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Reference Books Books

Directors/Directing: Conversations on Theatre

(2009)

Insightful, in-depth and evocative, this is a collection of conversations with nine of the most innovative theatre directors of our time in Europe and North America: • Eugenio Barba • Lev Dodin • Declan Donnellan • Elizabeth LeCompte • Robert LePage • Simon McBurney • Katie Mitchell • Peter Sellars • Max Stafford-Clark. All these directors have developed their own highly individual theatre language and have been influential, nationally and internationally, across a wide range o...

Directors/Directing: Conversations on Theatre

Theatre Craft: A Director's Practical Companion from A-Z

(2010)

Theatre Craft is an all-encompassing practical guide for anyone working in the theatre, from the enthusiastic amateur to the committed professional. With entries arranged alphabetically, Theatre Craft offers advice on all areas of directing, from Acting, Adaptation, and Accent to Sound Effects, Superstition, Trap Doors, and Wardrobe. Enlightening and entertaining by turns, the celebrated director John Caird, honorary associate director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, shares his profound kn...

Theatre Craft: A Director's Practical Companion from A-Z

Stage Directing: A Practical Guide

(2003)

Stage Directing: A Practical Guide demystifies the art of directing for the stage. Offering detailed advice on every aspect of the process, it explores the ways in which a carefully orchestrated performance can be made to appear fresh and spontaneous. It shows how the ties between play, performers, and audience can be strengthened, and how the strategic intervention of the director can help to produce the most polished and elegant performances. Written for all those involved in the direction of ...

Actors' Yearbook 2011: Essential Contacts for Stage, Screen and Radio

(2010)

'An essential tool for all actors' Christine Payne, Equity 'Actors' Yearbook is a map, compass, guide-book' Simon Callow 'Use of this book will save you time and money' Samuel West 'The wide range of information and contacts should be a huge help to those undertaking their new journey' Judi Dench 'An excellent guide for those at the outset of their careers' The Stage Actors' Yearbook is a leading contacts directory for finding work in television, film, radio and theatre. Its listings include all...

Actors' Yearbook 2011: Essential Contacts for Stage, Screen and Radio

Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays

(1999)

Stephen Sondheim is arguably the most important writer for the American musical stage today, the equivalent in his field of Miller, Albee, O'Neill, and Williams. Yet he has rarely been treated seriously within the academy. Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays is an attempt to remedy that situation. Bringing together scholars and critics from a wide variety of literary and theoretical perspectives, this book undertakes to examine all of Sondheim's major productions and themes...

Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays

Way Off Broadway

(1991)

A Complete Guide to Producing Musicals With School and Community Groups.

The Location of Culture

(1994)

This classic study of Shakespeare's tragedies inaugurated a new school of Shakespearean study. Professor Wilson Knight reveals design and significance where previous commentary had remained baffled

About Musicals

(1998)

A reference book on musicals. It contains a comprehensive guide to the history, stagecraft, and famous personalities, as well as to the most popular shows. Among the classic musicals included are: "Show Boat"; "My Fair Lady"; "West Side Story"; "The Sound of Music"; "Oliver"; and "Cats".

Blumenfeld's Dictionary of Musical Theater

(2010)

Have you heard of the first American musical, The Black Crook, which opened in 1866 and had fifteen revivals? Do you know Oscar Straus's hilarious parody of Wagner's Ring cycle, Die lustigen Nibelungen (The Merry Nibelungs)? Do you know who the Ricci brothers, the Piccinni family, Edmond Audran, David Braham, or Francois-Joseph Gossec were? Look them up in this remarkable, thoroughly researched, lively book. Packed with nearly 1,800 entries, this is a must-have research tool and handy reference ...

Blumenfeld's Dictionary of Musical Theater

About 100 Years of American Musical Theatre in About 100 Minutes

(2006)

The ten musicals featured in this book, one from each decade from 1900 through 2000, represent the cornerstones of American music theatre. Relevant information about the composer, lyricist, book author, director and choreographer is included, as well as a synopsis of the plot and pertinent background about the development of the production. As a special bonus, the included CD features a complete recording of a notable song from each musical. The clever REPRODUCIBLE activities will promote rein...

