Bernstein Meets Broadway

Bernstein Meets Broadway PDF Author: Carol J. Oja
Publisher: OUP Us
ISBN: 0199862095
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
With an innovative historical framework, Carol J. Oja explores the emergence during World War II of Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green. At center stage are the mixed-race cast of "On the Town," which was their first Broadway show, the web of gay relationships surrounding the ballet Fancy Free, and a nightclub act called The Revuers.

Bernstein Meets Broadway

Bernstein Meets Broadway PDF Author: Carol J. Oja
Publisher: OUP Us
ISBN: 0199862095
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
With an innovative historical framework, Carol J. Oja explores the emergence during World War II of Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green. At center stage are the mixed-race cast of "On the Town," which was their first Broadway show, the web of gay relationships surrounding the ballet Fancy Free, and a nightclub act called The Revuers.

Jerome Robbins, by Himself

Jerome Robbins, by Himself PDF Author: Jerome Robbins
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0451494660
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 461

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Book Description
"A selection of the unpublished writings, journals, and letters of Jerome Robbins, with additional texts by Amanda Vaill"--

Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story

Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story PDF Author: Nigel Simeone
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351560387
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
One of the Broadway musicals that can genuinely claim to have transformed the genre, West Side Story has been featured in many books on Broadway, but it has yet to be the focus of a scholarly monograph. Nigel Simeone begins by exploring the long process of creating West Side Story, including a discussion of Bernstein's sketches, early drafts of the score and script, as well as cut songs. The core of the book is a commentary on the music itself. West Side Story is one of the very few Broadway musicals for which there is a complete published orchestral score, as well as two different editions of the piano-vocal score. The survival of the original copied orchestral score, and the reminiscences of Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, reveal details of the orchestration process, and the extent to which Bernstein was involved in this. Simeone's commentary considers: musical characteristics and compositional techniques used to mirror the drama (for example, the various uses of the tritone), motivic development, the use and reinvention of Broadway and other conventions, the creation of dramatic continuity in the score through the use of motifs and other devices, the unusual degree of dissonance and rhythmic complexity (at least for the time), and the integration of Latin-American dance forms (Mambo, Huapango and so on). Simeone also considers the reception of West Side Story in the contemporary press. The stir the show caused included the response that it was the angular, edgy score that made it a remarkable achievement. Not all reviews were uncritical. Finally, the book looks in detail at the making of the original Broadway cast recording, made in just one day, included on the accompanying downloadable resources.

Famous Father Girl

Famous Father Girl PDF Author: Jamie Bernstein
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062641379
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
The intimate memoir of Leonard Bernstein and his family, that helped inspire the new movie Maestro The oldest daughter of revered composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein offers a rare look at her father on the centennial of his birth in a deeply intimate and broadly evocative memoir The composer of On the Town and West Side Story, chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, television star, humanitarian, friend of the powerful and influential, and the life of every party, Leonard Bernstein was an enormous celebrity during one of the headiest periods of American cultural life, as well as the most protean musician in twentieth century America. But to his eldest daughter, Jamie, he was above all the man in the scratchy brown bathrobe who smelled of cigarettes; the jokester and compulsive teacher who enthused about Beethoven and the Beatles; the insomniac whose 4 a.m. composing breaks involved spooning baby food out of the jar. He taught his daughter to love the world in all its beauty and complexity. In public and private, Lenny was larger than life. In Famous Father Girl, Bernstein mines the emotional depths of her childhood and invites us into her family’s private world. A fantastic set of characters populates the Bernsteins’ lives, including: the Kennedys, Mike Nichols, John Lennon, Richard Avedon, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, and Betty (Lauren) Bacall. An intoxicating tale, Famous Father Girl is an intimate meditation on a complex and sometimes troubled man, the family he raised, and the music he composed that became the soundtrack to their entwined lives. Deeply moving and often hilarious, Bernstein’s beautifully written memoir is a great American story about one of the greatest Americans of the modern age.

West Side Story

West Side Story PDF Author: Leonard Bernstein
Publisher: Heinemann
ISBN: 9780435235284
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
This series of contemporary plays includes structured GCSE assignments for use by individuals or groups. These include questions which involve close reading, writing and discussion. This play places the "Romeo and Juliet" story in a New York gang-warfare context.

Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins PDF Author: Deborah Jowitt
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780684869858
Category : Choreographers
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description
Chronicles the life of American ballet choreographer Jerome Robbins, discussing his career and private life, his Russian Jewish heritage, and his impact on dance and theater.

Dance with Demons

Dance with Demons PDF Author: Greg Lawrence
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780425183472
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 622

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Book Description
Explores the life and accomplishments of the renowned choreographer and director, from his work on "The King and I" to the complexities of his personal life.

A Place for Us

A Place for Us PDF 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.

Jerome Robbins

Jerome Robbins PDF Author: Wendy Lesser
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300240422
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
A lively and inspired biography celebrating the centennial of this master choreographer, dancer, and stage director Jerome Robbins (1918–1998) was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz and grew up in Weehawken, New Jersey, where his Russian-Jewish immigrant parents owned the Comfort Corset Company. Robbins, who was drawn to dance at a young age, resisted the idea of joining the family business. In 1936 he began working with Gluck Sandor, who ran a dance group and convinced him to change his name to Jerome Robbins. He went on to become a choreographer and director who worked in ballet, on Broadway, and in film. His stage productions include West Side Story, Peter Pan, and Fiddler on the Roof. In this deft biography, Wendy Lesser presents Jerome Robbins’s life through his major dances, providing a sympathetic, detailed portrait of her subject.

West Side Story

West Side Story PDF Author: Richard Barrios
Publisher: Running Press Adult
ISBN: 0762469463
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 390

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Book Description
A captivating, richly illustrated full account of the making of the ground-breaking movie classic West Side Story (1961). A major hit on Broadway, on film West Side Story became immortal-a movie different from anything that had come before, but this cinematic victory came at a price. In this engrossing volume, film historian Richard Barrios recounts how the drama and rivalries seen onscreen played out to equal intensity behind-the-scenes, while still achieving extraordinary artistic feats. The making and impact of West Side Story has so far been recounted only in vestiges. In the pages of this book, the backstage tale comes to life along with insight on what has made the film a favorite across six decades: its brilliant use of dance as staged by erstwhile co-director Jerome Robbins; a meaningful story, as set to Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's soundtrack; the performances of a youthful ensemble cast featuring Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and more; a film with Shakespearean roots (Romeo and Juliet) that is simultaneously timeless and current. West Side Story was a triumph that appeared to be very much of its time; over the years it has shown itself to be eternal.