How Broadway Works

How Broadway Works PDF Author: Sharon Grace Powers
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493059955
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
How Broadway Works celebrates the unsung, out-of-sight people on Broadway who bring a production to the stage and shows young people interested in theater that there are myriad of vocations other than acting. What an audience sees is what is presented on stage: the actors, lights, orchestra, musicians, and sometimes stagehands. What they don’t see is backstage, where many theater professionals collaborate to bring the production to an audience. The most visible career in a production is acting, but not everyone can act or even wishes to be in the spotlight, but still yearns to be part of the theater world. There are several jobs in the theater community where their talents may fit. Theater professional Sharon Grace Powers highlights the positions behind the curtain that work together to put on a show. She focuses on an area of theater production on Broadway, including what the job is, what the job requirements are, what an artist’s process is, and how that specific job is integrated into the fabric of a show’s production.

How Broadway Works

How Broadway Works PDF Author: Sharon Grace Powers
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493059955
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Get Book Here

Book Description
How Broadway Works celebrates the unsung, out-of-sight people on Broadway who bring a production to the stage and shows young people interested in theater that there are myriad of vocations other than acting. What an audience sees is what is presented on stage: the actors, lights, orchestra, musicians, and sometimes stagehands. What they don’t see is backstage, where many theater professionals collaborate to bring the production to an audience. The most visible career in a production is acting, but not everyone can act or even wishes to be in the spotlight, but still yearns to be part of the theater world. There are several jobs in the theater community where their talents may fit. Theater professional Sharon Grace Powers highlights the positions behind the curtain that work together to put on a show. She focuses on an area of theater production on Broadway, including what the job is, what the job requirements are, what an artist’s process is, and how that specific job is integrated into the fabric of a show’s production.

The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals

The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals PDF Author: Dan Dietz
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538168944
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 663

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Book Description
Broadway musicals of the 1900s saw the emergence of George M. Cohan and his quintessentially American musical comedies which featured contemporary American stories, ragtime-flavored songs, and a tongue-in-cheek approach to musical comedy conventions. But when the Austrian import The Merry Widow opened in 1907, waltz-driven operettas became all the rage. In The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz surveys every single book musical that opened during the decade. Each musical has its own entry which features the following: Plot summary Cast members Creative team Song lists Opening and closing dates Number of performances Critical commentary Film adaptations, recordings, and published scripts, when applicable Numerous appendixes include a chronology of book musicals by season; chronology of revues; chronology of revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas; a selected discography; filmography; published scripts; Black musicals; long and short runs; and musicals based on comic strips. The most comprehensive reference work on Broadway musicals of the 1900s, this book is an invaluable and significant resource for all scholars, historians, and fans of Broadway musicals.

Unfinished Show Business

Unfinished Show Business PDF Author:
Publisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 9780809388578
Category : Musicals
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
In this fresh approach to musical theatre history, Bruce Kirle challenges the commonly understood trajectory of the genre. Drawing on the notion that the world of the author stays fixed while the world of the audience is ever-changing, Kirle suggests that musicals are open, fluid products of the particular cultural moment in which they are performed. Incomplete as printed texts and scores, musicals take on unpredictable lives of their own in the complex transformation from page to stage. Using lenses borrowed from performance studies, cultural studies, queer studies, and ethnoracial studies, Unfinished Show Business: Broadway Musicals as Works-in-Process argues that musicals are as interesting for the provocative issues they raise about shifting attitudes toward American identity as for their show-stopping song-and-dance numbers and conveniently happy endings. Kirle illustrates how performers such as Ed Wynn, Fanny Brice, and the Marx Brothers used their charismatic personalities and quirkiness to provide insights into the struggle of marginalized ethnoracial groups to assimilate. Using examples from favorites including Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, and Les Misérables, Kirle demonstrates Broadway’s ability to bridge seemingly insoluble tensions in society, from economic and political anxiety surrounding World War II to generational conflict and youth counterculture to corporate America and the “me” generation. Enlivened by a gallery of some of Broadway’s most memorable moments—and some amusing, obscure ones as well—this study will appeal to students, scholars, and lifelong musical theatre enthusiasts.

Broadway Swings

Broadway Swings PDF Author: J. Austin Eyer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472590023
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
In this textbook for performers, the position of a Swing-an Understudy for the Ensemble-on Broadway is examined from every angle, showing just how vital Swings are to the success of any musical theatre production. Authors J. Austin Eyer and Lyndy Franklin Smith draw on their own experiences as performers, and gather first-hand stories from other Swings about the glories and hardships of their industry. The book features interviews with over 100 Broadway pros-Swing veterans, Stage Managers, Casting Directors, Choreographers, and Directors-including Rob Ashford, Susan Stroman, Jerry Mitchell, Larry Fuller, Tony Stevens, Beverley Randolph, and Frank DiLella. Broadway Swings is the ideal guide for anyone considering a career in this most unique of positions, or anyone curious about what really goes on, behind-the- scenes, in a long-running show.