About 100 Years of American Musical Theatre in About 100 Minutes

The Stage and the School

(2005)

The Stage and the School provides students and teachers with the tools needed to build key theater arts skills. Students receive instruction in classic training exercises, production techniques, and theater conventions. Skills are developed through lessons that help students draw on their personal experiences and build historical and cultural background knowledge, hands-on exercises that provide students with authentic practical experience in casting, directing, and presenting plays, frequent a...

Musical Theatre Choreography: Practical Method for Preparing and Staging Dance

(1990)

A guide for dancers, choreographers and directors, this book examines all phases of the choreographic process, such as structuring the dance, creating floor plans, staging, director, costumes and styles. Shows by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein and Gilbert and Sullivan are featured.

Musical Theatre Choreography: Practical Method for Preparing and Staging Dance

The American Musical. A Literary Study within the Context of American Drama and American Theater

(2003)

Although almost neglected in research and studies on American Literature, the American Musical is certainly the most interesting and the most popular genre of American theater and drama. It has been influenced by the necessities of a self-funding commercial theater system of a democratic country. The fact that it has developed in a country of democracy means that it should be a genre for everyone: the intellectual and the common man. Broadway has provided all these. In his study, Marc Bauch ana...

The American Musical. A Literary Study within the Context of American Drama and Ameri

Choreographing the Stage Musical

(1990)

'Choreographing the Stage Musical' combines the knowledge, experience and talent of two very special authors: Margot Sutherland (six years the Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in Dance at the Nonington College of Higher Education who lectured on both the Performing Arts and Human Movement Studies degrees and who was co-director of the Stage Musical Course); and Kenneth Pickering, a director of numerous plays, musicals and operas and who has written the book and lyrics for 3 successful stage mu...

Theatre in the Secondary School Classroom: Methods and Strategies for the Beginning Teacher

(2006)

If you're a preservice teacher planning to teach the theatre arts, an in-service secondary teacher considering a foray into teaching theatre, or a theatre professional considering the classroom, there's a lot to learn. But you don't have to know everything to teach well from the start, you just need Theatre in the Secondary School Classroom. Theatre in the Secondary School Classroom is the trusty guide that every new theatre teacher will be grateful to have as a ready reference. It's not an e...

Theatre in the Secondary School Classroom: Methods and Strategies for the Beginning T

Words with Music: Creating the Broadway Musical Libretto

(2006)

The dean of Broadway musical directors examines the dynamics of how the book, music and lyrics work together to create such hits as My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, Guys and Dolls, Hair, Pal Joey, West Side Story, Company, South Pacific, Threepenny Opera and Porgy and Bess. Howard Kissel, chief theater critic for the New York Daily News, extends the reach of Engel's subjects by bringing them up to date with commentary on such shows as A Chorus Line, Nine, Sunday in the Park with George, Rent,...

Words with Music: Creating the Broadway Musical Libretto

Becoming a Triple-Threat Performer: Developing Artistic Identity in a Post-Secondary Musical Theatre Program

(2009)

This study examined the role that performance arts training played in the emergence of students? artistic identities. As one of many instructors in the musical theatre program of a post-secondary college, the author fulfilled both the roles of researcher and studio music teacher. Multiple learning contexts were observed including the regimens in various artistic classrooms and in the vocal studio. The results of this study revealed that the students? construction of identity was positively impac...

Becoming a Triple-Threat Performer: Developing Artistic Identity in a Post-Secondary

Vivid Moments Long Remembered: The Lifetime Impact of Elementary School Musical Theatre

(2009)

This phenomenological study examined the long-term significance of participation in elementary school musical theatre productions. The research aimed to explore the common and unique themes that emerged from adults recalling their childhood experiences, and how these experiences affected the development of musical and life-related skills. A questionnaire was distributed to a diverse group of 134 individuals, in retail, business, and education settings, representing a stratified sample in two On...

Vivid Moments Long Remembered: The Lifetime Impact of Elementary School Musical Theat

The Broadway Song Companion

(1998)

The first complete guide and access point to the vast literature of the Broadway musical for the solo performer. Designed with the working actor in mind, the volume lists every song from over 210 Broadway shows, giving the name of the character(s) who sing(s) the song, its exact vocal range, and categorizing each by song style.

