Music of film and stage Books

Book SynopsisBroadway Bodies offers a new telling of Broadway history, exploring how ability, sexuality, and size intersect with gender, race, and ethnicity in casting and performance. Author Ryan Donovan unpacks Broadway's inclusion of various forms of embodied difference while exposing its simultaneous ambivalence toward non-conforming bodies.Trade ReviewSkillfully written in sharp, crystalline prose, the book comprises three case studies, each taking a deep dive into a musical whose casting demonstrates a particular type of body bias, then explicating that bias in a follow up chapter via other relevant shows. * Lisa Jo Sagolla, American Theatre *Ryan Donovan's fascinating and groundbreaking book explores what Broadway musical theatre hides in plain sight: bodies on stage and the politics of casting some bodies and not others. Through impeccable historical research, probing interviews, incisive performance analysis, and vivid firsthand experience, Donovan offers a new history of Broadway musicals that shines a light on the industry's troubling and often shocking casting practices. This essential-reading volume unearths how size, ability, and sexuality delimit the 'Broadway body' and mask casting's misogyny, racism, ableism, and fat phobia. * Stacy Wolf, Princeton University *Ryan Donovan's book immediately shifts the conversation on how we talk about musical theatre. Broadway Bodies is deeply knowledgeable, politically astute, and highly readable. I loved the book's clarity and purpose—this is a must-read for theatre and performance scholars and for anyone who cares about American theatre. * David Roman, University of Southern California *Broadway Bodies is a wake-up call for anyone interested in equity. It requires that we ponder what it is about ourselves that we really want our American musical theatre to reflect. * Lisa Jo Sagolla, American Theatre *Broadway Bodies, while eminently readable, is dense with sociopolitical context, historical research, and data surrounding casting practices. For those who study bodies in representation, specifically in the context of performance, this volume is a welcome contribution and is certain to serve as an anchor in this growing field. * Jennifer-Scott Mobley, Fat Studies *Donovan's well-analyzed arguments on unresolved problems of access and his profound understanding of the form lead the way. This treatise has much to offer and raises the prospect of a similar examination of nonmusical theater forms. * Choice *Table of ContentsPart I: Broadway Bodies Introduction: The Broadway Body 1. "I Saw What They Were Hiring": Casting and Recasting A Chorus Line Part II: Size 2. Dreamgirls, Size, and the Body Politics of Padding 3. "Must Be Heavyset": Casting Fat Women in Broadway Musicals Part III: Sexuality 4. La Cage aux Folles and Playing Gay 5. "Keeping It Gay" on The Great White Way Part IV: Ability 6. Deaf West's Awakening of Broadway 7. Musicals, Physical Difference, and Disability Epilogue: Recasting Broadway Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA handy and engaging chronicle, this book is the most detailed production history to date of the original Broadway version of Cabaret, showing how the show evolved from Christopher Isherwood''s Berlin stories, into John van Druten''s stage play, a British film adaptation, and then the Broadway musical, conceived and directed by Harold Prince as an early concept musical. With nearly 40 illustrations, full cast credits, and a bibliography, The Making of Cabaret will appeal to musical theatre aficionados, theatre specialists, and students and performers of musical theatre.Trade ReviewEntertaining and knowledgeable, [Cabaret] adds usefully to our understanding of creative processes - and it's a thoroughly good read. * Arthur Pritchard, Journal of Theatre Research International *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Sally Bowles and Berlin ; 2. Prince of Broadway ; 3. Curtain of Light, Tilted Mirror ; 4. Cabaret Ambience ; 5. Kander and Ebb ; 6. Casting ; 7. Rehearsals and Boston ; 8. Broadway Opening ; 9. Reincarnations and Revisions ; The Future: A Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThis ground-breaking book considers one of the most popular musicals of all time, Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady." Using previously-unpublished letters and documents, author Dominic McHugh presents a completely new behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the show, revealing the tensions that went into the making of this beloved musical.Trade ReviewThere has been a welcome growth in the study of famous Broadway musicals and Dominic McHugh's Loverly is an important and absorbing addition to the literature. It is rooted in an impressively detailed consideration of the sources but wears its scholarship lightly and engagingly ... This beautifully written and scrupulously researched book deserves the warmest possible recommendation and it's essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in Broadway musicals. * Nigel Simeone, International Record Review *Table of ContentsCONTENTS ; Chapter 1: False Starts and Artistic Promise ; Chapter 2: From Page to Stage: The Genesis of My Fair Lady ; Chapter 3: Shavian But Not Shaw: Developing the Script of My Fair Lady ; Chapter 4: Knowing the Score ; Chapter 5: Settling the Score: Part I ; Chapter 6: Settling the Score: Part II ; Chapter 7: My Fair Lady On Stage ; Chapter 8: The Legacy of My Fair Lady ; Appendix 1: "Without You" (early versions) ; Appendix 2: "Why Can't the English?" ; Appendix 3: "On the Street Where You Live" ; Appendix 4: Cut material from "The Ascot Gavotte" ; Appendix 5: "You Did It": Cut passage ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisOne of Broadway's foremost music directors emerges from the orchestra pit to tell how the music is put into a musical show. Part descriptive account, part instruction manual, this book offers a unique and invaluable look behind the scenes, from the point of view of the musical chief of staff, the music director.Trade ReviewIf you're interested in the world of musical theater I know you'll enjoy and learn from Joe Church's Music Direction For The Stage: A View From the Podium. * Alan Menken *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The View From The Podium ; Part I: The Music Director: A Job Description ; Chapter 1: Music Direction Yesterday And Today ; Chapter 2: Musical Stage Production ; Chapter 3: Job Opportunities For Music Directors ; Part II: Personnel ; Chapter 4: The Production Team ; Chapter 5: The Creative Team ; Chapter 6: The Music Team ; Chapter 7: The Performers ; Part III: Preproduction ; Chapter 8: Mounting A Production ; Chapter 9: The Music: Assessment And Analysis ; Chapter 10: Arranging For Music Directors ; Part IV: Rehearsals 1: Singers And The Stage ; Chapter 11: Overview Of Rehearsal Process ; Chapter 12: Individual Vocal Rehearsals ; Chapter 13: Ensemble Vocal Rehearsals ; Chapter 14: Rehearsals With Directors And Choreographers ; Chapter 15: Adapting Music To The Production ; Part V: Rehearsals 2: Musicians, Technicians, And The Venue ; Chapter 16: Orchestras And Orchestrations ; Chapter 17: Instrumental Conducting For The Stage ; Chapter 18: From The Studio To The Stage ; Part VI: Performance ; Chapter 19: Conducting In Performance ; Chapter 20: Maintaining A Production And Preserving A Show ; Chapter 21: Working As A Music Director ; Appendix A: Putting It Together ; Appendix B: Bibliography, Suggested Reading, And List Of Musical ; Works Cited

