From Publishers Weekly
In his six previous books (One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970s, etc.), Mordden chronicled the "Golden Age" of musical theater, which for him is the period between 1920 and 1970. This scattered but stinging critique focuses on modern musicals and the many ways in which Mordden finds them lacking. "Today the musical is suffering dislocation and alienation," he declares. "It no longer leads the culture. It follows, adopting the degenerative policies of schlock." Mordden freely admits that this book is a "rant," and though his fans will enjoy his clever putdowns and razor sharp wit, the writing is sorely lacking in structure. Facts, people, shows and summaries come fast and furious; there doesn’t seem to be a new musical, revival or even a concert presentation on or off Broadway that Mordden hasn’t seen since 1979. Unfortunately, the book races from show to show without regard to chronology, leaving readers wondering when his opinions will coagulate into a coherent angry thesis. It’s even hard to tell which shows Mordden loves since he uses the same arch tone throughout, repeatedly calling his readers "boys and girls" and the like. Casual musical theater-goers will be either baffled or put off by eccentric statements like, "I increasingly think that the farther we get from shows with a valid role for Barbara Cook, the farther we get from what is enjoyable," but old hands will know just what he means. Mordden’s knowledge of musical theatre is impressively displayed here, but readers will wish he had presented that knowledge in a more coherent manner.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Mordden continues his chronicle of the Broadway musical from the 1920s to the present, focusing on a singularly dispiriting period in the genre's history, during which Broadway became only a shadow of its once vigorous, audience-pleasing self. Mordden finds many causes for this decline: increased costs, artistic stagnation, uninspired producers, changing tastes in popular music, and the premature deaths of scores of talented actors, directors, and designers. As before (e.g., in One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970s, 2003), Mordden brings a wealth of research and insight to the table in interesting, detailed commentary on all the major hits and bombs. This time, however, he is sharper, wittier, even bitchier, than ever, for he has been personally engaged, if not outraged, by all the aesthetic missteps, the bad shows that flopped, the good shows that foundered, and the pompous, overblown shows that hit big in the most recent period of musical theater. As a result, this is a book that is fascinating as well as wonderful reading. Jack Helbig
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
For Ethan Mordden, the closing night of the hit musical, 42nd St. sounded the death knell of the art form of the Broadway musical. After that, big orchestras, real voices, recognizable books and intelligent lyrics went out the window in favor of cats, helicopters, yodeling Frenchmen, and the roof of the Paris Opera. Mordden takes us through the aftermath of the days of the great Broadway musical. From the long-running Cats to Miss Saigon, Phantom, and Les Miserables, to gems like The Producers, he is unsparing in his look at the remains of the day. Not content to scold the shows' creators, Mordden takes on the critics, too, splaying their bodies across the Great White Way like Sweeney Todd giving a close shave. Once more, it's "curtain going up," but Mordden is not applauding.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On the Night of August 25, 1980, the curtain fell on the premiere of a spectacular new Gower Champion musical, 42nd Street. David Merrick, the show's producer, stepped to the footlights and, amid clamorous applause, silenced the audience to announce that Champion had died just hours before the performance began. With gasps from the audience and tears from the ingenue, Wanda Richert, the era of the classic Broadway musical crashed to a resounding close at the Winter Garden Theatre. Big orchestras, real voices, recognizable books, and intelligent lyrics went out the window, and in came stupendous flops like Dance of the Vampires, Jekyll & Hyde, Thou Shalt Not, The Capeman, and Urban Cowboy. There were, though, notable shows that did, in different ways, succeed in invoking the spirit, if not the reality, of the Broadway musical: Rent, The Phantom of the Opera, the two Wild Partys, Sweet Smell of Success, The Producers, and stunning revivals of three classics -- Carousel, Cabaret, and Follies. Still, the true Broadway musical from the days of Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Merman, Preston, Channing, Fosse, and Robbins was finally dead. Unfortunately, the burial has not yet taken place. In The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen, Ethan Mordden takes the reader to the Broadway musical's wake and is unsparing in his acerbic and witty look at the condition of the corpse. Not content merely to spank the creators of some of these fiascos, Mordden also takes on the critics of our day and splays their bodies across The Great White Way like Sweeney Todd giving a close shave. For anyone who has read Mordden's earlier series of books on The Broadway Musical, this is the capstone or, should we say, "coffin nail." Once more, it's "Curtain going up!," but this time, instead of cheering, Ethan Mordden is throwing rutabagas.

FROM THE CRITICS

John Simon - The Washington Post

Everyone can glean something of rarefied interest from Mordden, not least a mere drama critic like me. I haven't seen, read, heard or ferreted out a fraction of the things he has under his belt, and would be green with envy had I not figured out a shortcut to acquiring them: reading Mordden's books.

Library Journal