"A revered and provocative theater observer presents a grand history of the producers, directors, actors, and critics battling for creative and financial control of Broadway"--Front jacket flap. In the mid-1970s, Times Square was a moribund symbol of New York's economic decline. Dilapidated theaters abutted sex shops. Nervous theatergoers had to dart past drug dealers and hustlers. Broadway, once a defining source of American music and art, was becoming...

Showtime brings the history of Broadway musicals to life in a narrative as engaging as the subject itself--beginning with the scandalous Astor Place Opera House riot of 1849 to such groundbreaking works as Company and Rent.