(Easy Piano Vocal Selections). 12 songs from the Broadway standard, including: Adelaide's Lament * Guys and Dolls * I've Never Been in Love Before * If I Were a Bell * Luck Be a Lady * Sit down You're Rockin' the Boat * and more.
Slick, upbeat and funny, these stories inspired the popular musical and film Guys and Dolls. 'Of all the high players this country ever sees, there is no doubt but that the guy they call the Sky is the highest. He will bet all he has, and nobody can bet any more than this'.
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
Guys, Dolls, and Curveballs is a delightful collection of ballpark dispatches from one of the game's most unique chroniclers—Damon Runyon, the legendary reporter and creator of such mythic gangster icons as Nathan Detroit and the Lemon Drop Kid. Best known as the bard of Broadway for turning two-bit hustlers and deadbeat horseplayers of Jazz Age New York City into literary legend, Runyon was first and foremost a newspaperman. After arriving in New York from Colorado in 1911, Runyon went to work for Hearst News Service as a baseball beat writer. It was at the ballpark that he honed his legendary skills for finding the story where no one else bothered to look. A master wordsmith, Runyon covered giants of the era such as Ty Cobb, and a Boston Red Sox pitcher named Babe Ruth. In addition, he brought an influential style to observing the rituals and rhythms of the ballpark, wryly commenting on everything from the gamblers and bookies doing business to the particular style of hat worn by a woman in the crowd. Editor Jim Reisler collects Runyon's writings on every facet of the game, making this a unique and indispensable look at our beloved pastime.
An important figure during the golden age of Broadway, John C. Wilson staged such famous productions as Kiss Me, Kate and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He also worked with many of the greatest actors, playwrights, producers, and other artists from the 1920s through the 1950s, including Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Carol Channing, and Tennessee Williams. In his twenties, Wilson met Noel Coward and became both his lover and manager. Following Wilson’s marriage to Russian princess Natalie Paley in 1937, he remained close friends with Coward until John’s death in 1961. In Noel, Tallulah, Cole, and Me: A Memoir of Broadway’s Golden Age, producer-director Wilson provides an eye witness account of a never-to-be-seen-again period in American theatre and culture. The narrative covers Wilson’s youth, his education at Yale, his experience working in silent films, and details of his professional and personal relationship with Coward. Wilson also recounts his theatrical career on Broadway and in London, his marriage to Paley, and life within international high society. The people Wilson befriended—Tallulah Bankhead, Cecil Beaton, Claudette Colbert, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, among others—are described with affection, candor, and colorful panache. Wilson also shares behind-the-scenes stories about such landmark theatre productions as Private Lives, Blithe Spirit, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Kiss Me, Kate. Completed in 1958, just three years before his death, Wilson’s autobiography sat idle for decades. Wilson’s great nephew Jack Macauley and theatre historian Thomas Hischak have edited the original manuscript and added commentary to help guide the reader through the myriad names and productions that are mentioned. From his long-term relationship with Coward to his enduring marriage to Paley, Wilson’s life was as charmed as it was celebrated. Featuring nearly forty photos, Noel, Tallulah, Cole, and Me is an engaging account of one of the most important periods in Broadway’s history, as well as a fascinating look into the lives of the glamorous men and women of the era.
A riotous story about an Indiana author who packs up his family and moves 900 miles (by car in a heat wave with four children) to take up residence in Connecticut where he will commute to New York City to work with the team who will transform his book into a musical comedy.
This volume contains a collection of Damon Runyon's often simultaneously hilarious, sentimental, and horrifying short stories. Full of memorable characters and masterfully composed narrative, these short stories constitute a wonderful addition to any personal library, and are not to be missed by discerning collectors of Runyon's work. The stories contained herein include: Beach of Promise, Romance in the Roaring Forties, Dream Street Rose, The Old Doll's House, Blood Pressure, The Bloodhounds of Broadway, Tobias the Terrible, The Snatching of Bookie Bob, The Lily of St. Pierre, Earthquake, and more. Alfred Damon Runyon (1880 – 1946) was an American newspaperman and author, best remembered for his short stories about the world of Broadway in New York City that resulted from the Prohibition era. This volume is being republished now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.
Jude Deveraux continues her beloved Montgomery saga in America with this dramatic, passion-filled tale of rebellion and love—a breathtaking adventure to be savored all over again—or discovered for the first time! In colonial New England, the British are hunting a fearless, masked patriot whose daring foils them at every turn. He's known simply as the Raider. Jessica Taggert, a proud-tempered beauty, thrills to the Raider's scorching midnight embrace, but despises Alexander Montgomery, the drunken town buffoon. In truth, the cleverly disguised Montgomery lives two lives...and only his triumph over the hated Redcoats will free him, at last, to know the full pleasure of Jessica's love.
In association with Mandalay Entertainment, FOR RIGHT OR WRONG takes an inside look at what it's like to snowboard for a living and combines action and documentary style footage about riders lives both on and off the hill.The movie carves out individual story lines that focus on the different facets of pro snowboarding including the urban snowboard scene; the competitive snowboard lifestyle and a riding trip to Russia with Jake Burton, his oldest son George, and select Burton team riders.Filmed in: Japan, New Zealand, Italy, Norway, Russia, California, Utah, Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey, Vermont, Minnesota and Alaska.