A TANNER’S WORTH OF TUNE
This is the first book to be written on the post-war British musical, and the first major assessment of the British musical for a quarter of a century, reviving interest in a vast archive of works that have been dismissed to the footnotes of history. This timely reappraisal of the genre and its social background, before the ‘international’ British musicals began appearing in the 1970s, argues for a radical understanding of the shows and their writers, and a rethinking of our attitude towards them.
The musical plays of Ivor Novello and Noel Coward - both pre- and post-war - are discussed in detail, as are the two composers who came to dominate the 1950s, Sandy Wilson and Julian Slade. The book brings together ‘adopted’ British musicals, discusses the rise and fall of the British ‘verismo’ and the biomusical, whether of Dr Crippen or the Rector of Stiffkey, finally charting the collapse of nationalism in the 1960s as witnessed by John Osborne and Lionel Bart.
The book draws on Adrian Wright’s lifelong passion for British theatre music, its writers, composers, performers and craftsmen. Provocative, idiosyncratic and unfailingly entertaining, A Tanner’s Worth of Tune makes a compelling plea for a rediscovery of an era of pleasures which have too long been forgotten.
REVIEWS
An invaluable book about the post-war British musical Wright has a well-rounded knowledge of the shows of this period. He covers hundreds of musicals from roughly 1945-1972, sharing information and insights with us in an entertaining manner.
PLAYBILL.COM
An absolute delight of a read. It is the first book to be published on this subject. The quality of the writing is superb as are the photographs and illustrations throughout, but as a reference book for that genre, it has no rival.
MUSICAL STAGES
An instant must-have for any lover - or indeed student - of musical theatre.
THE STAGE
