Book Review: Pick A Pocket Or Two – Ethan Mordden

PICK A POCKET OR TWO – Ethan Mordden (Oxford University Press – ISBN 9780190877958)

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

‘From Gilbert and Sullivan to Andrew Lloyd Webber, from Julie Andrews to Hugh Jackman, from Half a Sixpence to Matilda, Pick a Pocket or Two is the story of the British musical: where it began and how it developed’.

So runs the blurb on Ethan Mordden’s latest tome on musical theatre. However, reading the book we start way before G&S, we start with The Beggar’s Opera, which Mordden states is the first musical in the form we know it today. Now, some may disagree with this statement but it matters not. The author then takes us on a ride through the years ending up with Six before returning his thoughts to Half a Sixpence and comparing the original production in 1962 with that of the Chichester revival in 2016. Why? Well for no other reason than he says it is ‘..one of the most traditional of the form’s titles!’ 

The book is both entertaining and frustrating. The writing is so convoluted with terms no ordinary reader would be familiar with – one that creeps in every so often is ‘quodlibet’. I even had to look that one up. It means: ‘a musical composition in which several well-known melodies are combined, either simultaneously or, less frequently, sequentially, for humorous effect. Quodlibet can also refer to an amalgamation of different song texts in a vocal composition.’ The style of writing also sounds quite antiquated at times but eventually we get to the point and it can be quite amusing and informative at times. The Discography at the end of the book is especially entertaining.

A musical aficionado will find parts of the book infuriating at times whilst finding other parts of it quite refreshing. It is completely opinionated, of course, and he even goes as far as blaming two artists for putting the wrong emphasis on a word in a couple of recordings of Salad Days, when actually the emphasis is quite correct in my (and obviously the two directors’) opinions.

After all is said and done, this is an enjoyable read. A couple of little gems flew out of the pages at me (no spoilers here) and I do love a book where I can be heard shouting at it – ‘you are joking!’ That is what makes a good book – audience participation. Mordden isn’t my favourite musical theatre writer – I am more of a Kurt Gänzl man myself – but, I have to admit, I am very pleased to have read this publication.

Nick Wakeham