Lerner's Permit

I just read Alan Jay Lerner's The Musical Theatre:  A Celebration.  He finished the book (or the publisher claims it was finished) a only a few weeks before he died in 1986.

Lerner starts with operetta, but soon gets to Broadway. However--or maybe this is the point--whenever he has a personal story, he stops the narrative and tells it.  He discusses almost all the top songwriters and shows on Broadway up to the 1980s, giving us his opinions, which are fun, and sometimes tales of his personal involvement, which makes the book lopsided. (If you want to know about his show biz life, better to read The Street Where I Live.)  Even weirder, he'll drop in paragraphs about his political views--how FDR saved democracy, how Oswald didn't act alone, etc.

So thumbs up for a quirky look at the musical, but it's way back on the list if you want a book that actually informs you about the musical theatre.  Still, who'd want Lerner to write a standard text?  I guess you have to allow him his stories.