Rise Up!: Broadway and American Society from 'Angels in America to Hamilton

New
Paperback
2018
$27.75

Penned by one of America's best-known daily theatre critics and organized chronologically, this lively and readable book tells the story of Broadway's renaissance from the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, via the disaster that was Spiderman: Turn off the Dark through the unparalleled financial, artistic and political success of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. It is the story of the embrace of risk and substance. In so doing, Chris Jones makes the point that the theatre thrived by finally figuring out how to embrace the bold statement and insert itself into the national conversation - only to find out in 2016 that a hefty sector of the American public had not been listening to what it had to say. Chris Jones was in the theatres when and where it mattered. He takes readers from the moment when Tony Kushner's angel crashed (quite literally) through the ceiling of prejudice and religious intolerance to the triumph of Hamilton, with the coda of the Broadway cast addressing a new Republican vice-president from the stage. That complex performance - at once indicative of the theatre's new clout and its inability to fully change American society for the better - is the final scene of the book.

Synopsis

Penned by one of America's best-known daily theatre critics and organized chronologically, this lively and readable book tells the story of Broadway's renaissance from the darkest days of the AIDS crisis, via the disaster that was Spiderman: Turn off the Dark through the unparalleled financial, artistic and political success of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. It is the story of the embrace of risk and substance. In so doing, Chris Jones makes the point that the theatre thrived by finally figuring out how to embrace the bold statement and insert itself into the national conversation - only to find out in 2016 that a hefty sector of the American public had not been listening to what it had to say. Chris Jones was in the theatres when and where it mattered. He takes readers from the moment when Tony Kushner's angel crashed (quite literally) through the ceiling of prejudice and religious intolerance to the triumph of Hamilton, with the coda of the Broadway cast addressing a new Republican vice-president from the stage. That complex performance - at once indicative of the theatre's new clout and its inability to fully change American society for the better - is the final scene of the book.

$27.75

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 240
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Published: 15 Nov 2018
ISBN 10: 1350071935
ISBN 13: 9781350071933
Book Overview: A narrative-based, first-hand, critical history of the Broadway theatre from Angels in America (1992) to Hamilton (2015)

Media Reviews

Some critics get it right, some critics get it wrong, but Chris Jones is one of the only critics who consistently reviews all shows trying to be helpful to its creators so they can put right what is wrong. Chris brings his formidable analytical skills to examining the theatrical tissue and political discourse that has led to the spectacular rebirth of the American play and musical on Broadway. A hugely informative resume of the rise up over the last 25 years of the American theatre from Angels in America to Hamilton . It puts you into the room as it happened. * Cameron Mackintosh, theatrical producer *
A vivid compelling read that will form an important part of any Broadway-lover's bookshelf * Matt Wolf, theatre critic *

Author Bio

Chris Jones has been the chief theater critic and Sunday culture columnist of the Chicago Tribune since 2002 and he is author of Bigger, Brighter, Louder: 150 Years of Chicago Theater (2013). His work has appeared often in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, American Theater and many other publications. In 2014, he became the director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Critics Institute in Waterford, Connecticut. In 2001, Jones was named by American Theater magazine as one of the most influential theater critics in America. In 2015, he was the winner of Cornell University's George W. Nathan Award, the most prestigious honour for drama critics in the United States.