-Hischak follows his superb Stage It with Music: An Encyclopedic Guide to the American Musical Theatre with this excellent guide that ventures to explain the context of some 1,800 songs representing all major shows, genres, authors, and eras of the American stage. What separates this work from earlier useful editions, is the quality of each individual entry, which not only puts each song in context but also verifies the original performer (most of the time), provides a brief recording history (including noncast album covers), and explains the song's uniqueness in theater history. For its breadth, scope, and pure readability, this volume is highly recommended for all theater collections, large or small. —Choice

-An invaluable reference book that answers all the questions of the American musical theatre. The author has painstakingly assembled numerous highlights of hundreds of songs that can only whet your appetite. Theatre lovers beware! Besides being an enjoyable read, the book will become very useful as a reference guide to some of the great and not so great Broadway musicals of all time. Thoroughly indexed by song title, show, writer and performers. —RPM