Closer than ever : the unique six-decade songwriting partnership of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire /

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Includes bibliographical references and index.Origins -- The fair-haired boys : the sap of life -- Barbra -- Dealing with Steve -- I have a rich wife : love match -- How bad could I be? -- The first thing they give you is writing the obits -- Lynne -- Starting here, starting now -- "I don't remember Christmas" -- He's the arbiter, really -- Remember that Fats Waller idea? : Ain't misbehavin' -- At the end of the song, everyone's pregnant! -- Baby -- "The story goes on" -- French is a language that doesn't scan : Miss Saigon -- One of the finest scores of the year -- Closer than ever -- "The bear, the tiger, the hamster and the mole" -- It should have been called "small" -- Big -- "Little susan lawrence" -- Bob Fosse's wife, his mistress, and his daughter : Fosse -- Next thing I knew I was writing the show : take flight -- Working with other people -- Produced by a convicted felon : Sousatzka -- America will break your heart : dancers at a waterfall -- Post-partum : baby revival -- Oh, that's what those songs were about! -- The songwriters' songwriters -- Appendix A: Starting here, starting now : musical numbers and sources -- Appendix B: Closer than ever : musical numbers and sources"Composer David Shire and lyricist Richard Maltby, Jr., two of the most gifted songwriters of our time, are revered among musical theater lovers for their ground-breaking off-Broadway revues Starting Here, Starting Now and Closer Than Ever, as well as for the Broadway musicals Baby and Big. Yet relatively little has been written about them and their work. In this book, composer/conductor/music journalist/Yale and NYU professor Joshua Rosenblum sets out to increase appreciation for Maltby and Shire's large and impressive body of work and establish their place in musical theater history. The book chronicles their six-decade partnership, giving full behind-the-scenes accounts of their musicals, interspersed with illuminating analyses of standout individual numbers. The two songwriters, engaging and articulate, are quoted liberally throughout the book in exclusive interviews. Additionally, the book covers other well-known artistic figures who feature prominently in the Maltby/Shire story, including Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, Francis Ford Coppola, Craig Lucas, Mike Ockrent, Susan Stroman, John Weidman, Charles Strouse, Adam Gopnik, Jason Robert Brown, and Jonathan Tunick. Attention is also given to Shire's separate career as an Oscar- and Grammy-winning film and TV composer, and Maltby's as a Tony Award-winning director. Finally, the book explores the very nature of artistic collaboration: how do songs actually get written, and what enables some partnerships to last for decades. Written for a wide range of readers, the book has a broad appeal that will extend from Maltby/Shire devotees to anyone interested in the creative process and Broadway musicals in general"--