What links the shows Of Thee I Sing, South Pacific and A Strange Loop?

Did you know that the Pulitzer Prize for Drama has been awarded to just 10 musicals since the award's inception in 1917?

Why have certain musicals captured the imagination and hearts of the Pulitzer Prize committee?

Essential Musicals: The Pulitzer Prize Winners takes a chronological look at the ten musicals that have won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Drama sine 1917. Looking at the inception and development of each show, this accessible study unpacks the creation, production and reception of each musical in order to draw parallels within the wider American dramatic canon.

Pulling from multiple primary resources, each chapter traces the show from its inception to its opening night. It introduces the reader to each musical's key creators and company members and places them in the larger context of Broadway history. After examining the contemporary reception of each show and its cultural impact – both when it opened and now - it answers the question as to what what made it so appealing to the Pulitzer Board in an attempt to articulate, if possible, the qualities most likely to make a Pulitzer Award-winning musical.

Published in Methuen Drama's Essential Musicals series, this book is perfect for students of Musical Theatre, drawing together different resources to dig into the backstories of Broadway's biggest hits and mining the historical record for nuggets of information that illuminate our understanding and enhance our enjoyment of musical theatre's unique brand of magic.