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Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Theatre, drama > Musical theatre
Are you a teacher of musical theatre who struggles to plan and
construct lessons? Are you looking for a structured approach to
teaching musical theatre to students of all abilities? Do you know
your Ivor Novello from your Stephen Sondheim? Despite being one of
the most popular forms of performance study, Musical Theatre is
often the most difficult to teach due to its part-practical and
part-academic approach. With few books on the market directly aimed
at teachers, it can be a challenging and daunting task to devise a
course of study that takes in the history of the form as well as
considering the wider aspects that come together to make a
successful musical. A Teacher's Guide to Musical Theatre enables
teachers to plan and deliver courses in Musical Theatre with
confidence and flair. The unique structure of the chapters guides
teachers through key facts and concepts in musical theatre history
and offers practical in-class activities for students. From topics
for class discussion and essay assignments to journal entries and
portfolios to sample test questions, this book is full of practical
advice from experienced teachers in the field which make it the
idea companion for teachers and instructors on diploma and
degree-level courses, as well as those devising courses in
part-time performing arts schools. Devised to provide sufficient
engaging and inspirational material for an initial term or
semester, the book establishes the principles of teaching this
relatively new subject and encourages teachers to extend much
further into the subject. From The Mikado to Hamilton and
everything in between, this book breaks down decades of history
into appropriately sized lessons, designed to give students a
rounded survey of the subject and an understanding of how musicals
work. Offering expert guidance to those with varied fields of
expertise and practical experience but limited teaching experience,
this book is the only existing guide to structured and stimulating
practice.
NOTHING LIKE WORK is a personal memoir of the author's time in the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, first of all as repetiteur and then as
chorus master and associate conductor. It covers the last seven
years of the Company's existence from 1975 (its centenary year)
until its closure in 1982. This period included a performance at
Windsor Castle in 1977, a five-month tour of the United States and
Canada in 1978, a four-month tour of Australia and New Zealand in
1979, and the Company's involvement in the making of the film
CHARIOTS OF FIRE in 1980.
Our Musicals, Ourselves is the first full-scale social history of
the American musical theater from the imported Gilbert and Sullivan
comic operas of the late nineteenth century to such recent musicals
as The Producers and Urinetown. While many aficionados of the
Broadway musical associate it with wonderful, diversionary shows
like The Music Man or My Fair Lady, John Bush Jones instead selects
musicals for their social relevance and the extent to which they
engage, directly or metaphorically, contemporary politics and
culture.
Organized chronologically, with some liberties taken to keep
together similarly themed musicals, Jones examines dozens of
Broadway shows from the beginning of the twentieth century to the
present that demonstrate numerous links between what played on
Broadway and what played on newspapers' front pages across our
nation. He reviews the productions, lyrics, staging, and casts from
the lesser-known early musicals (the "gunboat" musicals of the
Teddy Roosevelt era and the "Cinderella shows" and "leisure time
musicals" of the 1920s) and continues his analysis with
better-known shows including Showboat, Porgy and Bess, Oklahoma,
South Pacific, West Side Story, Cabaret, Hair, Company, A Chorus
Line, and many others.
While most examinations of the American musical focus on specific
shows or emphasize the development of the musical as an art form,
Jones's book uses musicals as a way of illuminating broader social
and cultural themes of the times. With six appendixes detailing the
long-running diversionary musicals and a foreword by Sheldon
Harnick, the lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof, Jones's comprehensive
social history will appeal to both students and fans of Broadway.
In The Heights is the much anticipated American musical drama film
based on the stage musical of the same name by Quiara Alegria Hudes
and Lin-Manuel Miranda. This official, artist approved songbook
includes 13 songs from the movie transcribed for piano, voice and
guitar, plus original, full-colour photography and artwork.
Lin-Manuel Miranda's kinetic music and lyrics capture a world very
much of its place, but universal in its experience. The original
stage musical was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards and won four,
including Best Musical.
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