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David Braham: the American Offenbach.

Article Excerpt
By John Franceschina. (Forgotten Stars of the Musical Theatre.) New York: Rotttledge, 2003. [xiv, 266 p. ISBN 0-415-93769-8. $49.95.] Illustrations, index.

Academic interest in popular culture has opened a vast treasure of material that helps identify and explain--as the study of aesthetics alone may not--true national character. John Franceschina's slim volume is an attempt to satisfy this desire. The essay is fortified by his expertise as a composer, for he has written many works, including a Mass for accordion and orchestra composed for the Vatican. More important to this project, however, is his knowledge of the history of American theater, for this book offers a discussion of a hitherto obscure theatrical personality, one aptly described by the Routledge series title Forgotten Stars of the Musical Theatre.

David Braham: The American Offenbach, however, has all the allure of home movies, perhaps the unintended result of the folksy precepts of the series editor, Kurt Ganzl. As presented in the introduction facetiously (perhaps) titled "Sic transit Gloria spectaculi," Ganzl's philosophy abjures books with "a dozen footnotes per page, and hung with vast appendices of sources." He shudders at the word "significance (oh! that word)." And as a relative might do, he apologetically justifies the series of books: "Because these people had fascinating lives--well, they fascinate me, and I hope they will fascinate you too" (p. xii).

Unfortunately such directives are taken too literally by Franceschina, already handicapped by an uncorroborated prose style...