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by Ethan Mordden
A fascinating look at the gay and lesbian influence on the American stage by an internationally-recognized authority on the topic.
From the genteel female impersonators of the 1910s to the raucous drag queens of La Cage Aux Folles, from the men of The Normal Heart to the women of Fun Home, and from Eva Le Gallienne and Tallulah Bankhead to Tennessee Williams and Nathan Lane, Gays On Broadway deftly chronicles the plays and people that brought gay culture to Broadway.
Writing with his customary verve and wit, author Ethan Mordden follows the steady liberation of gay themes on the American stage. The story begins in the early twentieth century, when gay characters were virtually banned from productions. The 1920s saw a flurry of plays closed on moral grounds as well as the Wales Padlock Act, which forbade representation of "sex degeneracy". While authorities made consistent attempts to shutter the movement, the public remained curious, and after a few decades of war making, a truce broke out when The Boys In the Band became a national smash hit. From this point on, gay theatre proved simply too popular to abolish.
With this change, theatre was graced with a host of unforgettable characters - from thrill killers to historical figures to drag performers, as well as professional gays (such as the defiantly effeminate window dresser in Kiss of the Spider Woman), closeted gays, and those run-of-the-mill citizens who don't reside entirely within the colorful nonconformist identity (such as the two male lovers in the dinner-theatre comedy Norman, Is That You?).
Spoken plays and musicals, playwrights, directors, and actors all played their part in popularizing the gay movement through art. Gays on Broadway is an essential chronological review of the long journey to bring the culture of gay men and women onto the American stage.
"Despite its brevity, Mordden's book is filled with hilariously quippy biographical information...and contributes uniquely detailed backstage stories from celebrated productions that have continued to shape American theater...Gay historians and theater buffs of any persuasion will appreciate this terrific, condensed 100-year retrospective. A lively, highly knowledgeable report on queer culture's significant contributions to Broadway." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[E]xcellent...Mordden's knowledge and research are impeccable, and his lively, conversational tone draws readers in for more. Mordden's book is authoritative proof that the legacy of American theater is eternally indebted to gay culture." —Library Journal (starred review)
"[Mordden's] semi-stream-of-consciousness style and catty tone too often distract—he describes Truman Capote as possessing the 'attitude of a malicious petit four' and pedantically corrects popular pronunciations of Madame Butterfly—and while Stonewall is referenced, the history is largely isolated from broader trends in culture and media. Queer theater fans will be piqued, though Mordden's style is a love-it or leave-it proposition." —Publishers Weekly
This information about Gays on Broadway was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ethan Mordden is a recognized expert on American musical theatre and the author of When Broadway Went to Hollywood, Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theatre, Beautiful Mornin, Coming Up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s and Sondheim: An Opinionated Guide, all published by Oxford University Press. His writing has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and The New Yorker. His numerous books include friendly introductions to opera and film, as well as five collections of short stories chronicling gay life in New York City. He lives in Manhattan.
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