Author: Timothy R. White
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780812223644
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 288
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Book Description
A rich history of American theater, Timothy White's Blue-Collar Broadway tells the story of the people who created costumes, shoes, scenery, lights, and props. From the 1880s to the 1990s, White explores the shifting centers of theatrical craft and their impact on the nation and the iconic New York City district of Times Square.
Author: Timothy R. White
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812290410
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284
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Book Description
Behind the scenes of New York City's Great White Way, virtuosos of stagecraft have built the scenery, costumes, lights, and other components of theatrical productions for more than a hundred years. But like a good magician who refuses to reveal secrets, they have left few clues about their work. Blue-Collar Broadway recovers the history of those people and the neighborhood in which their undersung labor occurred. Timothy R. White begins his history of the theater industry with the dispersed pre-Broadway era, when components such as costumes, lights, and scenery were built and stored nationwide. Subsequently, the majority of backstage operations and storage were consolidated in New York City during what is now known as the golden age of musical theater. Toward the latter half of the twentieth century, decentralization and deindustrialization brought the emergence of nationally distributed regional theaters and performing arts centers. The resulting collapse of New York's theater craft economy rocked the theater district, leaving abandoned buildings and criminal activity in place of studios and workshops. But new technologies ushered in a new age of tourism and business for the area. The Broadway we know today is a global destination and a glittering showroom for vetted products. Featuring case studies of iconic productions such as Oklahoma! (1943) and Evita (1979), and an exploration of the craftwork of radio, television, and film production around Times Square, Blue-Collar Broadway tells a rich story of the history of craft and industry in American theater nationwide. In addition, White examines the role of theater in urban deindustrialization and in the revival of downtowns throughout the Sunbelt.
Author: Christin Essin
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472054961
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 287
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Book Description
Places backstage workers in the spotlight to acknowledge their essential roles in creating Broadway magic
Author: Julia L. Foulkes
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022630194X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 255
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Book Description
The making of the classic musical: “A fascinating read focusing equally on the show and the world into which it was born.”—Choice From its 1957 Broadway debut to multiple revivals, from the Oscar-winning film to countless amateur productions, West Side Story is nothing less than an American touchstone—an updating of Shakespeare vividly realized in a rapidly changing postwar New York. A lifelong fan of the show, Julia Foulkes became interested in its history when she made an unexpected discovery: scenes for the iconic film version were shot on the demolition site destined to become part of the Lincoln Center redevelopment area—a crowning jewel of postwar urban renewal. Foulkes interweaves the story of the creation of the musical and film with the remaking of the Upper West Side and the larger tale of New York’s postwar aspirations. Making unprecedented use of director and choreographer Jerome Robbins’s revelatory papers, she shows the crucial role played by the political commitments of Robbins and his collaborators Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Laurents. Their determination to evoke life in New York as it was actually lived helped give West Side Story its unshakable sense of place even as it put forward a vision of a new, vigorous, determinedly multicultural American city. Beautifully written and full of surprises for even the most dedicated West Side Story fan, A Place for Us is a revelatory new exploration of an American classic.
Author: Knut Holtsträter
Publisher: Waxmann Verlag
ISBN: 3830997566
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
The essay collection Americana poses the basic question of how American music can be described and analyzed as such, as American music. Situated at the intersection between musicology and American Studies, the essays focus on the categories of aesthetics, authenticity, and performance in order to show how popular music is made American-from Alaskan hip hop to German Schlager, from Creedence Clearwater Revival to film scores, from popular opera to U2, from the Rolling Stones to country rap, and from Steve Earle to the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles.
Author: Amy S. Osatinski
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000914690
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 171
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Book Description
20 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 prompts. The book not only discusses what was produced, but by whom, uncovering the stark lack of representation for women and artists of color on Broadway musical creative and design teams. Additionally, the last chapter discusses the COVID-19 pandemic, the Broadway shutdown, and what happened to the Broadway musical during the shutdown, including the response to the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020. 20 Seasons: Broadway Musicals of the 21st Century will appeal to fans and scholars of musical theatre, as well as students of Musical Theatre, Musical Theatre History, American Studies, and Pop Culture Studies.