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewFinalist: Best Book of Criticism, Association of Mormon Letters, 2019-2020 "Johnson's examination of Mormonism and its exploitation of musicals for a theology of voice is fascinating and richly informative, and his second volume about the network of truth, falsehood, and belief in non-coastal musical theatre productions is an especially impressive accomplishment." --Studies in Musical Theatre"Johnson's book provides a look at a community with a very distinct and resilient common identity, at the ways in which that common identity emerged musically from the nineteenth century, and at the ways in which the special embodiment of theatrical and musical performance has shaped individuals into concert with that identity. . . . For late nineteenth and twentieth-century history of musical theatre, Johnson offers a valuable text." --Theatre Journal"Constructing a formidable thesis drawing on history, theology, anthropology, musicology, theatre, performance, and cultural theory, Johnson has produced a captivating read with a skillfully crafted set of arguments to elucidate this inimitably American religion. . . . This is a captivating and scholarly read that helps unravel this complex religion for specialist and non-academic audiences alike." --Journal of Religion and Popular Culture"In this book about voice and religion, Johnson successfully carves out a place for his own powerful and well-researched voice." --Mormon Studies Review"Johnson's work is truly interdisciplinary. . . . on almost every page, the reader is introduced to something surprising and provocative. Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America is a welcome addition to the growing field of American religious performance studies." --BYU Studies Quarterly​"Through careful historiography and close attention to sound, Johnson expertly maps the intersections of voice studies, Mormon doctrine, race and religion, and the worlds of American musical theater. Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America convinces us that theology, theatricality, nationality, and vocality are entwined in Mormonism and extend in fascinating ways into American popular culture."--Jeffers Engelhardt, author of Singing the Right Way: Orthodox Christians and Secular Enchantment in Estonia"This book adds to our understanding of the broad question that so many Mormon scholars have grappled with: the relationship between the faith and the nation. It extends the study of the faith into the critical arena of popular expression, and it helps us think more thoroughly about the place of Mormonism in modern American life." --Juvenile Instructor"Mormon theatre has been studied before, whether as Victorian vignette or parochial propaganda. But here Jake Johnson illuminates theatricality in religion itself, with Mormonism as his focus. I encountered surprises throughout, the kind that stay with you like corrective lenses."--Michael Hicks, author of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir: A Biography "Recommended." --Choice "Jake Johnson meaningfully explores many of the big issues and events in Mormonism. . . .Moreover, he does so with a novel approach few blog posts and podcasts do. If you think you can benefit from a fresh look at the history of Mormonism, and I submit most of us would, Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in American is a great opportunity." --Wheat Tares

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Book SynopsisThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints adopted the vocal and theatrical traditions of American musical theater as important theological tenets. As Church membership grew, leaders saw how the genre could help define the faith and wove musical theater into many aspects of Mormon life. Jake Johnson merges the study of belonging in America with scholarship on voice and popular music to explore the surprising yet profound link between two quintessentially American institutions. Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Mormons gravitated toward musicals as a common platform for transmitting political and theological ideas. Johnson sees Mormons using musical theater as a medium for theology of voice--a religious practice that suggests how vicariously voicing another person can bring one closer to godliness. This sounding, Johnson suggests, created new opportunities for living. Voice and the musical theater tradition provided a site for Mormons to negotiate their way Trade ReviewFinalist: Best Book of Criticism, Association of Mormon Letters, 2019-2020 "Johnson's examination of Mormonism and its exploitation of musicals for a theology of voice is fascinating and richly informative, and his second volume about the network of truth, falsehood, and belief in non-coastal musical theatre productions is an especially impressive accomplishment." --Studies in Musical Theatre"Johnson's book provides a look at a community with a very distinct and resilient common identity, at the ways in which that common identity emerged musically from the nineteenth century, and at the ways in which the special embodiment of theatrical and musical performance has shaped individuals into concert with that identity. . . . For late nineteenth and twentieth-century history of musical theatre, Johnson offers a valuable text." --Theatre Journal"Constructing a formidable thesis drawing on history, theology, anthropology, musicology, theatre, performance, and cultural theory, Johnson has produced a captivating read with a skillfully crafted set of arguments to elucidate this inimitably American religion. . . . This is a captivating and scholarly read that helps unravel this complex religion for specialist and non-academic audiences alike." --Journal of Religion and Popular Culture"In this book about voice and religion, Johnson successfully carves out a place for his own powerful and well-researched voice." --Mormon Studies Review"Johnson's work is truly interdisciplinary. . . . on almost every page, the reader is introduced to something surprising and provocative. Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America is a welcome addition to the growing field of American religious performance studies." --BYU Studies Quarterly​"Through careful historiography and close attention to sound, Johnson expertly maps the intersections of voice studies, Mormon doctrine, race and religion, and the worlds of American musical theater. Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in America convinces us that theology, theatricality, nationality, and vocality are entwined in Mormonism and extend in fascinating ways into American popular culture."--Jeffers Engelhardt, author of Singing the Right Way: Orthodox Christians and Secular Enchantment in Estonia"This book adds to our understanding of the broad question that so many Mormon scholars have grappled with: the relationship between the faith and the nation. It extends the study of the faith into the critical arena of popular expression, and it helps us think more thoroughly about the place of Mormonism in modern American life." --Juvenile Instructor"Mormon theatre has been studied before, whether as Victorian vignette or parochial propaganda. But here Jake Johnson illuminates theatricality in religion itself, with Mormonism as his focus. I encountered surprises throughout, the kind that stay with you like corrective lenses."--Michael Hicks, author of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir: A Biography "Recommended." --Choice "Jake Johnson meaningfully explores many of the big issues and events in Mormonism. . . .Moreover, he does so with a novel approach few blog posts and podcasts do. If you think you can benefit from a fresh look at the history of Mormonism, and I submit most of us would, Mormons, Musical Theater, and Belonging in American is a great opportunity." --Wheat Tares