Stage Lighting Handbook

(2002)

The Stage Lighting Handbook is well established as the classic practical lighting guide. The book explains the process of designing lighting for all forms of stage production and describes the equipment used. This new edition includes up-to-date information on new equipment and discusses its impact on working methods.

Collins Guide to Musicals

(2001)

Would you like to know who played the lead roles in the New York opening of Oklahoma? Or the date of the first performance of Cole Porter’s Can-Can? Perhaps you’re searching for a list of the hit songs from Cabaret, or puzzling over which recording of Les Miserables to purchase. Collins Guide to Musicals answers all these questions and thousands more. Each of the 200 descriptive entries lists: composer, lyricist, and first American and British performances; principal characters, plot synopsi...

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance: Two volumes

(2003)

This new encyclopedia from Oxford views theater and performance as "human expressions with large cultural significance." These expressions extend beyond traditional theater to include opera, film, dance, radio, and even circuses, rituals, and parades. The 4,300 alphabetically arranged entries span all time periods, starting with ancient Greek theater to the present, and are international and cross-cultural in scope. Entries range from a small paragraph to several pages; only the longer entries h...

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance: Two volumes

Stage Directions Guide to Musical Theater

(2001)

Drawing from the columns and archives of Stage Directions magazine and adding new material and introductions that put the information into perspective, the editors focus on five main areas of responsibility in musical theater.

Stage Directions Guide to Musical Theater

So, You're the New Musical Director

(2001)

So You're the New Musical Director! is aimed at the person who has music training but little or no experience with musical theater, the high school choral director with a degree in music education, or the actor participating in community theater productions. It details the duties involved in directing a broadway musical, including overseeing singer and orchestra rehearsals and conducting the musical itself. The chapters follow the actual progression of musical theater, from a discussion of the p...

Broadway's Prize-Winning Musicals: An Annotated Guide for Libraries and Audio Collectors

(1993)

Broadway’s Prize-Winning Musicals is an indispensable guide for collectors of audio recordings of Broadway’s award-winning musicals. It presents, for the first time in one volume, shows that were recipients of Tony Awards, New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, or Grammy Awards. Also featured are the recordings of shows selected on the more subjective basis of listening enjoyment or budgetary considerations. This comprehensive approach helps librarians and fans compile a well...

Broadway's Prize-Winning Musicals: An Annotated Guide for Libraries and Audio Collect

British Film Music and Musicals

(2007)

This is the first book-length consideration of music in British films to appear in sixty years. During the 1930s, British-made musicals were the most popular films seen by British audiences while British film music produced some outstanding pieces that became concert hall classics. This book addresses music in British films, both as musical scores (in the first half of the book) and as British film musicals (the second half). Each section will start with a detailed chronological review history. ...

"Gramophone" Musicals Good CD Guide

(1998)

Uniquely arranged by composer, with an additional section devoted entirely to singers, the Gramophone Musicals Good CD Guide explores this glorious heritage of popular music. With biographies of featured composers and lyricists, and some 400 CD reviews of shows, films and recitals, there has never been a better way to explore the colorful, alluring, sometimes outrageous, but always entertaining history of the Musical. Whether you are interested in the latest cast album from the current West End ...

Musicals: The Guide to Amateur Production

(1994)

The Guide to Amateur Production

Musical Openings: Using Music in the Language Classroom

(1992)

This book explores the ways in which instrumental music can be introduced in the language classroom and the effects of using music to inspire student enthusiasm and creativity. It is aimed at teachers who love music, whatever their knowledge of experience of it, and demonstrates with step-by-step activities how the power of music can be exploited in a learning environment. The book draws on diverse musical sources and cultures and is accompanied by a cassette of musical excerpts linked to variou...

Musical Openings: Using Music in the Language Classroom

Musical Notes: A Practical Guide to Staffing and Staging Standards of the American Musical Theater

(1986)

“The entries in this `Guide' are arranged alphabetically, providing information on authorship and original production, a substantial synopsis of the story-line, notes on the production of the show (which include Tony Awards, ideas on technical and costume requirements, possible pitfalls, and budget suggestions), a list of songs of special interest, and details of instrumentation. A supplementary section on `Concept, Rock, Nostalgia and Others' differs from the main body of entries in providin...

