Roadshow!: The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s
Matthew Kennedy, "Roadshow!: The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s"
English | ISBN: 0199925674 | 2014 | 320 pages | PDF | 19 MB
English | ISBN: 0199925674 | 2014 | 320 pages | PDF | 19 MB
Full-page newspaper ads announced the date. Reserved seats went on sale at premium prices. Audience members dressed up and arrived early to peruse the program during the overture that preceded the curtain's rise. And when the show began, it was–a rather disappointing film musical.
In Roadshow!, film historian Matthew Kennedy tells the fascinating story of the downfall of the big-screen musical in the late 1960s. It is a tale of revolutionary cultural change, business transformation, and artistic missteps, all of which led to the obsolescence of the roadshow, a marketing extravaganza designed to make a movie opening in a regional city seem like a Broadway premier. Ironically, the Hollywood musical suffered from unexpected success. Facing doom after its bygone heyday, it suddenly broke box-office records with three rapid-fire successes in 1964 and 1965:
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