Theatre is often said to offer unique insights into the nature of reality, but this obscures the reality of theatre itself. In Real Theatre, Paul Rae takes a joined-up approach to the realities of theatre to explain why performances take the forms they do, and what effects they have. Drawing on examples ranging from Phantom of the Opera and Danny Boyle's Frankenstein, to the performances of the Wooster Group and arthouse director Tsai Ming-liang, he shows how apparently discrete theatrical events emerge from dynamic and often unpredictable social, technical and institutional assemblages. These events then enter a process of cultural circulation that, as Rae explains, takes many forms: fleeting conversations, the mercurial careers of theatrical characters and the composite personae of actors, and high-profile products like the Hollywood movie Birdman. The result is a real theatre that speaks of, and to, the idiosyncratic and cumulative experience of every theatre participant.

Those who have lived - not just witnessed - the efflorescence of a pivotal culture moment never see the world through veiled eyes again. Jimmy Lyons was there, devising wholly original inventions of words and music while the Beats, the neo-folk troubadours, the post-bop jazz shooting stars, and the tie-dyed psychedelic rockers were scorching through the underbrush and opening new paths of creativity as alternatives to the increasingly bottom line-driven mainstream. Lyons, though, wasn't content to find a niche in one countercultural movement or another. He kept moving, observing, and writing new poems, stories, and songs. But he never gave up on the wry sophistication of the classic American popular song. Indeed, he has dedicated himself to infusing the same hallowed forms perfected by Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, and others, with his singular fantasias of ingeniously colored and textured wordplay.

These plays have a subtext only Lyons can provide, derived from what he calls the "rituals of the road" and the "the circular rhythms" of the race track, the beats and pulses of everyday American life that rarely raise a ripple on the surface of American culture. Lyons hears the screams and dreams of his countrymen and woman; from them he creates new modes of expression. He has been changed by each of his open-hearted an open-eared encounters, and this body of work is his way of making those changes sing and swing. - Derk Richardson

In this welcome addition to the immensely popular Yale Broadway Masters series, Larry Starr focuses fresh attention on George Gershwin's Broadway contributions and examines their centrality to the composer's entire career. Starr presents Gershwin as a composer with a unified musical vision-a vision developed on Broadway and used as a source of strength in his well-known concert music. In turn, Gershwin's concert-hall experience enriched and strengthened his musicals, leading eventually to his great "Broadway opera," Porgy and Bess. Through the prism of three major shows-Lady Be Good (1924), Of Thee I Sing (1931), and Porgy and Bess (1935)-Starr highlights Gershwin's distinctive contributions to the evolution of the Broadway musical. In addition, the author considers Gershwin's musical language, his compositions for the concert hall, and his movie scores for Hollywood in the light of his Broadway experience.

The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical offers new and cutting-edge essays on the most important and compelling issues and topics in the growing, interdisciplinary field of musical-theater and film-musical studies. Taking the form of a "keywords" book, it introduces readers to the concepts and terms that define the history of the musical as a genre and that offer ways to reflect on the specific creative choices that shape musicals and their performance on stage and screen. The handbook offers a 9780199973842 of essays written by leading experts in the field, organized within broad conceptual groups, which together capture the breadth, direction, and tone of musicals studies today. Each essay traces the genealogy of the term or issue it addresses, including related issues and controversies, positions and problematizes those issues within larger bodies of scholarship, and provides specific examples drawn from shows and films. Essays both re-examine traditional topics and introduce underexplored areas. Reflecting the concerns of scholars and students alike, the authors emphasize critical and accessible perspectives, and supplement theory with concrete examples that may be accessed through links to the handbook's website. Taking into account issues of composition, performance, and reception, the book's contributors bring a wide range of practical and theoretical perspectives to bear on their considerations of one of America's most lively, enduring artistic traditions. The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical will engage all readers interested in the form, from students to scholars to fans and aficionados, as it analyses the complex relationships among the creators, performers, and audiences who sustain the genre.

