With something as constantly mutating as the musical theatre, an author takes a risk calling his book Strike Up the Band: A New History of Musical Theatre. Perhaps Scott Miller would have been better off subtitling his tome A Recent History of Musical Theatre, since some of the questions he asks about the musical's future have been more definitively answered since he wrote his concluding chapter. The future is indeed in small, lower-budget musicals initially presented Off- or Off-Off-Broadway (such as the unmentioned here Spring Awakening).
Obviously well-versed on his subject (he's written about aspects of musical theatre before), Miller writes, "The purpose of this book [is] to look in a new way at the continuing miracle of American musical theatre, at its evolution over the 20th century, at the bold, outrageous — and quite often successful — experiments that have taken the form forward in giant leaps every decade or so." Though he doesn't make clear how exactly his approach is new, Miller does look decade by decade at the musical with insight and frequently with broad knowledge of the story behind a particular show.
What he knows and seems able to discuss at a downbeat about scores (pun intended) of musicals is the reason to read his overview. There are reasons, however, to resist his every remark. Miller comes to his book armed with opinions about the musicals he thinks have had the greatest influence on the form and says he's going to ignore those he considers less influential, either completely or with perhaps a mere mention. He wavers on this last point, though, and does go on about lesser properties if he happens to like them.
His opinions won't go down well with all readers. Few will agree with him when he says of South Pacific, "It remains one of the most revived American musicals, though it does not reach the artistic heights of Oklahoma!, Carousel, or The King and I." Not many readers will nod affirmatively when he writes of West Side Story, "Was Anita really all that different from the cartoon character Chiquita Banana?" Yes, she was.
Furthermore, Miller spies racism all over musicals, only grudgingly conceding that the times explain what he considers the racism of someone like Oscar Hammerstein II, the well-known United World Federalist.
Scott Miller, Heinemann Drama, 2006, paperback, 264 pages, $23.95.