Тони Палмер "A mighty achievement. Thank you." John Lennon"This exhaustively researched and brilliantly edited work, includes revealing glimpses of a who"s who of modern music." Darryl Sterdan, Winnipeg SunThis is a story of how a remarkable and very different number of theatrical elements were welded together into something also remarkable and very different called "the musical". From operetta, vaudeville, variety, burlesque, revue and most importantly British music hall, came "the musical". But it did not come about by accident. It was the deliberate and conscious achievement of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein (who wrote, among others, "Showboat" and "Oklahoma") and the director Rouben Mamoulian. Against considerable opposition, both critical and commercial, they created a new art form which was unique and yet familiar.