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewNina Penner's Storytelling in Opera and Musical Theater is a remarkable blend of musicology and philosophy [that . . .] deserves to be a foundational text for future work on musical theatre. -- Andrew Kania * The Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsOverture1. What is a Narrative?2. Telling, Operatically3. Character-Narrators4. Orchestral Narration & Authorial Commentary5. Character-Focused Narration6. Works & Performances7. Performances of Works8. Performances as WorksFinaleBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewNina Penner's Storytelling in Opera and Musical Theater is a remarkable blend of musicology and philosophy [that . . .] deserves to be a foundational text for future work on musical theatre. -- Andrew Kania * The Journal of Aesthetics & Art Criticism *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsOverture1. What is a Narrative?2. Telling, Operatically3. Character-Narrators4. Orchestral Narration & Authorial Commentary5. Character-Focused Narration6. Works & Performances7. Performances of Works8. Performances as WorksFinaleBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The eccentric characters, amusing anecdotes, and pointed insights draw the reader in, making this an appetizing work."—Valerie Kivelson, author of Cartographies of Tsardom: The Land and Its Meanings in Seventeenth-Century Russia"Fascinating and entertaining, Russia's Theatrical Past takes us backstage at Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich's new court theater in the 1670s, tracking how actors, musicians, and theatrical companies from Northern Europe joined in Moscow with other directors, musicians, and amateur actors (many from the 'German Suburb') and staged works from Biblical epics to Tamburlaine. With on-the-ground detail (sets, casts, salaries, scripts), the authors display the world of theater and performance in Muscovy as a dynamic interchange of Northern European, Ukrainian Orthodox, and Muscovite culture."—Nancy S. Kollmann, Stanford UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsA Note on Dates, Transliteration, and TranslationList of AbbreviationsIntroduction: The Comedians Come to Pskov1. Court Music at Home and Abroad2. The Theater of Diplomacy3. Introducing Pickleherring: The Origins of the Russian Court Theater4. The Plays and "Ballets" for the Tsar5. The Play of Tamerlane6. From Tamerlane to Tamerlane and BeyondBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The eccentric characters, amusing anecdotes, and pointed insights draw the reader in, making this an appetizing work."—Valerie Kivelson, author of Cartographies of Tsardom: The Land and Its Meanings in Seventeenth-Century Russia"Fascinating and entertaining, Russia's Theatrical Past takes us backstage at Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich's new court theater in the 1670s, tracking how actors, musicians, and theatrical companies from Northern Europe joined in Moscow with other directors, musicians, and amateur actors (many from the 'German Suburb') and staged works from Biblical epics to Tamburlaine. With on-the-ground detail (sets, casts, salaries, scripts), the authors display the world of theater and performance in Muscovy as a dynamic interchange of Northern European, Ukrainian Orthodox, and Muscovite culture."—Nancy S. Kollmann, Stanford UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsA Note on Dates, Transliteration, and TranslationList of AbbreviationsIntroduction: The Comedians Come to Pskov1. Court Music at Home and Abroad2. The Theater of Diplomacy3. Introducing Pickleherring: The Origins of the Russian Court Theater4. The Plays and "Ballets" for the Tsar5. The Play of Tamerlane6. From Tamerlane to Tamerlane and BeyondBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewUniquely, this volume gives us innovative translations, detailed comparisons and interdisciplinary analyses of all three texts detailing the journey from Carl Gozzi's fiaba, through Meyerhold/Soloviev/Vogak's Divertissement, to Prokofiev's opera. Previous literature mapped some of the changes, but none offered the comprehensive analyses we find in this book. . . . The tripartite structure of the book is the most logical in terms of the material and, together with the cited paired chapters, as well as reading chapters as stand-alone texts, allow a multi-focus use both for the specialist and the general reader. The editors are to be congratulated for their overall innovative approach and for making the work of many Italian and Russian scholars available in English. -- F Jane Schopf * Stanislavski Studies *Table of ContentsEditorial NotesList of Definitions and AbbreviationsList of IllustrationsList of Musical ExamplesPreface: How Not to Die Laughing in a Lethal Time, by Caryl EmersonAcknowledgmentsIntroduction, by Dassia N. Posner, Kevin Bartig, and Maria De SimonePart I: The Fiaba1. Reflective Analysis of the Fairy Tale The Love of Three Oranges, by Carlo Gozzi , by Maria De Simone2. The Love of Three Oranges, Venice 1761: A Theatrical Provocation, by Alberto Beniscelli3. A Short Note on the First Sacchi Company , by Giulietta Bazoli4. Gozzi's The Love of Three Oranges: A New Horizon of Expectations, by Domenico Pietropaolo5. Carlo Gozzi's Reactionary Imagination, by Ted Emery6. A Cultural Pastiche of Fantasy, Satire, and Citrus: Gozzi's The Love of Three Oranges in its German Afterlife, by Natalya BaldygaPart II: The Divertissement7. Love for Three Oranges. A Divertissement in Twelve Scenes, a Prologue, an Epilogue, and Three Interludes, by Konstantin Vogak, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and Vladimir Soloviev, by Dassia N. Posner8. Carlo Gozzi in The Journal of Doctor Dapertutto , by Raissa Raskina9. Meyerhold and the Russian Commedia dell'Arte Myth , by Vadim Shcherbakov10. The Miklashevsky Connection, by Laurence Senelick11. From Divertissement to Opera: Two Russian Oranges, by Julia GalaninaPart III: The Opera12. Love for Three Oranges, by Sergei Prokofiev , by Kevin Bartig13. Tsardom and Buttocks: From Empress Anna to Prokofiev's Fata Morgana, by Inna Naroditskaya14. Notes on the Musical Parody in Prokofiev's Three Oranges , by Natalia Savkina15. Notes on the Notes , by Simon A. Morrison16. Boris Anisfeld, an Alchemist of Color , by John E. Bowlt17. Oranges in Leningrad , by Kevin BartigList of ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisJohn Williams has penned some of the most unforgettable film scores - while netting more than fifty Academy Award nominations. This updated edition of Emilio Audissino's groundbreaking volume takes stock of Williams's creative process and achievements, including the most recent sequels in the film franchises that made him famous.Trade ReviewA compelling, well-researched investigation of John Williams's role in the Hollywood film music industry."" - Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association ""Whether you're at all interested in film scores-their history, their changing styles, their reception over the years-or in the music of John Williams in particular, you will find much to enjoy in this new book."" - Film Music Notes ""An in-depth examination of how the legendary film composer restored the classical Hollywood music style and became a pivotal figure [in] the history of film music."" - Publishers Weekly ""Audissino should be commended for his passion and research of such a stellar composer as John Williams."" - Larry Timm, author of The Soul of Cinema: An Appreciation of Film Music

