Bringing together exclusive and previously unpublished interviews with nineteen leading composers, lyricists, librettists, directors, choreographers, and producers from the mid-1900s to the present, this book details the careers of the individuals who shaped this popular performance art during its most prolific period. The interviewees discuss their roles in productions ranging from On the Town (1944) and Finian's Rainbow (1947) to The Producers (2001) and Bounce (2003).

Readers are taken onto the stage, into the rehearsals, and behind the scenes. The nuts and bolts, the alchemy, and the occasional agonies of the collaborative process are all explored. In their discussions, the artists detail their engagements with other creative forces, including such major talents as Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Jule Styne, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Alan Jay Lerner, Zero Mostel, and Gwen Verdon. They speak candidly about their own work and that of their peers, their successes and failures, the creative process, and how a show progresses from its conception through rehearsals and tryouts to opening night.

Taken together, these interviews give fresh insight into what Oscar Hammerstein called "a nightly miracle"-the creation of the American musical.

Jackson R. Bryer is a professor of English at the University of Maryland. He is the editor of The Playwright's Art and coeditor of The Actor's Art. Richard A. Davison is a professor of English at the University of Delaware. He is the coeditor of The Actor's Art and has published books on Frank, Charles, and Kathleen Norris and numerous articles in major literary journals.

Interviewees include

• Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Once on This Island and Ragtime)
• Jason Robert Brown (Parade and The Last Five Years)
• Betty Comden and Adolph Green (On the Town, Bells Are Ringing, The Will Rogers Follies)
• Sheldon Harnick (Fiorello!, She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof)
• John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman)
• Burton Lane (Finian's Rainbow and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever)
• Arthur Laurents (West Side Story, Gypsy, Hallelujah, Baby!)
• Hal Prince (The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum)
• Kathleen Marshall (Kiss Me Kate and Wonderful Town)
• Stephen Sondheim (Company, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George)
• Susan Stroman (Crazy for You, Contact, The Producers)
• Charles Strouse (Bye Bye Birdie and Annie)
• Tommy Tune (The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Nine, Me and My Girl)
• John Weidman (Pacific Overtures and Assassins)
• George C. Wolfe (Jelly's Last Jam, Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, Harlem Song).