Author: John Kander
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429928328
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280
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Book Description
The autobiography, in dialogue, of the composer and lyricist of Chicago and Cabaret as well as a wise and witty memoir of forty years of American musicals. Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb are the longest-running composer-lyricist team in Broadway history, having first joined forces in 1962. The fruits of their collaboration have helped to push American musical theater in a more daring direction both musically and dramatically. At the same time, their impact on individual performers—such as Liza Minelli, who has provided the introduction—has been substantial. Starting with Flora, The Red Menace, their first show together (as well as their first with Liza), and continuing with such groundbreaking works as Cabaret, Chicago, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, Kander and Ebb—ably assisted by Greg Lawrence—discuss their lives and careers with wit and acuity. In exploring the creation of truly original work such as Cabaret, reflecting on what makes a song work, reviewing what they liked (and didn’t like) about the film adaptation of Chicago, and discussing the mechanics of their own collaborative process, Kander and Ebb provide a history not only of their own lives but also of twentieth century American musical theater. Praise for Colored Lights “Anyone who enjoys musical theater will delight in this anecdotal memoir by an accomplished musical team who began their partnership in 1962. . . . Their recollections bring the golden age of musical theater to life and reveal the nuts and bolts of creating a score for a successful musical. The two reminisce freely about stars such as Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand and Bob Fosse, with whom they had close working relationships.” —Publishers Weekly
Author: William A. Everett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107114748
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 503
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Book Description
An expanded and updated edition of this acclaimed, wide-ranging survey of musical theatre in New York, London, and elsewhere.
Author: Paul Dwyer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315298031
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401
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Book Description
Using in-depth analysis of film, TV, news and online productions, Understanding Media Production shows how media theory helps aspiring producers understand good practice in media production. With detailed contemporary examples, including Pirates of The Caribbean, Game of Thrones, Love Island and PewDiePie’s "letsplay" videos, Dwyer highlights similarities and differences in the production strategies and styles used for a wide range of media products. The book tracks the evolution of these entertainment formats and the emergence of the media businesses which produce them. Chapters describe the key production practices associated with each format, including single and multi-camera filming, news reporting, three-point lighting and gameplay animation. They also explain the development of the production roles associated with these content forms; directors, producers, reporters, correspondents etc. The book goes on to explain how media businesses have used new technologies and production innovations to reduce costs and increase profits, resulting in dramatic changes to established production practices and roles. By comparing media production across media industries, in the UK and US, and illustrating the links between economic, sociopolitical and cultural influences on production, Understanding Media Production opens up a constructive debate between media practitioners and theorists about key questions of creativity and innovation in production.
Author: Michael J. Boskin
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 148326100X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 417
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Book Description
Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics: Economics and Human Welfare: Essays in Honor of Tibor Scitovsky focuses on the principles, influence, and contributions of Tibor Scitovsky on economics. The selection first elaborates on welfare economics and microeconomic theory, property rights doctrine and demand revelation under incomplete information, and experiments in the pricing of theater tickets. Discussions focus on the effect on audience composition, volume, and revenues, failure of bargaining under privacy, growing disenchantment with economic growth, and bargaining as a game of incomplete information. The text then takes a look at economics and the transformation of the idea of progress and changes in the size distribution of income. The text ponders on welfare criteria, distribution, and cost- benefit analysis; position of ethics in the theory of production; and rationing and price as methods of restricting demand for specific products. Topics include excise taxation with revenue distributed like rations; private and social returns to morality; effect of changes in the cost of organization and communication; and logical and historical foundation of the theory of the welfare state. The selection is highly recommended for economists and researchers interested in pursuing studies on the relationship of economics and human welfare.
