Music of film and stage Books

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Book SynopsisA captivating full account of a vital, exciting, and turbulent cultural moment: the making of ground-breaking classic West Side Story (1961).A major hit on Broadway, on film West Side Story became immortal. Unforgettable songs, an urgent love story, audacious choreography in real New York locations: West Side Story was a movie different from anything that had come before, but this cinematic victory came at a price.The film''s enormous budget and complicated logistics made it a difficult production, and massive overruns in both cost and schedule led to tension between co-directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The result was Robbins being fired midway through the filming, a termination devastating to the film''s star, Natalie Wood, who was also shattered upon discovering that she would not be permitted to do her own singing.Over nearly six decades, West Side Story has endured, past its off-screen dramas, as a classic. What other film makes such intrinsically powerful and brilliant use

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Book SynopsisAlthough Noël Coward's work as playwright, songwriter and actor has long been celebrated, his contributions to the British musical have largely been forgotten. Selected Musical Plays by Noël Coward: A Critical Anthology rectifies this omission from the musical theatre landscape, demonstrating how Coward's adaptability, creativity, and myriad of styles is imitated in the incredible musicals he authored. From flop shows at Drury Lane with Mary Martin through to his Broadway hits with Elaine Stritch, this anthology chronicles the variety of styles written by Coward, from revue to musical comedy to operetta. The works in this volume provide a contemporary critical introduction that illustrates the breadth and depth of his work, and highlighting the diverse identities of the collaborators and performers with whom he worked. Though the style of these works varies, they are linked together by his creative thread, and his ability to craft barbed and witty observations of his social worTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. This Year of Grace (1928), also known as Cochran’s 1928 Revue 3. Bitter Sweet (1929) 4. Words and Music (1932) 5. Pacific 1860 (1946) 6. Ace of Clubs (1949) 7. Sail Away (1961) 8. The Girl Who Came to Supper (1963)

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Book SynopsisThe shortest runs can have the longest legacies: for too long, scholarship surrounding British musical theatre has coalesced around the biggest names, ignoring important works that have not had the critical engagement they deserve. Through academic interrogation and industry insight, this unique collection of essays recognizes these works, shining a light on their creative achievements and legacies. With each chapter focusing on a different significant musical, a selection of shows spanning 2010s are analysed and the development and evolution of the genre is explored. Touching on key, hit shows such as SIX, Matilda, Everybody''s Talking About Jamie, The Grinning Man and Bend it Like Beckham, each chapter discusses different theatrical elements, from dramaturgy and musicology to reception, and also includes an interview with a practitioner related to each musical, providing in-depth understanding and invaluable practical and industry knowledge. ITable of ContentsForeword – Kate Marlais Foreword – Tim Sutton List of Contributors List of Images Introduction Chapter 1 - Bros Abroad: Masculinities in Transition and Homosocial Bonding in Dougal Irvine’s Departure Lounge - Broderick Chow Dougal Irvine Interview Chapter 2 - ‘The Smell of Rebellion’ and ‘The Stench of Revolt’: The Carnivalesque Dramaturgy of Matilda the Musical from Page to Stage - Stephanie Lim Ellen Kane Interview Chapter 3 - ‘Glitching’ of gender and temporality in Lift – Jozey Grae Perfect Pitch Interview - Andy Barnes, Wendy Barnes Chapter 4 - Bend it Like Beckham: The Musical: Embodying British Identities - Kelsey Blair Preeya Kalidas Interview Chapter 5 - Flowers for Mrs Harris: Covid-19, Women’s Work, and the Musical’s ‘some kind of bliss’- Sarah K. Whitfield Rachel Wagstaff & Richard Taylor Interview Chapter 6 - ‘You’re him and he is you’: Identification with the Disabled ‘Freak’ in The Grinning Man - Ellen Armstrong Toby Olié Interview Chapter 7 - “Something Precious You Don’t Simply Give Away”: Intersections of Love and Queer Expression in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie - Hannah Marie Robbins Rob Hastie Interview Chapter 8 - ‘One of a kind, no category’: Coding Race, Gender, and Excess in SIX - Aviva Neff Josh Bird Interview Chapter 9 - My Left Right Foot: The Musical – Judith Drake Noisemaker Interview Chapter 10 - ‘As if Gathered in a Verbatim Fashion’: The (Mis)Use of Documentary Markers in Chris Bush and Matt Winkworth’s The Assassination of Katie Hopkins - Cyrielle Garson Lucy Osborne Interview Conclusion

