tings, Tony Straiges. Movement, Randolyn Zinn. Orchestration,
Michael Starobin. Libretto published by Dodd, Mead, 1986.
Sweeney Todd. 1979. Music and lyrics, Stephen Sondheim. Book,
Hugh Wheeler. Direction, Harold Prince. Choreography, Larry
Fuller. Settings, Eugene Lee. Orchestration, Jonathan Tunick.
Libretto published by Applause Books, 1991.
West Side Story. 1957. Music, Leonard Bernstein. Book, Arthur Lau-
rents. Lyrics, Stephen Sondheim. Direction and choreography,
Jerome Robbins. Settings, Oliver Smith. Orchestration, Leonard
Bernstein and Sid Ramin. Libretto published in Ten Great Musi-
cals of the American Theatre, ed. Stanley Richards (Radnor, PA:
Chiltern Books, 1973).Acknowledgments
Scores of people have helped me in this work and influenced
the outcome. I would like to single out those who contributed
something specific that I could name even if they could not. I
have included some people who worked with me on musicals
or who accompanied me on countless trips to the theatre and
told me what was wrong, or sometimes right, with my reac-
tions. On the latter score, as on many others, the champion is
my wife, Sally, who keeps me going in every way.
The others I list in alphabetical order, with great apprecia-
tion: Allison Bailey, Ron Barclay, David Carey, Marvin Carl-
son, Cynthia Chase, Lenore Coral, Jonathan Culler, Sandor
Goodhart, Tom Herson, Louise and Neil Hertz, Judith Holli-
day, Kit and Rob Hume, Dan Jerrold, Justin Leader, William
Losa, Genevieve Love, Marianne Marsh, Andrew McMillin,
Judith Milhaus, Adam Perl, Amanda Perl, Harry Shaw, Tiffany
Stern, and Tamsen Wolff.
My editor at Princeton University Press, Fred Appel, has
supported this book from the beginning, and the anonymous
readers he found to review the manuscript have been helpful
on matters large and small. Many members of the Press staff
have helped to move this book along, and I am grateful for their
PREFACE xv