US TARIFFS UPDATE | August 2025 | No impact expected on your Presto orders | Read full details
The Abbott Touch: Pal Joey, Damn Yankees, and the Theatre of George Abbott
- Author: Hischak, Thomas S.
The Abbott Touch: Pal Joey, Damn Yankees, and the Theatre of George Abbott
- Author: Hischak, Thomas S.
Purchase product
Other available formats
About
This in-depth and original study examines 100 productions and analyses why George Abbott's name became synonymous with the 'golden age' of Broadway. What did Abbott contribute? How did he work? How did he innovate the industry? How did he survive so long? All of these inquiries, and more, lead to the most fundamental question of all: what exactly was the famous “Abbott touch”?
For sixty years, George Abbott was a vital force in the American theatre. As an actor, playwright, director, librettist, play doctor, and producer, he laid his "touch" on approximately 100 New York productions, from The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees through to Once Upon a Mattress and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Spanning this incredible figure’s work chronologically, each chapter of The Abbott Touch examines a period of creativity in his life, culminating in how he became the famous multi-hyphenate artist he is now celebrated as. Beginning with his early career in 1913 through to his work on the 1994 revival of Damn Yankees, this book analyses his key contributions to his primary works, all of which have relied on his genius.
The first study of its kind, The Abbott Touch provides key insights into the working life of one of the 20th Century's most prolific theatre practitioners, as well as a vital history for theatre scholars and fans alike.
Contents
- Prologue: The Paradox Known as Mister Abbott
- Chapter 1 : Pounding and Progressing on 42nd Street (1913-1925)
- Chapter 2 : If You Want it Done Right, Write It and Direct It Yourself (1925-1934)
- Chapter 3 : If You Really Want It Done Better, Produce It Yourself (1932-1940)
- Chapter 4 : How Did I Get Typecast in Farce? (1932-1939)
- Chapter 5 : The Celluloid Sidestep (1918-1958)
- Chapter 6 : Adding Songwriters to the Mix (1935-1945)
- Chapter 7 : Entertaining the Homefront (1942-1945)
- Chapter 8 : Working with New (and Usually Younger) Faces (1944-1948)
- Chapter 9 : Post-War Blues (1946-1961)
- Chapter 10 : That's Entertainment? (1940-1960)
- Chapter 11 : All They Want Is Musicals (1947-1955)
- Chapter 12 : There's Nothing Old Fashioned About a Hit (1959-1962)
- Chapter 13 : Almost But Not Quite (1964-1989)
- Chapter 14 : Looking Back with Dubious Success (1969-1994) Epilogue: No Exit Music, Please George Abbott's New York Theatre Productions Films of George Abbott George Abbott's Awards and Honors Selected
- Bibliography