Musical Notes: A Practical Guide to Staffing and Staging Standards of the American Mu

Film It with Music: An Encyclopedic Guide to the American Movie Musical

(2001)

This encyclopedic reference to the American movie musical identifies and describes the musicals and the artists who made them. Film entries range from the legendary The Jazz Singer in 1927 to Fantasia 2000. Artists ranging from Gene Kelly to Elvis Presley, Busby Berkeley, and John Travolta are included, as are musicians as varied as Irving Berlin, Paul Williams, and the Beatles. Entries also detail animated musicals, studios, perettas, rock documentaries, sequels and remakes, and dance movies. A...

Film It with Music: An Encyclopedic Guide to the American Movie Musical

Snow White: A Guide to Child Centered Musical Theatre

(1997)

A beautiful book providing everything needed to teach and direct a children's production of Snow White. Included are the story, a play version, a musical score, production notes, and a compact disk for the actual performance. No parts or extra copies are needed! The story is a simplified adaptation of Grimm's fairy tale, presented with exquisite color ink drawings of actual children who have performed the play. The story is accompanied by a glossary defining the more difficult words, and sugges...

Snow White: A Guide to Child Centered Musical Theatre

Producing Musicals: A Practical Guide

(2004)

The principles and procedures described in this book can be applied to shows of any size and complexity, from one–off cabaret entertainments to large–scale, multi–media extravaganzas. An invaluable companion for both first–time and experienced producers, directors, and designers, it covers such topics as: the key roles of producer, director, creative team, and staging departments; suggested approaches for producing, directing, designing, and casting shows; a breakdown of the rehearsal pr...

Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre

(1994)

For those familiar with Ganzl's Book of the Musical Theatre (LJ 4/15/89) or The British Musical Theatre (Oxford Univ. Pr., 1987), this is a much-anticipated work. Ganzl has admittedly (and wisely) avoided attempting a comprehensive study; there are, for instance, entries for operettas but not operas. Originally intended as a single volume, this two-volume set includes nearly 3000 articles on the most productive people and the most produced works throughout most of the world for the last 150 yea...

The American Musical Theatre: A Complete Musical Theatre Course

(1997)

A Complete Musical Theatre Course

Staging Musicals For Young Performers

(2004)

A step-by-step guidebook for producing a successful show with young performers. An invaluable guide for teaching, acting, singing and dancing. Comprehensive text with charts, forms and photographs.

Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theater

(2004)

The man who wrote the words to The Fantasticks and several other musicals shares his hard-earned wisdom in a book that's part history, part how-to, with just enough memoir thrown in to give it a unique personality and flavor. Jones (not the pop singer) lays out the rules of writing Broadway-style musicals, illustrated with examples from the great shows, from Oklahoma! on. He then explains how he endeavored to break those rules and advises writers of the new millennium on how they might do the sa...

Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theater

Staging Musical Theatre

(1996)

This all-in-one book is designed to help you become a superior producer, director or choreographer, or even a triple threat. You'll learn everything you need to know to put a show on the boards. It starts with selecting a musical, then addresses how to analyze and intepret your choice, coordinate the scenery and lights, costumes and props, and other technical elements. You'll be able to cast the top talent through efficient, well-organized auditions, and conduct productive rehearsals for music, ...

How to Direct a Musical

(1995)

How to Direct a Musical is a lively and practical guide to the seemingly overwhelming task of directing a musical. David Young brings to this handbook his extensive experience as a director of over 100 productions and more than 250 workshops in the US, China, Senegal and Brazil. Young takes a pragmatic, do-it-yourself approach, guiding the reader from planning to casting, rehearsal to opening night. Topics covered include script analysis, collaboration with designers, musical directors, choreogr...

Little Musicals for Little Theatres

(2006)

With this book, the many wonderful musicals that played the small theaters and cabarets of Off Broadway are finally given the spotlight they deserve. Little Musicals for Little Theatres is a comprehensive reference guide to over 150 small musicals that any theater or school can produce with limited resources. Each entry includes writing credits, synopsis, cast size, musical numbers, production notes, and licensing information. The book also includes the few Broadway musicals that have small cas...

Writing Musical Theater

(2006)

This complete guide to the modern musical covers the entire process of creating a show, from finding and working out the initial idea, through the writing of both songs and libretto, to the ways in which writers can market a finished show and get it produced. This comprehensive book, for the interested theatergoer and writers, new or experienced, is written in a lively and user-friendly style and illustrated with numerous examples, containing a how-to tutorial approach to its subject matter tha...

