Kawai Piano Prices: The Ultimate Broadway Fake Book [Plastic Comb] Review

This is a good buy for a pro pianist like me who might get requests for tunes I've never heard of from shows I've never seen. It has three indexes: by tune, by show, and by composers and lyricists.

One of the best things in the book is an alphabetical show-by-show synopsis, containing information about each show's history, its major personnel, and its plot.

However -- and it's a BIG however; in fact, several howevers: an awful lot of the songs are second-rate and I can't imagine getting requests for them, or even wanting to play them myself.

The bookproclaims its inclusion of "great songs" from several more recent shows such as "Rent"; gimme a break -- these songs are barely listenable, much less "great."

Throughout the book, many of the chord changes are incorrect (this is a musician's constant complaint about ALL fake books).

Most of the songs do not include the verse (and for Rodgers & Hart, Gershwin, and Kern these are often essential parts of the song). And there are inexplicable omissions.

For example: (1) Some of the included shows are lacking some of their best songs: "The Nervous Set" omits "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "Finian's Rainbow" omits "Necessity." "The Merry Widow" omits "The Merry Widow Waltz." "Mack and Mabel" omits "I Promise You a Happy Ending." (2) Some excellent shows are missing altogether. No "L'il Abner." No Cy Coleman's "I Love My Wife." And Leonard Bernstein is represented only by two songs from "Wonderful Town"; no "Candide," no "On the Town," no "West Side Story."

And of course there are many songs I already own in other collections, although the book is useful as a one-stop source for all of these, and there are about fifty to a hundred decent to superb songs that I own nowhere else.

There is ample representation of Rodgers & Hart, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Kern, Gershwin, Porter, Frank Loesser, Jerry Herman, Harold Arlen, Lerner & Loewe, Andrew Lloyd Webber, et al.

In the end, despite its flaws, to me the book was well worth the price.

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Product Description:
Over 720 songs from over 240 Broadway shows! Recently revised to include hits from Martin Guerre, Rent, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Sunset Boulevard, Victor/Victoria, and more! This is the definitive collection of Broadway music, featuring: * Song title index * Show title index * Composer and lyricist index * Synopses of each show. Song highlights include: Ain't Misbehavin' * All I Ask of You * Another Op'nin' Another Show * As Long As He Needs Me * At The Ballet * Bali Ha'i * Beauty and the Beast * Bewitched * Cabaret * Camelot * Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man * Castle on a Cloud * Consider Yourself * Dance: Ten, Looks: Three * Day by Day * Do-Re-Mi * Don't Cry for Me Argentina * Down in the Depths (On the Ninetieth Floor) * Edelweiss * Everything's Coming Up Roses * Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye * Getting to Know You * Give My Regards to Broadway * Hello, Dolly! * How Are Things in Glocca Morra * How High the Moon * I Don't Know How to Love Him * I Dreamed a Dream * If I Can't Love Her * If I Were a Man * If I Were a Rich Man * (I'm a) Yankee Doodle Dandy * The Impossible Dream * The Lady Is a Tramp * Last Night of the World * Love Changes Everything * The Music of the Night * Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' * Oklahoma * Ol' Man River * On My Own * Only You * People * The Rain in Spain * Seasons of Love * Send in the Clowns * The Sound of Music * Starlight Express * Tell Me on a Sunday * Tell Me to Go * Tomorrow * Unexpected Song * Waitin' for the Light to Shine * What I Did for Love * With One Look * You'll Never Walk Alone * more!

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