Ever After

Ever After is more than a detailed show-by-show history of the last quarter century in American musical theater. It explains how the storied Broadway tradition, in many cases, went so very wrong. Singer takes the reader behind the scenes for an unparalleled look at A Chorus Line’s final bow, the creation of Rent, the real people behind Disney's uber-musicals, and even an afternoon with Andrew Lloyd Webber.Ever After also celebrates the promise of the next generation of young musical theater artists, especially Adam Guettel, Michael John, LaChiusa Ricky, Ian Gordon, and Jason Robert Brown, addressing not only their work to date but their future projects.There is no other book currently available that covers this period and subject. Through his work for The New York Times, Singer has interviewed virtually everyone of significance. They are all here, very much speaking for themselves. Ever After is both anecdotal and analytical, featuring personality profiles of important creative figures from Jule Styne to Stephen Sondheim to Jonathan Larson, while critically evaluating all of the many musicals produced during the past 25 years.Sure to generate debate, this is a book written not only for the musical theater aficionado, but for anyone who has seen a Broadway musical or has just enjoyed the movie version of Chicago and is curious to know more.

Barry Singer has written extensively about the arts for the New York Times Arts & Leisure section, the New Yorker, New York magazine, the New York Times Magazine, Opera News, USA Today, Huffington Post, and Playbill, among others. He is the author of Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf, a New YorkTimes Notable Book of the Year; Alive at the Village Vanguard, winner of an ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music writing; and Churchill Style: The Art of Being Winston Churchill.He is also the founder and proprietor of Chartwell Booksellers, one of New York City’s last independent bookstores, now in its thirty-seventh year.