Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running, largest-grossing musical of all time. This book is the story of the stage show, film, and sequel, and the controversies that have surrounded them. You will learn why: Sarah Brightman had to leave the UK after her divorce from Lloyd Webber and how she became the highest paid soprano in the world. Gerard Butler was cast as a "younger, hotter" Phantom in the film, and why diehard fans thought he was not ugly enough. Lloyd Webber ignored early warnings that fans would spurn a sequel-a decision that cost him millions. A social media campaign led to the demise of the Phantom sequel, and how it was reborn. Phantom of the Opera: A Social History of the World's Most Popular Musical is the first book that fully documents the history of a musical now in its 31st year of a continual run that has become a cultural force.

Ernesto Pujol here combines elements from an art book, field journal and walkers' manifesto. It is a text for performative artists, art students, and all who walk as cultural activism. Walking Art Practice is a collection of intimate reflections by the author, which bring together his experiences as a former monk, performance artist, social choreographer and educator. They serve as a provocation, walkers' manifesto and teaching guide for walking as mindful cultural activism. This book is an invitation to: Rethink what it means to walk and explore different ways in which to walk as: a cultural practice a meditative practice a radical practice art healing social engagement. Reconsider how to attend to the inner and outer landscape whilst walking. Treat walking as a performance resource. Walk as an everyday pilgrimage. Walk slowly, walk in and with awareness, walk with and without skill, walk to regain and to lose control... " Artists are trying to move away from the influence of competitive corporate culture that has increasingly defined art as an abrasive urban career. Artists are trying to replace this with the humbler notion of art as a practice, as a mindful way of life, consisting of consciously creative gestures, visible and invisible, large and small. Art practice is a private and public, selfless and generous, creative life process resulting in a conscious cultural product."

Majisty brings over twelve years of experience as she teaches the gift, art, and skill of mime. She teaches both young and old through classes, workshops, and conferences. Enjoy this easy read to establish a firm foundation for the gift of mime www.yourmajisty.com

Performance in the digital age has undergone a radical shift in which a once ephemeral art form can now be relived, replayed and repeated. Until now, much scholarship has been devoted to the nature of live performance in the digital age; Documenting Performance is the first book to provide a collection of key writings about the process of documenting performance, focused not on questions of liveness or the artistic qualities of documents, but rather on the professional approaches to recovering, preserving and disseminating knowledge of live performance. Through its four-part structure, the volume introduces readers to important writings by international practitioners and scholars on: * the contemporary context for documenting performance * processes of documenting performance * documenting bodies in motion * documenting to create In each, chapters examine the ways performance is documented and the issues arising out of the process of documenting performance. While theorists have argued that performance becomes something else whenever it is documented, the writings reveal how the documents themselves cannot be regarded simply as incomplete remains from live events. The methods for preserving and managing them over time, ensuring easy access of such materials in systematic archives and collections, requires professional attention in its own right. Through the process of documenting performance, artists acquire a different perspective on their own work, audiences can recall specific images and sounds for works they have witnessed in person, and others who did not see the original work can trace the memories of particular events, or use them to gain an understanding of something that would otherwise remain unknown to them and their peers.