Yankee Doodle Dandy

Reviews / Votes

In true virtuoso style, Elizabeth T. Craft exquisitely weaves together various threads of the personality that was George M. Cohan - playwright, songwriter, performer, Irish American, businessman, self-publicist, Broadway mythmaker - to create a brilliantly nuanced tapestry that illuminates and celebrates her subject's extraordinary contributions not just to the American musical theatre but also to continuing perceptions of nationhood, patriotism, and identity. * William A. Everett, Ph.D., Curators' Distinguished Professor of Musicology Emeritus, University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory * Craft gives us a multi-faceted Cohan who loudly played his patriotic Irish American self to audiences both on and off the stage. Always both appreciative and critical, this deeply researched book puts a largely forgotten figure where he belongs: at the center of the Broadway musical stage during its formative years. * Todd Decker, Paul Tietjens Professor of Music, Washington University in St. Louis * Elizabeth T. Craft, in illuminating the life and tunes of George M. Cohan, outlines the roots of so many musical theater branches that continue to flourish today. A compulsively readable addition to the history of musical theater. * Lin-Manuel Miranda * Elizabeth T. Craft's Yankee Doodle Dandy... will be a revelation for the Cohan-curious with only a passing familiarity of George Michael Cohan's work (there are hundreds of songs beyond the rousers "Over Here," "You're a Grand Old Flag," and those named above) and his influence (his plays' songs were more integrated with the plot than others in his time). We admirers of well-built, rhyme-filled catchy musical theatre songs who admit to being Cohan junkies are glad to welcome anything new that's in this book and to welcome the Cohan-curious co-readers new to the fan club for the grandfather of Broadway. * Rob Lester, Talkin' Broadway * Craft offers an informed and entertaining account. * John Check, Notes *