"Scholars, fans, and performers alike will find much to celebrate and awe over in this book, which alone is a magnificent accomplishment." -- Jake Johnson, Journal of Musicological Research "The legacy of Meredith Willson is hugely enhanced by this fine, meticulous, and compelling book by Dominic McHugh, whose perspective as a researcher and talent as a writer coalesce into a book that reveals much previously unknown information about a hidden giant of the theatrical and musical world." -- Michael Feinstein, Singer, Founder of The Great American Songbook Foundation"Dominic McHugh has done two remarkable things: written a well-documented and rich history of Willson's The Music Man and his other, lesser-known musicals, and filled an important void in musical theatre history. This book will fill a niche in our understanding of this time period and build on the work of other notable historians in painting a picture of one of the most fertile periods of musical theatre." -- Elizabeth Wells, Professor, Mount Allison University"Writing a book on a Broadway creator who has long been overlooked and deemed by many as second-rate presents significant challenges; taking on the additional task of exploring that artist's unfamiliar works makes the job even harder. And yet McHugh has done both, and the result convincingly repositions Willson as a giant in his field and of his times. The Big Parade not only fills a gap but also serves as a model for other writers. McHugh has once again demonstrated how to conduct archival research with a mixture of contextual and analytical tools to exploremeaningfully the careers and works of Broadway practitioners whose lives exist along the musical margins of the literature and deserve much more.

" -- Lara E. Housez, Notes.