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“[A] gorgeous book”—Roger Lewis, Daily Mail (Book of the Week)“[An] extensive commentary”—Clive Davis, The Times“an intimidating marvel of scholarship. . . . The Letters of Cole Porter amounts to the last word [on Porter], a work as disjointed and delightful as any of Porter’s unforgettable songs.”—David Kirby, Washington Post“Porter’s ghost could not ask for better care than he has been given in The Letters of Cole Porter . . . . Laid out with a meticulous scholarly apparatus, as though this were the correspondence of Grover Cleveland, every turn in the songwriter’s story is deep-dived for exact chronology, and every name casually dropped by Porter gets a worried, explicatory footnote.”—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker “The letters [. . .] reveal previously hidden details about the life and work of Cole Porter. [. . .] This extensive collection of letters uncovered by the researchers – most of which are being published for the first time – feature Cole’s correspondence with stars such as Irving Berlin, Ethel Merman and Orson Welles, as well as his friends and lovers”—Bigstamp“It is a thought-provoking portrait of a brave, well-intentioned, if often misguided queen”—Gareth Russell, The Times“Suavely edited by Cliff Eisen and Dominic McHugh [. . .] so detailed and precise that anyone wanting to write the story of Porter’s life could start here”—Christopher Bray, Spectator“This is an amazing feat of collation [. . .] brilliant scholarship”—Oliver Soden, Literary Review “Cole Porter was considered one of the greatest songwriters of his time, and the originality, wit, and artistry, of both his music and his lyrics, have lost none of their lustre in the ensuing years. Yet his personal life has been clouded in mystery and gossip, much of it exaggerated or simply untrue. This new book offers the perfect solution: by reproducing a rich selection of Porter's letters from across his life and activities, the editors have allowed him to speak in his own words.”—Kevin Kline, actor and singer“‘Well, did you evah!’ Cole Porter’s letters are full not just of delightful gossip but of the detail of working on Broadway and in Hollywood during the golden age of the American musical. ‘What a swell party it is!’—or at least was for Porter moving through high society across several continents. His words read as gloriously as his music sounds.”—Tim Carter, author of “Oklahoma!” The Making of an American Musical“The considerable legacy of Cole Porter remains a powerful force in American music and this new collection of his letters is revelatory. It’s the closest we’ll ever get to an autobiography and is fascinating how a group of letters, sometimes written casually, collectively unmask previously hidden details about the man.”—Michael Feinstein, singer and Ambassador of The Great American Songbook“A magnificently researched, compulsively readable, and delightfully “de-lovely” volume.”—Geoffrey Block, author of Richard Rodgers“Essential to understanding the private man behind the public myths Porter himself so persistently perpetuated.”—Kim H. Kowalke, editor of Speak Low: The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya

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Acting in Musical Theatre remains the only complete course in approaching a role in a musical. It covers fundamental skills for novice actors, practical insights for professionals, and even tips to help veteran musical performers refine their craft. Educators will find the clear structure ideal for use with multiple courses and programs. Updates in this expanded and revised third edition include: A comprehensive revision of the book's companion website into a fully online Resource Guide that includes abundant teaching materials and syllabi for a range of short- and long-form courses, PowerPoint slide decks and printable handouts for every chapter. Updated examples, illustrations, and exercises from more recent musical styles and productions such as Hamilton, Waitress, and Dear Evan Hansen. Revision of rehearsal and performance guidelines to help students and teachers at all levels thrive