Readers Theatre: What It is and How to Stage It

(1995)

A complete guide to Reader's Theatre--what it is and how to stage it--including four award-winning scripts by Charles LaBorde, Jo Davidsmeyer, Caroline E. Wood, and Robert Hawkins. (Performing Arts)

The Encyclopedia of Acting Techniques: Illustrated Instruction, Examples and Advice for Improving Acting Techniques and Stage Presence--From Tragedy to Comedy, Epic to Farce

(1997)

From drama to farce, this photo-packed book offers a complete how-to reference to the craft of acting. Actors will find exercises for strengthening their focus and concentration, refining stage movements, improving voice, and understanding characters. 390 color illustrations.

The Encyclopedia of Acting Techniques: Illustrated Instruction, Examples and Advice f

Black Theatre and Performance: A Pan-African Bibliography

(1990)

"This important work contains just short of 4,000 citations to monographs, chapters in monographs, journal articles, dissertations, audio tapes, video tapes, and reviews. Drawn American and Western European as well as African imprints. The main body of the work is divided into three sections: `Cultural History and the Arts,' `African Theatre,' and `Black Theatre and Performance in the Diaspora.' . . . Because of its arrangement, it is an easy bibliography to browse. Four separate indexes (artist...

Black Theatre and Performance: A Pan-African Bibliography

Action Art: A Bibliography of Artists' Performance from Futurism to Fluxus and Beyond

(1993)

This comprehensive international bibliography is the first to attempt documentation of this diverse field, covering the history of "Artist's Performance." It focuses on its early twentieth-century antecedents in such movements as Futurism, Dada, Russian Constructivism, and the Bauhaus as well as its peak period in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with such developments as Gutai, Fluxus, Viennese Actionism, Situationism, and Guerrilla Art Action. Major emphasis is also given to sources on 115 individu...

Action Art: A Bibliography of Artists' Performance from Futurism to Fluxus and Beyond

2010 Screenwriter's & Playwright's Market

(2009)

Screenwriter?s & Playwright?s Market (SPM) serves as your personal guide to success by providing a wealth of information concerning script agents, script managers, production companies, screenwriting contests, play markets (theaters open to submissions), play competitions, playwright resources, and more. Along with up-to-date listings, it also offers you how-to and craft advice from industry professionals through upfront articles.

2010 Screenwriter's & Playwright's Market

The Performing Set: The Broadway Designs of William and Jean Eckart

(2006)

The large-scale Broadway musical is one of America's great contributions to world theatre. Bill and Jean Eckart were stage designers and producers at the peak of the musical, and their designs revolutionized Broadway productions. At a time when sets were meant to remain simply backdrops that established time and place but not much else, an Eckart set became part of the performance on stage, equal at times to an actor. Anyone who has seen Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables has seen the innov...

The Performing Set: The Broadway Designs of William and Jean Eckart

Edexcel A2 Drama and Theatre Studies Planning, Teaching and Assessment Guide

(2009)

For teachers, the flexible support provided by the Teacher's Guide will include specialist expertise and guidance on practical approaches. Material to support the transition from AS to A2 will be included, along with routes through each unit to ensure that your department has materials to help deliver the qualification.

Edexcel A2 Drama and Theatre Studies Planning, Teaching and Assessment Guide

Mechanical Design for the Stage

(2007)

Scenic effects involving rotating turntables, tracking stage wagons, and the vertical movement of curtains and painted drops have become common in both Broadway and Regional theatre productions. The machines that drive these effects range from small pneumatic cylinders pushing loads of a few pounds an inch or two, to 40 horsepower winches running multi-ton scenery at speeds 6 feet per second or more. Usually this machinery is designed by theatre technicians specifically for a particular show's ...

Period Make-up for the Stage: Step-by-step

(1997)

Period productions on stage, television and film are increasingly popular. Part of the success of these productions is authentic make-up. In this text, basic stage make-up for men and women is described and illustrated clearly for white, Hispanic, Chinese, black and Asian skins. Step-by-step instructions are given on how to create each look, from Ancient Egyptian, to the Punk-look of the 1970s."

Period Make-up for the Stage: Step-by-step

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