Musicals101.com Chronicles American Art Form

By: Charles Bowen Ever since Chicago swept the Oscars earlier this year, some movie fans -- and even some critics -- have treated the musical as if it were a new art form. Actually, though, for almost two centuries now, musicals have been around in one form or another, on stage, screen, radio, and television.

Often ignored or ridiculed by The Serious Theater Public, musicals nonetheless have provided the sound track for pop culture. Those who have never seen productions of Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, or Les Miserable are familiar with the tunes, even if they don't know their origins. Unfortunately, because musicals are sometimes shuffled off to the side by theater historians, facts about this art form haven't always been readily available. Until now.

John Kenrick, an expert on musical theater history (and a personal assistant to six Tony-winning producers) has opened a Web site with nearly 900 pages of information about the history, development, and current traditions of musical theater. It would be a good subject for a feature story -- those seeking basic information, for instance, would be interested in Kenrick's "What is a Musical?" essay -- and there are valuable resources for busy journalists.

For example, each historical section is divided into smaller sub-sections, so users can move to each section quickly. A standout is Kenrick's reviews of cast recordings, current and past productions, and those recordings that should be avoided. He also offers brief online "courses" on great names of musical theater, such as George M. Cohan and Ethel Merman, Gilbert and Sullivan, Noel Coward, and Florenz Ziegfeld.

To check it out, visit http://www.musicals101.com/, where a no-nonsense introductory page provides links to:

* "History of Musicals" on stage, screen, TV, and cabaret.
* "Reference Features," including photo galleries, indexes, chronologies, and a monthly calendar.
* "Musicals Who's Who," an alphabetical list of the movers and shakers in the art form.
* "How Musicals Are Made," the nuts and bolts of production.
* "Reviews & Essays," with opinions from Kendrick's ongoing journal.

For the working press, perhaps the "Who's Who" is probably the most immediately useful section. Click on the link to reach an alphabetized list of the names of more than 350 people who shaped the history of the musical stage and screen over two centuries. Just scroll the list and click on a name to read several paragraphs about the person and follow links to individuals in related works.

Other considerations for using Musicals 101 in your writing and editing:

1. Some limited searching is available on the site. Click on the "Site Search" link on the introductory page to reach a query box in which you can enter a specific title or name of 30 characters or less.

2. For a bird's eye view of the site, click on the "Site Index" link on the front. The resulting page provides hyperlinks to key departments and sections, such as "British Music Hall," "American Variety," "Minstrel Shows," "Vaudeville," "Burlesque," and so on.

3. And you might want to alert your travel writer to a sideline feature of the site. The "NY Restaurants" link on the front of Musicals101.com enables Kenrick to list favorite eateries of theater-goers. "I always knew that most theater lovers were food lovers too," he says in an online introduction to the department, "but I was surprised when so many people wrote in asking where they should eat when catching shows in New York. So I've created this list of my personal favorites."
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