Vocal ScoreMusic from Wonderful Town has been out of print for more than 40 years, so we are very proud to present this new edition of the brilliant musical comedy currently running in an acclaimed Broadway revival The music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green tell the story of two sisters who move from Ohio to Greenwich Village. After many hardships of adjustment, they find New York to be a "Wonderful Town." The original run of the show opened in 1953 and starred Rosalind Russell, and the Broadway revival, which opened on November 23, 2003, stars Donna Murphy. The cast recording is being released by DRG Records. Our Vocal Score includes all of the music from the musical.

Vocal ScoreMusic from Wonderful Town has been out of print for more than 40 years, so we are very proud to present this new edition of the brilliant musical comedy currently running in an acclaimed Broadway revival The music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green tell the story of two sisters who move from Ohio to Greenwich Village. After many hardships of adjustment, they find New York to be a "Wonderful Town." The original run of the show opened in 1953 and starred Rosalind Russell, and the Broadway revival, which opened on November 23, 2003, stars Donna Murphy. The cast recording is being released by DRG Records. Our Vocal Score includes all of the music from the musical.

Herman Finck (1872 - 1939) was a celebrated musical theatre conductor of the early 20th century, with a twenty year term as both musical director and composer at the Palace Theatre in London, followed and overlapped by sessions at the Queen's Theatre and the Drury Lane Theatre. He conducted the London premieres of many romantic musicals including Rose Marie, The Desert Song and Showboat; composed, arranged and orchestrated a great deal of music, particularly for revues (including Round the Map and The Passing Show), wrote around thirty theatre shows including operettas and ballets, and composed many light orchestral pieces and popular songs including 'I'll make a man of you' and 'Gilbert the Filbert'. As conductor he worked with many of the great luminaries of the period, including Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky, Vesta Tilley, Harry Lauder, Edith Day and Marie Lloyd. Finck was also a celebrated wit, bon viveur, and clubman, and his autobiography includes many gems of theatrical anecdotage and stories of his famous friends, ranging from Dan Leno to Sir Edward Elgar. It presents a fascinating and wide-ranging picture of life in London musical theatre in the early part of the twentieth century.

The space capsule "Lunar Lady" blasts off from Earth on a voyage to the moon with Dr. Braun, Percy and Henry Applegate on board. Upon their arrival on the moon they become aware that there is unrest between the "Nams" of the light side and the "Nooms" of the dark side. It just so happens that one bite from one of Henry's apples causes the both sides to forget their feud and become friends once again.
To celebrate peace on the moon, King Linus throws a "Galaxy Gala" and invites all the
planets to attend. Mercury Mercurial gets the speedy invitations out to "Queen Venus" and her court, the "Kazooties" of Mars, "King Jupiter," the "Saturnettes," the "Uranus Rockers," "King Neptune" and his Mermaids, and "Nicky" and his gang from Pluto.
A grand time is had by all but suddenly Percy reminds everyone that the "Lunar Lady" must return to Earth. Henry asks the Princess Aurora to marry him and return with him now that peace and friendship have been restored on the moon and in the galaxy. There is a happy ending for all, including the little green stow away on the trip back

From the coming of sound to the 1960s, the musical was central to Hollywood production. Exhibiting - often in spectacular fashion - the remarkable resources of the Hollywood studios, musicals came to epitomise the very idea of 'light entertainment'. Films like Top Hat and 42nd Street, Meet Me in St. Louis and On the Town, Singin' in the Rain and Oklahoma!, West Side Story and The Sound of Music were hugely popular, yet were commonly regarded by cultural commentators as trivial and escapist. It was the 1970s before serious study of the Hollywood musical began to change critical attitudes and foster an interest in musical films produced in other cultures. Hollywood musicals have become less common, but the genre persists and both academic interest in and fond nostalgia for the musical shows no signs of abating. 100 Film Musicals provides a stimulating overview of the genre's development, its major themes and the critical debates it has provoked. While centred on the dominant Hollywood tradition, 100 Film Musicals includes films from countries that often tried to emulate the Hollywood style, like Britain and Germany, as well as from very different cultures like India, Egypt and Japan. Jim Hillier and Douglas Pye also discuss post-1960s films from many different sources which adapt and reflect on the conventions of the genre, including recent examples such as Moulin Rouge! and High School Musical, demonstrating that the genre is still very much alive.