The Secret Life of the American Musical

The Secret Life of the American Musical PDF Author: Jack Viertel
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374711259
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
New York Times Bestseller: “Both revelatory and entertaining . . . Along the way, Viertel provides some fascinating Broadway history.” —The New York Times Book Review Americans invented musicals—and have a longstanding love affair with them. But what, exactly, is a musical? In this book, longtime theatrical producer and writer Jack Viertel takes them apart, puts them back together, sings their praises, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he shows us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next—by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion—from Oklahoma! to Hamilton and onward. Beginning with an overture and concluding with a curtain call, with stops in between for “I Want” songs, “conditional” love songs, production numbers, star turns, and finales, Viertel shows us patterns in the architecture of classic shows and charts the inevitable evolution that has taken place in musical theater as America itself has evolved socially and politically. The Secret Life of the American Musical makes you feel like you’re there in the rehearsal room, the front row, and the offices of theater owners and producers as they pursue their own love affair with that rare and elusive beast—the Broadway hit. “A valuable addition to the theater lover’s bookshelf. . . . fans will appreciate the dips into memoir and Viertel’s takes on original cast albums.” —Publishers Weekly “Even seasoned hands will come away with a clearer understanding of why some shows work while others flop.” —Commentary “A showstopper . . . infectiously entertaining.” —John Lahr, author of Notes on a Cowardly Lion “Thoroughly interesting.” —The A.V. Club “The best general-audience analysis of musical theater I have read in many years.” —The Charlotte Observer “Delightful . . . a little bit history, a little bit memoir, a little bit criticism and, for any theater fan, a whole lot of fun.” —The Dallas Morning News

I Wanna Be a Producer

I Wanna Be a Producer PDF Author: John Breglio
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 1495063690
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
(Applause Books). What does a "producer" actually do? How does one travel from that great idea for a show to a smash hit opening night on Broadway? John Breglio cannot guarantee you a hit, but he does take the reader on a fascinating journey behind-the-scenes to where he himself once stood as a child, dreaming about the theatre. Part memoir, part handbook, I Wanna Be a Producer is a road map to the hows and wherefores, the dos and don'ts of producing a Broadway play, written by a Broadway veteran with more than 40 years of experience. This comprehensive and highly informative book features practical analysis and concepts for the producer and is filled with entertaining anecdotes from Breglio's illustrious career as a leading theatrical lawyer and producer. Breglio recounts not only his first-hand knowledge of the crucial legal and business issues faced by a producer, but also his experiences behind the scenes with literally hundreds of producers, playwrights, composers, and directors, including such theatre luminaries as Michael Bennett, Joe Papp, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Patti Lupone, August Wilson, and Mel Brooks. Whether you are a working or aspiring producer, an investor, or are just curious about the backstage reality of the theater, Breglio shares his knowledge and experience of the industry, conveying practical information set against the real-life stories of those who have devoted their lives to the craft.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child PDF Author: J. K. Rowling
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780751565362
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
As an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and a father, Harry Potter struggles with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs while his youngest son, Albus, finds the weight of the family legacy difficult to bear.

Falsettos

Falsettos PDF Author: William Finn
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
ISBN: 9780573694240
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
"A seamless pairing of March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, acclaimed off Broadway musicals written nearly a decade apart. It is the jaunty tale of Marvin who leaves his wife and young son to live with another man. His ex wife marries his psychiatrist, and Marvin ends up alone. Two years later, Marvin is reunited with his lover on the eve of his son's bar mitzvah, just as AIDS is beginning its insidious spread"--Publisher

Beyond Broadway

Beyond Broadway PDF Author: Professor Stacy Wolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190639555
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
The idea of American musical theatre often conjures up images of bright lights and big city, but its lifeblood is found in amateur productions at high schools, community theatres, afterschool programs, summer camps, and dinner theatres. In Beyond Broadway, author Stacy Wolf looks at the widespread presence and persistence of musical theatre in U.S. culture, and examines it as a social practice--a live, visceral experience of creating, watching, and listening. Why does local musical theatre flourish in America? Why do so many Americans continue to passionately engage in a century-old artistic practice that requires intense, person-to-person collaboration? And why do audiences still flock to musicals in their hometowns? Touring American elementary schools, a middle school performance festival, afterschool programs, high schools, summer camps, state park outdoor theatres, community theatres, and dinner theatres from California to Tennessee, Wolf illustrates musical theatre's abundance and longevity in the U.S. as a thriving social activity that touches millions of lives.

Working on a Song

Working on a Song PDF Author: Anaïs Mitchell
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593182588
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
"Working On A Song is one of the best books about lyric writing for the theater I've read."—Lin-Manuel Miranda Anaïs Mitchell named to TIME's List of the 100 Most Influential People in the World of 2020 An illuminating book of lyrics and stories from Hadestown—the winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical—from its author, songwriter Anaïs Mitchell with a foreword by Steve Earle On Broadway, this fresh take on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice has become a modern classic. Heralded as “The best new musical of the season,” by The Wall Street Journal, and “Sumptuous. Gorgeous. As good as it gets,” by The New York Times, the show was a breakout hit, with its poignant social commentary, and spellbinding music and lyrics. In this book, Anaïs Mitchell takes readers inside her more than decade’s-long process of building the musical from the ground up—detailing her inspiration, breaking down the lyrics, and opening up the process of creation that gave birth to Hadestown. Fans and newcomers alike will love this deeply thoughtful, revealing look at how the songs from “the underground” evolved, and became the songs we sing again and again.