: Anatomy of a Hit – My Fair Lady (1956)
Chapter 18: Career in Profile – Ethel Merman
Chapter 19: Abbott, Robbins & Fosse (1950-1963)
Chapter 20: More Golden Age Musicals - (1950s-1960s)
Chapter 21: The 1960s – “The Parade Passes By”
Chapter 22: 1970s Part I - Sondheim & Prince
Chapter 12: The 1970s – “You Gotta Hang on till Tomorrow” (1970-1979)
Chapter 24: The 1980s – “And the Wind Begins to Moan”
Chapter 25: The 1990s - “The American Dream”
Chapter 26: The 2000s – “Where Did We Go Right?”
Chapter 27: The 2010s - Tourists Reign Supreme
Chapter 28: The Future
Glossary
Annotated Bibliography