When it comes to living life to its fullest, Rosalind Russell's character Auntie Mame is still the silver screen's exemplar. And Mame, the role Russell (1907-1976) will always be remembered for, embodies the rich and rewarding life Bernard F. Dick reveals in his biography, "Forever Mame: The Life of Rosalind Russell," now available in paperback.

Drawing on personal interviews and information from the archives of Russell and her producer-husband Frederick Brisson, Dick begins with Russell's childhood in Waterbury, Connecticut, and chronicles her early attempts to achieve recognition after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Frustrated by her inability to land a lead in a Broadway show, she headed for Hollywood in 1934 and two years later played her first starring role, the title character in Craig's Wife.

Dick discusses all of her films along with her triumphal return to Broadway, first in the musical "Wonderful Town" and later in "Auntie Mame." "Forever Mame" details Russell's social circle of such stars as Loretta Young, Cary Grant, and Frank Sinatra. It traces an extraordinary career, ending with Russell's courageous battle against the two diseases that eventually caused her death: rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. Russell devoted her last years to campaigning for arthritis research. So successful was she in her efforts to alert lawmakers to this crippling disease that a leading San Francisco research center is named after her.

'The Woods are just Trees. The Trees are just Wood.' - All together In 1987, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine combined several classic fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Jack and the Beanstalk to create Into the Woods. Funny and heartfelt, this musical explores what it might mean to act responsibly in society, both as a parent and as a child. Situating the work within Sondheim's oeuvre and the Broadway canon, Olaf Jubin first offers a detailed reading of the show itself, before discussing key productions in New York and London, and 2014's Oscar-nominated screen adaptation. The radically different approaches to staging Into the Woods are testament to how open the musical is to re-interpretation for new audiences. A combination of critical explication with performance and film analysis, as well as an overview of popular and critical reception, this book is meant for anyone who has enjoyed Into the Woods, be it as a musical theatre fan, an enchanted audience member, a student or a dedicated theatre professional.

By Fiona Whelpton

ISBN: 9781847471253
Published: 2007
Pages: 184
Key Themes: conversion syndrome disorder, anxiety, abuse, activism, christianity

""After reading The Cycle Path I came away with a better understanding of the issues sufferers face and of the opportunities."" - Sir Nigel Crisp, Former NHS Chief Executive

""Delightful and full of expression and pathos."" - Sheila Johnson, Christian Herald

Description

The remarkable story of a woman who suffers from and overcomes Conversion Syndrome Disorder (CSD), a rare, crippling and extremely frightening condition which causes physical paralysis bought on by anxiety. This real life story describes how Fiona experienced domestic abuse, family problems and how she managed somehow to overcome all this not knowing for years what her illness was. She is now a successful journalist and activist. The Cycle Path is an admirable story of hope and empowerment and is essential reading for all health workers and sufferers of similar conditions - particularly as CSD is so unknown and widely misunderstood.

About the Author

Fiona Whelpton was born in London on in 1957 and now lives in Nottingham. As a youngster Fiona wanted to become a professional musician, but she couldn't because it caused her too much stress - something that her condition dictates she must avoid. Instead she became interested in writing and read English Literature and Media at Nottingham Trent University. She is an accomplished poet having had an anthology of sketch work and poetry called 'Patchwork Windows' published with the 'Lost Artists' group. In 2004 Fiona received the Snowden award which will allow her to pursue her dream of being a top journalist, she is currently working on several projects including a film version of 'The Cycle Path'.

The official tie-in to Broadway's hit musical Waitress, featuring the recipes for 3 dozen of the show's most evocative and delicious pies. In the cult classic movie-turned-Broadway production, the eternally optimistic protagonist of Waitress expresses her hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations through the whimsically named pies she bakes each morning. Sugar, Butter, Flour celebrates this art of baking from the heart, with foolproof and flavorful pies for seduction, pies for mending a broken heart, pies for celebrating new beginnings and pies for all the little milestones that come afterwards. Taking its inspiration from the iconic mile-high pies of the diner case, Sugar, Butter, Flour offers an array of showstopping pies, each with a twist that puts it over the top; from rum-spiked cookie crusts to hidden layers of passion fruit preserves, these are familiar favorites with hidden depths. The ideal gift for anyone who has ever eaten her feelings or baked away the blues, Sugar, Butter, Flour proves there's a perfect pie for every occasion - and that everything looks better with pie.