We are all so used to the idea of the opera theater that we tend to take for granted its particular shape and arrangement of spaces for audience and performers. As this wonderful book demonstrates, however, the form that emerged around 1600, along with the genre of opera, differed in many respects from any of the various types of theaters built in the Renaissance. In the opening section, Johnson examines the temporary theaters built in Northern and Central Italy for performing Roman comedies or new Italian plays. Usually constructed by the local prince within an existing palace or in a courtyard, these theaters were intended not only to show the sponsor's taste but also to demonstrate, through decorations and the arrangement of the audience, his power. Almost none of these early constructions took the form of Roman theaters, being more often rectangular than semicircular. Chapter 1 looks at theaters in Ferrara and Mantua, including one for the first known production of a Roman play since antiquity, in Ferrara in 1486, and also at the first attempt to build a permanent theater, in Ferrara in 1503 (plans that were scrapped with the death of the duke).

The Roman patronage of Cardinal Riario and the 1513 Capitoline theater of Leo X are the focus of chapter 2. Venice (chapter 3) was theatrical in its very nature but took on more significance with the arrival of the architect Sebastiano Serlio after the Sack of Rome. Not only did Serlio publish the first plans of Roman theaters but he also built a theater derived from that form in Vicenza in 1539. The Medici, not surprisingly, presented in Florence some of the most elaborate spectacles of the Renaissance, with temporary theaters to match, especially for the wedding celebrations of 1539, 1565, and 1589 (chapter 4). The book's one non-Italian excursion is also Medici related: the theater built in Lyons in 1548 for the triumphal entry of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici.

With chapter 5, Johnson turns to theaters intended to be permanent, including the first one actually built and used at the court of Ferrara around 1551, and theaters open to the ticket-buying public for performances of commedia dell'arte in Rome, Florence, and, in the 1580s, Venice. It was in the two Venetian theaters that a vital element of the later opera theaters came into being: private boxes, arranged in superimposed levels in a horseshoe shape. Before considering the first theaters built for opera, Johnson looks at two other sixteenth-century types. First, theaters modeled on those of ancient Rome (chapter 6), notably those of Andrea Palladio, with, naturally, the Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza receiving most of the attention. The second form, what Johnson calls the “drama-tourney theater,” is the subject of chapters 7 and 8. This hybrid form combines seating in the Roman manner and an up-to-date stage with a space in between for mock combats. These include the only two theaters of the period other than the Olimpico still extant: Scamozzi's Odeon in Sabbioneta and Aleotti's Teatro Farnese in Parma.

The final section of Johnson's study looks at the seventeenth-century opera house, as it emerged from the Venetian comedy theaters of the 1580s, retaining the auditorium, with its U-shape and box seats, but expanding the depth of the stage for the new requirements of opera. Chapter 9 looks at the first public theater intended for opera, San Cassiano (opened for opera in 1637), and others that followed in Venice. Chapter 10 follows the spread of the Venetian model, especially to Naples, Modena, Florence, Siena, and Fano; chapter 11 takes an extended look at Rome's Teatro Tordinona.

Throughout this fine book, Johnson blends his own original research with the best work of other scholars, most importantly Italians, much of which has appeared in narrowly focused or highly localized venues and was therefore largely inaccessible. Of particular value is the way Johnson consistently situates the theaters he discusses in their social and political contexts. The book is clearly written and profusely illustrated (nearly two hundred images in black-and-white and color). This is clearly the definitive study of Renaissance and early Baroque theaters and should be on the reading lists not only of scholars and students in the fields of theater and architecture but also those of musicologists and historians concerned with the role of culture in early modern Italy.