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Book SynopsisOpera in Performance elucidates the performative dimension of contemporary opera productions. What are the most striking and decisive moments in a performance? Why do we respond so strongly to stagings that transform familiar scenes, to performers' bodily presence, and to virtuosic voices as well as ill-disposed ones? Drawing on phenomenology and performance theory, Clemens Risi explains how these moments arise out of a dialogue between performers and the audience, representation and presence, the familiar and the new. He then applies these insights in critical descriptions of his own experiences of various singers, stagings, and performances at opera houses and festivals from across the German-speaking world over the last twenty years. As the first book to focus on what happens in performance as such, this study shifts our attention to moments that have eluded articulation and provides tools for describing our own experiences when we go to the opera.Trade Review''I find the book not only important and revealing but also downright exciting in how it points out connections and perspectives. An impressive work that I felt to be both brilliantly written and pioneering.'' Hans Neuenfels''With the present volume, Clemens Risi fills a serious desideratum. The discussion in theater studies has so far engaged too little with the repertory system of opera—viewed statistically, still the most common—from the perspective of performance analysis. […] The book will certainly soon develop into a standard reference and hopefully also contribute to conferring more visibility to opera in discussions in theater studies.'' Forum Modernes Theater"As the book’s subtitle suggests, Risi puts the performative dimension at the centre of his study. […] For Risi, the task at hand when analysing a performance from the realm of Regietheater is not rigorously to relate the event to the score in order to evaluate the production as well or badly done. Rather, ‘the focus is on the question of why and how a certain performance was able to affect the audience in a certain way’ (11). […] After a concise first part on the theoretical framework, situated against the backdrop of the performative turn, Risi goes on to approach opera in performance in its ephemerality and uniqueness as a bodily experience that is as subjective as it is intimate. Methodologically, he approaches the performative dimension through a phenomenological framework, arguing that phenomenology does not ‘describe any event independently from one’s own corporeal experience’ (114). Central to this study is the ‘phenomenal body in its materiality’ (95). Not only are the sound and voice produced by the performer’s body of importance, but also each body that belongs to the audience. Consequently, performances experienced by Risi himself take up most of the analysis. The author describes what he observed and felt, how other members in the audience reacted and what the overall atmosphere in the theatre was like. By doing so, he sheds light on experiences that regular opera-goers all have at some point. The quality of his approach lies in their promotion as objects of research and the establishment of an analytical toolbox to tackle them. […] It is a joy to listen with Risi to the many performances he describes so vividly. The longer one engages with his arguments, the more the author becomes the reader’s very own opera buddy. Risi’s descriptions of stage settings, singers’ bodily exertions and their vocal effects, his own impressions and physical tensions, and the atmosphere in the audience, are engaging and comprehensive. By almost ‘resurrecting’ the performance, the author creates the conditions for the performer–audience relation to incorporate the circle of readers too. All in all, Risi’s text proposes an important shift of perspective towards the performative dimension of opera, as well as a methodological approach that has already proved its urgency and applicability in opera studies.“ Elisabeth van Treeck, (Cambridge Opera Journal 34/2022) ''With the present volume, Clemens Risi fills a serious desideratum. The discussion in theater studies has so far engaged too little with the repertory system of opera—viewed statistically, still the most common—from the perspective of performance analysis. […] The book will certainly soon develop into a standard reference and hopefully also contribute to conferring more visibility to opera in discussions in theater studies.’’ T. Sofie Taubert, Forum Modernes TheaterTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction Opera and the PerformativePart 1 Theoretical FoundationsChapter 1 Beyond InterpretationChapter 2 Beyond Semiotics: The Interplay of Representation and PresenceChapter 3 Theories of Performance and the PerformativeChapter 4 The Entanglement of the Senses: Premises from Perception TheoryPart 2 Analytical Approaches Chapter 5 Symbioses and Contestations: The Interaction of Auditory and Visual ElementsChapter 6 The Interplay of Representation and Presence in PerformanceChapter 7 The Voice and the Body in Opera PerformancesChapter 8 Rhythm and Experiences of Time in OperaChapter 9 The Future of Opera? On the Mediated Experience and Distribution of Opera PerformancesConclusionList of Performances DiscussedBibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis20 Seasons: Broadway Musicals of the 21st Century catalogues, categorizes, and analyzes the 269 musicals that opened on Broadway from the 2000-2001 season through the 2019-2020 season.This book is the first to comprehensively examine the musicals that premiered on Broadway during this important historical period, which was bookended by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on one end and the Coronavirus pandemic on the other. It begins by exploring the historical context for the first 20 years of the 21st century and how this impacted American culture and theatre. Rather than chronologically, the musicals are then organized into categories based on their source material and whether they were original musicals or revivals, painting a detailed picture of the Broadway musical in first 20 years of the 21st century. Jukebox musicals, screen-to-stage musicals, revivals, and other original musicals are all covered, and each chapter ends with reading guides and discussion promptTable of ContentsI. Foreword by Diep Tran II. Introduction: 20 Seasons by the Numbers 1. 20 Years/20 Seasons 2. An Introduction to Original Musicals 3. Jukebox Musicals and Revues 4. Screen to Stage Musicals 5. Other Original Musicals 6. Revivals and Remounts 7. Beyond 20 Seasons Appendix A. Shows by Opening Date Appendix B. Shows by Number of Performances

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Book SynopsisA guide to The Welfare State, a theatre group which uses the traditions of carnival, music hall and fairground to entertain audiences. Their work formed the centrepiece of Glasgow's 1990 City of Culture celebrations.

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Trade Review"This book offers a series of supremely detailed and insightful case studies, each illustrating what is at stake when songs are heard – and seen – in films. Dyer investigates commonplace ideas about the use of songs in film and shows how these are enacted in the detail of a particular sequence, of a single movie, across a genre or over a performer’s career. He demonstrates expertly that the coupling of song and film narrative also involves choreography in relationships of race, gender and sexuality. This ideological operation is powerful precisely because song sequences are often so enjoyable, eliciting a sense of pleasure that Dyer conveys sincerely yet critically, and that is mirrored in the easy authority with which he writes." Dr Ian Garwood, University of Glasgow, UK"Richard Dyer has spent his career at the leading edge of helping us understand what entertainment does for us, beyond merely entertain. With this compact, engaging exploration of songs in films — from classical Hollywood musicals to 1970s Blaxploitation films, to Italian and Hindi cinema — Dyer takes us from the initial question "What does it mean?" to the deeper, more challenging, and yet more telling question "How does it mean?" Intertwining narrative, performance analysis, and social history, Dyer adds a distinctive focus by siting moments of song within geographic and temporal, as well as narrative and emotional, space. Songs can create ruptures in time and space, meld them seamlessly, set them in pointed contrast, or create fluid spaces of affect within a linear narrative. Dyer’s close readings illuminate not only individual instances but help us grasp what we already "know" - how complex even the most "natural" and "spontaneous" moments of song can be." Robynn Stilwell, Georgetown University, USA"What a pleasure to find Richard Dyer returning to the musical! In the Space of a Song combines reprints of some older pieces with several substantive new ones in a collection of insightful essays about the double function of song and singing in the musical. Whether you study this genre or are just passionate about it, In the Space of a Song should be considered required reading. It is, simply put, Dyer at his very best." Steven Cohan, Syracuse University, USA"In the Space of a Song...is without doubt one of the best examples of Richard Dyer's magnificent style, always characterised by placing film production in its historical context and as such, with the cultural preconceptions which shape each cinematic tradition." Teresa Fraile Prieto, translated from Secuencias. Revista de Historia del CineTable of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction Something about singing; No musicals: Italian cinema; All musicals: Hindi cinema Chapter 2. The Perfection of Meet Me in St. Louis Chapter 3. A Star Is Born and the Construction of Authenticity Chapter 4. ‘I Seem to Find the Happiness I Seek’: Heterosexuality and Dance in the Musical Chapter 5. The Space of Happiness in the Musical Chapter 6. Singing Prettily: Lena Horne in Hollywood Chapter 7. Is Car Wash a Musical? Chapter 8. Music and Presence in Blaxploitation Cinema

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Book SynopsisOffers a study of the cultural politics of sound in Bollywood cinema. Taking as its subject the expansive domain of the aural in cinema, this book identifies singing, listening, and speaking in cinema as key sites in which notions of identity and difference take form.Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Listening With a Feminist Ear Listening as Habit and Hermeneutic Soundwork Inter-Aurality Politics of Nation Singing, Listening, Speaking Chapter One: Singing From Singing to Musicking: Women’s Voices, Bodies, and the Audiovisual Contract Conjoining Sound and Image Playback Singing and the “Old” Audiovisual Contract Singing on Television The “Ethnic” Voice and the Aural Lag Millennial Soundwork Women’s Musicking and the Somatic Clause Chapter Two: Listening Re-Sounding the Islamicate: The Cinematic Qawwali and its Listening Publics Qawwalis’ Classic Features 5 Ishq Ishq! Romance in Classic Qawwalis World Music and Post-Liberalization De-Islamicization and Irrelationality In Sufipop Pious Listening in Dargah Qawwalis Spectacular Dancing in Item Number-Esque Qawwalis Chapter Three: Speaking Speaking of the Xenophone: Language as Sound in Satya From Cinematic Language to Dialogue-baazi Language, Politics, and Cinema Hindi Film Languages Accenting Bambaiyya Language, Violence, and Marginality Dhichkiaoon! And Other Cinematic Sounds Coda Listening, Loving, Longing Textual and Aural Pleasures Translation and Temporality Seditious Touching in Soundwork Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTheatremakers in the United States have long been drawn to madness as a source of dramatic spectacle. This book offers a dynamic account of stage musicals’ engagement with historically significant theories about mental distress, illness, disability, and human variance in the United States.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part One. Madness in the Mind. “Make a Date with a Great Psychoanalyst…”: Gazing Inward in the Dual Golden Age “Make up your mind! Make up your mind!”: The Neurotic Interior and the Dynamic Unconscious in the 1940s and Beyond Part Two. Madness in Society “There Are Heroes in the World…”:Psychiatric Activism, Antipsychiatry, and Political Consciousness “To Dream the Impossible Dream…”: Communities of Madness in the Musicals of the Long Sixties “Is That Just Disgusting?”: Filth, Madness, and the City in Sweeney Todd and Other Musicals Part Three. Madness in the Brain “What a Lovely Cure!”: Staging the Interior in the New Age of Diagnostic Psychiatry “Sing a song of forgetting…”: Listening to the Unconscious in Next to Normal Conclusion: Contemporary Visions of Madness as Depth Theatre Bibliography

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Book SynopsisSubverting assumptions that American musical theatre is steeped in nostalgia, cheap sentiment, misogyny, and homophobia, this book shows how musicals of the 1950s and early 1960s celebrated strong women characters who defied the era's gender expectations.

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Book SynopsisIn a cultural moment where racial identity is performed through Hip-hop culture's resistance to the status quo and complicity in maintaining it, Hodges Persley asks us to consider who has the right to claim Hip-hop's blackness when blackness itself is a complicated mixtape that offers both consent and resistance to transgressive and inspiring acts of performance.Trade Review“Hodges Persley’s passion for Hip Hip as a cultural aesthetic and methodology is second only to the fascinating case studies she analyzes. Like no other scholar before her, her multimodal engagement of Hip Hop pushes the field of theater studies and race to new heights.”– E. Patrick Johnson, Northwestern UniversityTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Licensed to Ill: Alternative White Masculinities in Danny Hoch's Jails, Hospitals and Hip-hop and Matt Sax's Clay Empire State of Mind: Remixes of the Hip-Hop American Dream in Nikki S. Lee's The Hip-Hop Project and Sarah Jones’s Bridge & Tunnel One Nation Under a Groove: (Re)Membering Hip-Hop Dance in Jonzi D's TAG and Rennie Harris's Rome & Jewels Musical Mash-Ups of Americanness: Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and Matt Sax's Venice The Ghosting of American History: Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton: An American Musical Conclusion: Arrested Developments: New Arrangements of Identity in Hip-Hop Performance Notes

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Book SynopsisTheatremakers in the United States have long been drawn to madness as a source of dramatic spectacle. This book offers a dynamic account of stage musicals’ engagement with historically significant theories about mental distress, illness, disability, and human variance in the United States.Trade Review“An original piece of work that addresses a notable gap in the field . . . Seriously Mad not only brings madness and musicals into dialogue but forges important ground in terms of the serious exploration of musical theater practice . . . Grinenko takes interest in the ways in which psychoanalysis shapes theatrical practice but also the broader cultural atmosphere around ‘broken’ minds.”—Anna Harpin, University of Warwick “Reveals the complicated—and yet often repeated—intersection of musical theater and contemporaneous understandings of mental illness, in examples spanning decades. The research spans numerous fields including musical theater and the history of psychoanalysis, which are brought together in an entirely readable and persuasive way . . . The book will have an enormous impact on multiple fields.”—Jessica Sternfeld, Chapman UniversityTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Part One. Madness in the Mind. “Make a Date with a Great Psychoanalyst…”: Gazing Inward in the Dual Golden Age “Make up your mind! Make up your mind!”: The Neurotic Interior and the Dynamic Unconscious in the 1940s and Beyond Part Two. Madness in Society “There Are Heroes in the World…”:Psychiatric Activism, Antipsychiatry, and Political Consciousness “To Dream the Impossible Dream…”: Communities of Madness in the Musicals of the Long Sixties “Is That Just Disgusting?”: Filth, Madness, and the City in Sweeney Todd and Other Musicals Part Three. Madness in the Brain “What a Lovely Cure!”: Staging the Interior in the New Age of Diagnostic Psychiatry “Sing a song of forgetting…”: Listening to the Unconscious in Next to Normal Conclusion: Contemporary Visions of Madness as Depth Theatre Bibliography

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Book SynopsisA full-scale examination of the amazing range of works resulting from the creative collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin.Trade ReviewPacked with terrific insights that will delight those who care about this music." —New York Times Book Review

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Book SynopsisA guide to Manhattan like nothing you've ever read. Author Dominic Symonds calls it a performance cartography, and argues that the city of New York maps its iconicity in the music of the Broadway songbook. A series of walking tours takes the reader through the landscape of Manhattan, clambering over rooftops, riding the subway, and flying over skyscrapers.Trade ReviewA witty, whimsical exploration of how the physical place of Broadway has been represented in song. The book brings place into an ongoing scholarly conversation about the ways in which Broadway musicals do important cultural work and adds layers of meaning to a form that is generally considered solely in terms of words and music."" - Andrea Most, University of Toronto""With an ear attuned to the rhythmic and harmonic structures of the musical, Symonds proposes inventive and sometimes audacious new interpretations of classic Broadway songs and songwriters. His examples explore how form and experience shape each other and provide affective maps of the city. . . . Broadway Rhythm offers a new way to read the American musical."" - Shane Vogel, Indiana University

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Book SynopsisOffers a study of the cultural politics of sound in Bollywood cinema. Taking as its subject the expansive domain of the aural in cinema, this book identifies singing, listening, and speaking in cinema as key sites in which notions of identity and difference take form.Trade Review“Sundar brings to the study of Bombay cinema the methods and insights of sound studies and feminism to produce a thoroughly original monograph that provides a model for how sound might be studied in cinema with an eye to historical and industrial specificity.”—Sangita Gopal, University of Oregon“Listening with a Feminist Ear is a tour de force. Using a robust theoretical framework, Sundar carefully illuminates the historical, technological, and ideological factors sustaining paradigms of sonic representation, effects, and modes of listening across seven decades of Hindi cinema. Superbly written and researched, this study foregrounds the importance of gender and sexuality in cinematic and cultural soundwork. Highly recommended.”—Caryl Flinn, University of Michigan“Pavitra Sundar has made an important contribution to sound studies and film studies with this rigorous and insightful analysis of the singing, listening, and speaking of popular Bombay cinema. Sundar’s clear prose and compelling case studies work to update the historical narrative and help us to listen more deeply, more broadly, and more sensitively to an influential tradition of soundwork.”—Jacob Smith, Northwestern University“Listening with a Feminist Ear lives up to the promise of listening to sound differently and not just using sound to register difference. Sundar offers an elegant analysis of the power of listening and the generative potential of soundwork.”—Sujata Moorti, Middlebury CollegeTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Listening With a Feminist Ear Listening as Habit and Hermeneutic Soundwork Inter-Aurality Politics of Nation Singing, Listening, Speaking Chapter One: Singing From Singing to Musicking: Women’s Voices, Bodies, and the Audiovisual Contract Conjoining Sound and Image Playback Singing and the “Old” Audiovisual Contract Singing on Television The “Ethnic” Voice and the Aural Lag Millennial Soundwork Women’s Musicking and the Somatic Clause Chapter Two: Listening Re-Sounding the Islamicate: The Cinematic Qawwali and its Listening Publics Qawwalis’ Classic Features 5 Ishq Ishq! Romance in Classic Qawwalis World Music and Post-Liberalization De-Islamicization and Irrelationality In Sufipop Pious Listening in Dargah Qawwalis Spectacular Dancing in Item Number-Esque Qawwalis Chapter Three: Speaking Speaking of the Xenophone: Language as Sound in Satya From Cinematic Language to Dialogue-baazi Language, Politics, and Cinema Hindi Film Languages Accenting Bambaiyya Language, Violence, and Marginality Dhichkiaoon! And Other Cinematic Sounds Coda Listening, Loving, Longing Textual and Aural Pleasures Translation and Temporality Seditious Touching in Soundwork Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBroadway star Ethel Merman's voice was a mesmerizing force and her vitality was legendary. This detailed biography tells the story of how the stenographer from Queens, New York, became the queen of the Broadway musical in its golden age.Trade Review"This well-written and psychologically astute portrait will satisfy musical theater fans and anyone who loves a snappy comeback." The Advocate "Masterfully analyzes Merman's work on stage, screen and TV with a sophisticated eye for detail that will delight theater buffs." Publishers WeeklyTable of Contentspreface vii 1 / Beginnings 1 2 / From Stenographer to Star 30 3 / The Early Thirties 67 4 / To Hollywood and Back Again 90 5 / Broadway's Brightest: The Early Forties 113 6 / Forging a Family 138 7 / What Comes Natur'lly: Annie Get Your Gun 150 8 / Call Me Madam 177 9 / A More Complex Image 192 10 / Madam in Hollywood 218 11 / Life with Six 239 12 / There's No Business Like Show Business 255 13 / From Mrs. Six to Mama Rose 278 14 / Gypsy: Ethel Merman's Musical Fable 293 15 / It's a Mad, Mad Schedule 333 16 / The Sixties and the Art of Love 347 17 / After the Big Stem--the Seventies 374 18 / Twilight and Transformation 401 19 / Afterlife 415 acknowledgments 429 a word on the scrapbooks 433 discography 437 stage work 443 filmography 463 notes 473 index 000