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Book SynopsisEveryone has heard the songs from The Sound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The stage show was a roaring success in New York and London, and the much-loved feature film, directed by Hollywood veteran Robert Wise, continues to be a staple of television schedules 50 years after its release in 1965. In this fascinating and wide-ranging book, Paul Simpson explores the incredible story of the Von Trapp family and their escape from the Third Reich in all its incarnations, from real-life adventure, to book, to stage, to award-winning film to cultural phenomenon. He discusses the stage show, the many differences that were incorporated into the fictionalisation of the tale, and how that story was brought to the screen. He also looks at the numerous other ways in which the Von Trapp's story has been told, including the two West German movies from the 1950s and the extensive forty-part Japanese anime series from the 1990s, to explain why the story of the Von Trapp family haTrade ReviewEssential guide to the iconic film. -- Roger Lewis * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisEver dreamt of putting on a musical from scratch? Or perhaps you already have, but some extra guidance would be welcome. Look no further: this book will give you all the information you need to successfully stage a musical. Placing a firm emphasis on good organisation and careful planning, Matthew White guides the reader through the various stages and processes involved in putting on a musical theatre production: from choosing the right show and creating budgets and schedules, through holding auditions and taking rehearsals, culminating in the final run of performances and the after-show party. The book also explains how to deal successfully with everything from set, costume, and lighting design to ticket sales and publicity. Drawing on his own extensive experience working as a director, actor, and writer in professional musical theatre, the author also talks to other key industry figures to explore how they contribute to the overall process of putting on a show. Staging MusicalsTrade ReviewWhite gives theater students, working professionals and fans some genuine insight into how to stage a musical. Whether you’re an ambitious member of your local community theater, dreaming of making it on Broadway or just want to know more about what goes into creating your favorite shows, White gives a step by step guide from start to finish. * Broadway Direct *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword, by Cameron Mackintosh Introduction 1 Where does it all begin? 2 The creative team 3 Stage management and technical support 4 Budgets, schedules and publicity 5 Research and design 6 Casting the show 7 The first day of rehearsals 8 Rehearsals - creating a company 9 Rehearsals - songs, scenes, choreography and staging 10 Rehearsals - stage management responsibilities 11 From the rehearsal room to the stage 12 The first night and beyond 13 The Musical as a distinct genre Appendix Index

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Book SynopsisThis edited collection looks closely at the range and scope of contemporary film musicals, from stage adaptations like 'Mamma Mia!' (2008) and 'Les Miserables' (2012), to less conventional works that elide the genre, like' Team America: World Police' (2004) and Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill' (2003/04).

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Book SynopsisÊMusic by Richard RodgersÊÞÊLyrics by Oscar Hammerstein IIÊÞÊBook by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua LoganÊÞÊAdapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelÊ Tales of the South Pacific Êby James A. MichenerÊÞÞWinner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony for Best Musical ÊSouth PacificÊ flourished as the golden musical of Broadway''s post-WWII golden era. Nearly 60 years after its 1949 premiere ÊSouth PacificÊ returned to Broadway in Lincoln Center Theater''s glorious Tony-winning production setting box-office records and bringing this timely and timeless musical to new generations. With a score by Rodgers & Hammerstein and a libretto by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan based on James A. Michener''s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ÊTales of the South PacificÊ this landmark musical combines compassionate love stories with the saga of a world at war. Richly developed characters are faced with life-changing moments in a complex world their thoughts and yearnings powerfully expressed i

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Book SynopsisThe Book of Broadway Musical Debates, Disputes and Disagreements is purposely meant to start arguments and to settle them. Broadway musical fans won't always agree with the conclusions musical theater judge Peter Filichia reaches, but the best part of any drama is the conflict. Among lovers of musical theater, opinions are never in short supply, and Filichia addresses the most dividing questions and opinions in one book. What will you say when he asks, What is the greatest opening number of a Broadway musical? Will your answer be The Circle of Life from The Lion King, Heaven on Their Minds from Jesus Christ Superstar, or Beautiful Girls from Follies? Will you agree with his answer to Whose Broadway performance in a musical was later best captured on film? Did you immediately think of Robert Preston in The Music Man or Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl? More questions that will add to the fire include What song from a musical is the most beloved? and What's the worst song

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Book SynopsisWhen the young composer Douglas Cohen first secured the musical rights to the novel No Way to Treat a Lady by William Goldmanthe acclaimed author of The Princess Bride and Marathon Manhe hoped it would be his big break, the first step on a gilt path to artistic triumph and commercial success in the form of a hit Broadway musical.What happened after that, while memorable, was anything but.How to Survive a Killer Musical chronicles Cohen''s decade-long quest to bring that musical to the stagewriting, re-writing, and shepherding it across the US and Europe amidst all manner of adversity and plain rotten luck. It''s a fascinating portrait of passion, persistence, and resiliencea coming-of-age story populated with famous mentors and formidable adversaries, told with refreshing honesty and humor. On Cohen''s journey, he introduces us to an indelible cast of characters including a two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter who invites Cohen to his personal screening r

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisEinleitung.- Beiträge.

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Book Synopsis

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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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