Provided by Wikipedia Gerald Martin Bordman (September 18, 1931 – May 9, 2011) was an American theatre historian, best known for authoring the reference volume ''The American Musical Theatre'', first published in 1978. In reviewing an updated version of ''American Musical Theatre'' in 2011, ''Playbill'' wrote that the book had "altered the scope of American musical theatre history" and "remained the only book of its kind, and an invaluable one."
Bordman grew up in the Wynnefield neighborhood of Philadelphia and graduated from Central High School and Lafayette College, later earning a master's degree and Ph.D. in medieval literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He published ''The American Musical Theatre'' four years after selling the family's business, Excell Chemical Products, which manufactured mothballs, among other things. He went on to write over a dozen volumes on American theatre, including biographies on Jerome Kern and Vincent Youmans, despite having limited musical training.
