Geoffrey Block > Quotes

“The former are given musical characteristics loosely associated with music of the Italian Renaissance. Bianca and her suitors are given an a cappella pseudo-madrigal in “Tom, Dick or Harry,” the bluesy “Why Can’t You Behave?” is transformed into a Renaissance dance (the pavane), and several of the Shrew songs display the long-short-short figure () characteristic of the sixteenth-century Italian canzona”
― Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber

“Although the degree to which Kiss Me, Kate employs the major-minor juxtapositions is perhaps unprecedented in a Porter show, the roots of this idea can be found in Porter’s pre–Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Anything Goes (and many other songs;”
― Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber

“the extant manuscript evidence reveals that from the time he began work on Kiss Me, Kate Porter was greatly concerned with creating a musical that integrated music with the book.”
― Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber

“his analysis of Kiss Me, Kate, Joseph P. Swain notes Porter’s technique of moving from the major mode to the minor mode or vice versa to distinguish the Padua songs from their Baltimore counterparts.”
― Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber

“the song and dance musical comedies that prevailed in the 1920s and ’30s and the integrated musicals that became more influential in the 1940s and ’50s both allow a meaningful dramatic relationship between songs and their shows.”
― Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber

“the struggle between authenticity and accessibility”
― Geoffrey Block, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from 'Show Boat' to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber