"The American Musical: History & Development traces the origins of music theatre from its 18th century European roots through its transformation in 19th century America, and its relation to American popular forms of entertainment as the minstrel show, burlesque and the revue. The flowering of the true musical comedy is documented, as represented by the Princess Musicals of Jerome Kern and P. G. Wodehouse, which then gave birth to the first enduring masterpiece of American music drama, Kern and Hammersteins's Show Boat." "Music Theatre of the 1930s charted new courses of realism and satire in the hands of Cole Porter, the Gershwin Brothers, Rodgers and Hart. Then in 1943, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II revolutionized the form with the innovations of Oklahoma." "The book includes sections on Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber and the development of music theatre through the sixties and beyond."--BOOK JACKET.