Directors and the New Musical Drama

Directors and the New Musical Drama

Author: M. Lundskaer-Nielsen

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2008-04-14

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0230611249

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This is one of the first books to offer a rigorous analysis of the enormous changes in the musical theatre during the 1980s and 90s. In addition, it focuses on the contribution of well-known, serious theatre directors to the mainstream Musical Theatre and it is the first book to offer a dual Anglo-American perspective on this subject.


Directors and the New Musical Drama

Directors and the New Musical Drama

Author: Miranda Lundskaer-Nielsen

Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan

Published: 2008-03-15

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

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This is one of the first books to offer a rigorous analysis of the enormous changes in the musical theatre during the 1980s and 90s. In addition, it focuses on the contribution of well-known, serious theatre directors to the mainstream Musical Theatre and it is the first book to offer a dual Anglo-American perspective on this subject.


Creating Musical Theatre

Creating Musical Theatre

Author: Lyn Cramer

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-12-02

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1408184753

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Creating Musical Theatre features interviews with the directors and choreographers that make up today's Broadway elite. From Susan Stroman and Kathleen Marshall to newcomers Andy Blankenbuehler and Christopher Gattelli, this book features twelve creative artists, mostly director/choreographers, many of whom have also crossed over into film and television, opera and ballet. To the researcher, this book will deliver specific information on how these artists work; for the performer, it will serve as insight into exactly what these artists are looking for in the audition process and the rehearsal environment; and for the director/choreographer, this book will serve as an inspiration detailing each artist's pursuit of his or her dream and the path to success, offering new insight and a deeper understanding of Broadway today. Creating Musical Theatre includes a foreword by four-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara, one of the most elegant and talented leading ladies gracing the Broadway and concert stage today, as well as interviews with award-winning directors and choreographers, including: Rob Ashford (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying); Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights); Jeff Calhoun (Newsies); Warren Carlyle (Follies); Christopher Gattelli (Newsies); Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes); Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde); Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon); Randy Skinner (White Christmas); Susan Stroman (The Scottsboro Boys); Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys); and Anthony Van Laast (Sister Act).


The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre

The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre

Author: Laura MacDonald

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-12-30

Total Pages: 838

ISBN-13: 0429535864

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Global in scope and featuring thirty-five chapters from more than fifty dance, music, and theatre scholars and practitioners, The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre introduces the fundamentals of musical theatre studies and highlights developing global trends in practice and scholarship. Investigating the who, what, when, where, why, and how of transnational musical theatre, The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre is a comprehensive guide for those studying the components of musical theatre, its history, practitioners, audiences, and agendas. The Companion expands the study of musical theatre to include the ways we practice and experience musicals, their engagement with technology, and their navigation of international commercial marketplaces. The Companion is the first collection to include global musical theatre in each chapter, reflecting the musical’s status as the world’s most popular theatrical form. This book brings together practice and scholarship, featuring essays by leading and emerging scholars alongside luminaries such as Chinese musical theatre composer San Bao, Tony Award-winning star André De Shields, and Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus. This is an essential resource for students on theatre and performance courses and an invaluable text for researchers and practitioners in these areas of study.


Directing in Musical Theatre

Directing in Musical Theatre

Author: Joe Deer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-01-10

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1136246703

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This comprehensive guide, from the author of Acting in Musical Theatre, will equip aspiring directors with all of the skills that they will need in order to guide a production from beginning to end. From the very first conception and collaborations with crew and cast, through rehearsals and technical production all the way to the final performance, Joe Deer covers the full range. Deer’s accessible and compellingly practical approach uses proven, repeatable methods for addressing all aspects of a production. The focus at every stage is on working with others, using insights from experienced, successful directors to tackle common problems and devise solutions. Each section uses the same structure, to stimulate creative thinking: Timetables: detailed instructions on what to do and when, to provide a flexible organization template Prompts and Investigations: addressing conceptual questions about style, characterization and design Skills Workshops: Exercises and ‘how-to’ guides to essential skills Essential Forms and Formats: Including staging notation, script annotation and rehearsal checklists Case Studies: Well-known productions show how to apply each chapter’s ideas Directing in Musical Theatre not only provides all of the essential skills, but explains when and how to put them to use; how to think like a director.


A History of the American Musical Theatre

A History of the American Musical Theatre

Author: Nathan Hurwitz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-06-27

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1317912055

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From the diverse proto-theatres of the mid-1800s, though the revues of the ‘20s, the ‘true musicals’ of the ‘40s, the politicisation of the ‘60s and the ‘mega-musicals’ of the ‘80s, every era in American musical theatre reflected a unique set of socio-cultural factors. Nathan Hurwitz uses these factors to explain the output of each decade in turn, showing how the most popular productions spoke directly to the audiences of the time. He explores the function of musical theatre as commerce, tying each big success to the social and economic realities in which it flourished. This study spans from the earliest spectacles and minstrel shows to contemporary musicals such as Avenue Q and Spiderman. It traces the trends of this most commercial of art forms from the perspective of its audiences, explaining how staying in touch with writers and producers strove to stay in touch with these changing moods. Each chapter deals with a specific decade, introducing the main players, the key productions and the major developments in musical theatre during that period.


Staging Musical Theatre

Staging Musical Theatre

Author: Elaine Adams Novak

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Includes production time lines, the duties of key people, information about notable musicals, a list of best musical numbers, suggestions for sets, costumes, and instrumentation, and more.


Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment

Musical Theatre, Realism and Entertainment

Author: Millie Taylor

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-29

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 1317091361

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What is it about musical theatre that audiences find entertaining? What are the features that lead to its ability to stimulate emotional attachment, to move and to give pleasure? Beginning from the passion musical theatre performances arouse and their ubiquity in London's West End and on Broadway this book explores the ways in which musical theatre reaches out to and involves its audiences. It investigates how pleasure is stimulated by vocal, musical and spectacular performances. Early discussions centre on the construction of the composed text, but then attention is given to performance and audience response. Musical theatre contains disruptions and dissonances in its multiple texts, it allows gaps for audiences to read playfully. This combines with the voluptuous sensations of embodied emotion, contagiously and viscerally shared between audience and stage, and augmented through the presence of voice and music. A number of features are discovered in the construction of musical theatre performance texts that allow them to engage the intense emotional attachment of their audiences and so achieve enormous popularity. In doing this, the book challenges the conception of musical theatre as 'only entertainment'. Entertainment instead becomes a desirable, ephemeral and playful concept.


Theatre History Studies 2010, Vol. 30

Theatre History Studies 2010, Vol. 30

Author: Rhona Justice-Malloy

Publisher: University of Alabama Press

Published: 2010-11-04

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 0817371079

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To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Theatre History Studies journal, editor Rhona Justice-Malloy and the Mid-America Theatre Conference have collected a special-themed volume covering the past and present of African and African American theatre. Topics included range from modern theatrical trends and challenges in Zimbabwe and Kenya, and examining the history and long-range impact of Paul Robeson’s groundbreaking and troubled life and career, to gender issues in the work of Ghanaian playwright Efo Kodjo Mawugbe, and the ways that 19th-century American blackness was defined through Othello and Desdemona. This collection fills a vacancy in academic writing. Readers will enjoy it; academics can incorporate it into their curriculum; and students will find it helpful and illuminating.


The Secret Life of the American Musical

The Secret Life of the American Musical

Author: Jack Viertel

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2016-03-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0374711259

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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