1895-1960

Features analysis of the plays most frequently studied in literature classes. Entries include: introduction providing overview of play; brief biography of playwright; plot summary; discussion of play's principal themes; essays on play's construction; and excerpted critical commentary.

"Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but together they pioneered a new art form: the serious musical play. Their songs and dance numbers served to advance the drama and reveal character, a sharp break from the past and the template on which all future musicals would be built"--Amazon.

Contains nearly five hundred alphabetically arranged entries that provide information on the careers of musical collaborators Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, covering people, productions, playhouses, organizations, and other topics, with descriptions of 231 major songs by the duo, as well as discussion of Rodgers' partnerships before and after Hammerstein.

Comprehensive book on musical collaborators Rogers and Hammerstein tracing all their efforts including lesser known shows.

An electrifying story of the sensational murder trial that divided a city and ignited the civil rights struggle In 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz and speakeasies, assembly lines and fistfights. The advent of automobiles had brought workers from around the globe to compete for manufacturing jobs, and tensions often flared with the KKK in ascendance and violence rising. Ossian Sweet, a proud Negro doctor-grandson of a slave-had made the long climb from the ghetto to a home of his own in a previously all-white neighborhood. Yet just after his arrival, a mob gathered outside his house; suddenly, shots rang out: Sweet, or one of his defenders, had accidentally killed one of the whites threatening their lives and homes.

Comprehensive book on musical collaborators Rogers and Hammerstein tracing all their efforts including lesser known shows.

Chronicles the trial in 1925 of Dr. Ossian Sweet who moved his family into an all-white neighborhood in Detroit and was subsequently arrested and tried along with his wife and other African Americans for the murder of Leon Breiner, a former coal miner who lived near Sweet's house.