A Very Unusual Way

The first book-length study of the career and works of celebrated Broadway composer and lyricist Maury Yeston, creator of the Tony Award–winning musicals Nine, Titanic, and Grand Hotel. Maury Yeston, the celebrated composer and lyricist of the Tony Award–winning musicals Nine, Titanic, and Grand Hotel, has not, until now, been the subject of a full-length study of his career and work. Now, through this comprehensive text, readers can appreciate the full scope of Yeston's output and his place in musical theater history. A Very Unusual Way is a career chronicle combined with close examinations of some of Yeston's most noteworthy compositions, including songs from his famous musicals as well as his lesser-known works. Joshua Rosenblum gives behind-the-scenes accounts of Yeston's Broadway shows and appraises his songs with revelatory analyses that can be appreciated by musicians and lay readers alike. In addition to having full access to the composer's archive, the author conducted over a dozen interviews with Yeston, an unusually articulate, charming, and enlightening subject who offers priceless insights into his work and his process. The book also highlights the numerous well-known artistic figures and collaborators who have featured prominently in Yeston's life, including Stephen Sondheim, Placido Domingo, Federico Fellini, Jane Krakowski, Alan Jay Lerner, Yo-Yo Ma, Alan Menken, Mike Nichols, Barbra Streisand, Tommy Tune, and Jonathan Tunick. As a bonus, "Advice to Young Composers," Yeston's legendary discourse, is included in full as an appendix.