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Book SynopsisKey is one of the simplest building blocks of musicand is among the foundational properties of a work's musical identityso why isn't ita standard parameter in discussing film music? Key Constellations: Interpreting Tonality in Film is the first book to investigate film soundtracksincluding original scoring, preexisting music, and sound effectsthrough the lens of large-scale tonality. Exploring compelling analytical examples from numerous popular films, Táhirih Motazedian shows how key and pitch analysis of film music can reveal hidden layers of narrative meaning, giving readers exciting new ways to engage with their favorite films and soundtracks.Table of ContentsContents List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments Preface—The Scope of This Book 1 The Theoretical Groundwork for Film Tonality 2 Tonal Analysis of the Soundtrack 3 Filmic Characters Rising Up and Settling Down 4 A Tale of Two (Tonally Symmetrical) Films 5 Unheard Sound Effects 6 Happy Accidents: Intentionality and Other Closing Thoughts Appendix—Working Method for Creating a “Tonal Score” Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsIf You Want To Know Who We Are; A Wand’ring Minstrel I; Our Great Mikado, Virtuous Man; Young Man, Despair; Behold The Lord High Executioner; As Some Day It May Happen; Comes A Train Of Little Ladies; Three Little Maids From School Are We; So Please You, Sir, We Much Regret; Were You Not To Ko-Ko Plighted; I Am So Proud; With Aspect Stern And Gloomy Stride; The Threatened Cloud Has Passed Away; Your Revels Cease!; Oh Fool, That Fleest My Hallowed Joys!; For He’s Going To Marry Yum-Yum; The Hour Of Gladness; O Ni! Bikkuri Shakkuri To!; Ye Torrents Roar!; Braid The Raven Hair; The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze; Brightly Dawns Our Wedding Day; Here’s A How-De-Do; Mi-Ya Sa-Ma; From Every Kind Of Man Obedience I Expect; A More Humane Mikado; The Criminal Cried As He Dropped Him Down; See How The Fates Their Gifts Allot; The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring; Alone, And Yet Alive; Willow, Tit-Willow; There Is Beauty In The Bellow Of The Blast; For He’s Gone And Married Yum-Yum; The Threatened Cloud Has Passed Away.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsWhy Can’t The English?; Wouldn’t It Be Loverly **ABRSM selected piece: Singing syllabus from 2009, **Trinity Guildhall selected piece: Singing syllabus 2010-2012; With A Little Bit Of Luck; I’m An Ordinary Man; Just You Wait; The Rain In Spain; I Could Have Danced All Night **ABRSM selected piece: Singing syllabus from 2009; On The Street Where You Live; You Did It; Show Me; Get Me To The Church On Time; A Hymn To Him; I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsWhy Can’t The English?; Wouldn’t It be Loverly; With A Little Bit Of Luck; I’m An Ordinary Man; With A Little Bit Of Luck (reprise); Just You Wait; Poor Professor Higgins; The Rain In Spain; I Could Have Danced All Night; Ascot Gavotte; On The Street Where You Live; You Did It; Just You Wait (reprise); Show Me; The Flower Market; Get Me To The Church On Time; A Hymn To Him; Without You; I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face.

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Book SynopsisHamilton presents vocal selections from the critically acclaimed musical about Alexander Hamilton. The show debuted on Broadway in August 2015 to unprecedented advanced box office sales and has already become one of the most successful Broadway musicals ever.Table of ContentsAlexander Hamilton; Burn; Dear Theodosia; Helpless; History Has Its Eyes On You; Hurricane; It's Quiet Uptown; My Shot; One Last Time; The Room Where It Happens; Satisfied; The Schuyler Sisters; That Would Be Enough; Wait For It; Washington On Your Side; What'd I Miss; You'll Be Back

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Book SynopsisThe romantic musical comedy-drama film La La Land is the winner of six Oscars, seven Golden Globes and five BAFTAs. This selection of songs from the Oscar-winning music by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul has been simplified for easy piano. Features the Oscar-winning song 'City of Stars'.Table of ContentsAnother Day of Sun; Someone in the Crowd; Mia & Sebastian’s Theme; A Lovely Night; City of Stars; Planetarium; Start a Fire; Engagement Party; Audition (The Fools Who Dream); Epilogue

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Book SynopsisThe Gondoliers was Gilbert and Sullivan's last great success. In this opera, Gilbert returns to the subject of class distinctions and it's background connected with Venice and Venetian life.

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Book SynopsisHamilton Easy Piano Selections presents music from the critically acclaimed musical about Alexander Hamilton. Sir Cameron Macintosh's production opened in London's West End in December 2017.Table of ContentsAlexander Hamilton; Burn; Dear Theodosia; Helpless; My Shot; The Schuyler Sisters; That Would Be Enough; Wait For It; You’ll Be Back.

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Book SynopsisSpecially arranged in a clear, easy-to-read format, The Easy Piano Series: Film contains 12 really easy arrangements of popular film classics for the Grade 1-2 level pianist.Table of ContentsAs Time Goes By (Casablanca); City Of Stars (La La Land); Davy Jones Theme (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest); Hedwig’s Theme (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone); How Far I’ll Go (Moana); New Moon (The Twilight Saga); Not About Angels (The Fault in Our Stars); Pure Imagination (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid); The Ring Goes South (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring); See You Again (Furious 7); Star Wars (Main Theme) (Star Wars).

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