Complete Book of 2010s Broadway Musicals

Dan Dietz was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the University of Virginia, and the subject of his graduate thesis was the poetry of Hart Crane. He taught graduate and undergraduate courses in composition, world literature, and the history of modern drama at Western Carolina University, and later served with the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Education Department. He is the author of Off-Broadway Musicals, 1910-2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows (2010, which was selected as one of the outstanding reference sources of 2011 by the American Library Association. He is also the author of The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals (2019), The Complete Book of 1930s Broadway Musicals (2018), The Complete Book of 1940s Broadway Musicals (2015), The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals (2014), The Complete Book of 1960s Broadway Musicals (2014), The Complete Book of 1970s Broadway Musicals (2015), The Complete Book of 1980s Broadway Musicals (2016), The Complete Book of 1990s Broadway Musicals (2016), and The Complete Book of 2000s Broadway Musicals (2017), all published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Dietz continues his excellent companions to Broadway shows with coverage of the 240 musicals that opened from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2019. As with previous volumes (all reviewed in Choice), Dietz includes shows with new music, revues, magic shows, operas that received their New York premieres, imports, pre-Broadway closings, and special engagements. It is heartening to note that more shows with new music and scripts opened during the 2010s decade than during the previous one. Technical information (gathered from Theatre World and IBDB.com) includes casts and crews, advertising tags, run dates, name of theater, musical numbers and performers, source material, awards and nominations, and other data, along with plot summaries and cast album information when available. The volume concludes with eight useful appendixes, including one of Black-themed and one of LGBTQ-themed shows. Although Dietz relies heavily on critical commentaries and newspaper reviews, the highly subjective and often amusing comments he adds provide thoughtful consideration not only of individual shows but also of the decade as a whole. This volume, like its predecessors, is a required resource for scholars and fans of Broadway musicals. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.