Book picks similar to
Four by Sondheim by Stephen Sondheim
theatre
theater
musicals
script
Road
Jim Cartwright - 1986
Moving from street corner to living room, from bedroom to kitchen, we meet the inhabitants of young, middle-aged, and old, glimpsing their socially and emotionally wretched lives, in this sharp, sad, funny, and angry play.
Backwards and Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays
David Ball - 1983
The text is full of tools for students and practitioners to use as they investigate plot, character, theme, exposition, imagery, motivation/obstacle/conflict, theatricality, and the other crucial parts of the superstructure of a play. He includes guides for discovering what the playwright considers the play’s most important elements, thus permitting interpretation based on the foundation of the play rather than its details.Using Hamlet as illustration, Ball assures a familiar base for illustrating script-reading techniques as well as examples of the kinds of misinterpretation readers can fall prey to by ignoring the craft of the playwright. Of immense utility to those who want to put plays on the stage (actors, directors, designers, production specialists) Backwards and Forwards is also a fine playwriting manual because the structures it describes are the primary tools of the playwright.
Jagged Little Pill
Rachel Syme - 2020
In the "triumphant and moving" (Variety) Broadway musical of the same name, Morissette's iconic numbers-including smash hits like "Ironic," "You Oughta Know," and "Hand in My Pocket,"-are paired with new songs by the beloved musician and a powerful original story by Academy Award-winning writer Diablo Cody (Juno). Hailed as "urgent, wildly entertaining, and wickedly funny" (The Boston Globe) and "joyful and redemptive, rousing and real" (The New York Times), the Jagged Little Pill musical is a poignant and emotionally revelatory experience that is speaking to audiences across generations. Now, for the first time, this book will take you behind the scenes with stunning photography, original in-depth interviews with the cast, crew, Alanis Morisette, and Diablo Cody, and an introduction from Morissette herself on the album's genesis and journey from release to acclaimed musical-including details and anecdotes on her collaboration on the show. Including the full annotated libretto and a retrospective look at Alanis's artistic influences and the significance of the album within the cultural context of the 90s as well as its long-term impact on the music world as we know it, this beautifully rendered book is a must-have keepsake for anyone who has been touched by this production or Morissette's music.
The Year of Magical Thinking: The Play
Joan Didion - 2007
That may seem a while ago but it won’t when it happens to you . . .”In this dramatic adaptation of her award-winning, bestselling memoir (which Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times called “an indelible portrait of loss and grief . . . a haunting portrait of a four-decade-long marriage), Joan Didion transforms the story of the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and their only daughter into a stunning and powerful one-woman play.The first theatrical production of The Year of Magical Thinking opened at the Booth Theatre on March 29, 2007, starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by David Hare.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Boeing-Boeing
Marc Camoletti - 1967
This 1960's French farce adapted for the English-speaking stage features self-styled Parisian lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German, and American fiancees, each beautiful airline hostesses with frequent "layovers." He keeps "one up, one down and one pending" until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris and Bernard's apartment at the same time.
The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and Other Plays: The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Psycho Beach Party, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset
Charles Busch - 2000
Of his latest play, The New York Times has written, "Uproarious ... wall-to-wall laughs ... Mr. Busch has swum straight into the mainstream and stays comfortably afloat there." Busch is the author of such plays as Vampire Lesbians of Sodom -- one of the longest-running plays in Off-Broadway history -- and Psycho Beach Party, a cross between Gidget and Spellbound. After a successful Off-Broadway run at New York City's Manhattan Theater Club, Busch moves to Broadway with The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, a hilarious comedy about a self-absorbed Upper West Side doctor's wife whose life is devoted to mornings at the Whitney, afternoons at the Museum of Modern Art, and evenings at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Her world is shaken and transformed when a childhood friend makes an unexpected visit.
Freak
John Leguizamo - 1997
Set in various neighborhoods of Queens, New York, in the eras of disco and break-dancing, Freak recounts the turmoil and eccentricities within a Latino family struggling to make it. A domineering father, frustrated by his rocky quest for the American dream; a mother who finds feminism and the club scene when she tires of Pop's tight control; a pudgy, eager-to-please, easily manipulated younger brother; and John - who doesn't spare himself in telling the gory details of his teen years. Freak is the book adaptation of Leguizamo's comical and critically acclaimed one-man Broadway show. But Freak, the book, contains narrative that had to be cut from the show because of time restraints.
Bugsy Malone
Alan Parker - 1976
So join all the characters: Bugsy, Fat Sam, Tallulah and Dandy Dan for great fun with the whole class.Students will relish this opportunity to play a cast of Prohibition-era mobsters.Fat Sam, who runs one of the most popular speakeasies in town, is in danger of being closed down by his ‘business rival’ Dandy Dan. Enter baby-faced Bugsy Malone, a killer with the ladies and a definite asset to Fat Sam. Unfortunately, Bugsy has also caught the eye of Sam’s girlfriend Tallulah – though he’s set his designs on the showgirl Blousey Brown.This play lends itself perfectly to school performance with its large mixed cast and consistent humour.The book contains a stimulating playscript suitable for classwork and school production, accompanied by resources including background material and lively activities.
The Vagina Monologues
Eve Ensler - 1996
They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn't stop them. Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas. They get very excited, mainly because no one's ever asked them before.
A Thurber Carnival
James Thurber - 1990
A perfect evening of comedy. Scenes Include:ACT ONEWord Dance (Part One)The Night the Bed FellFables for Our Time (Part One)The Wolf at the DoorThe Unicorn in the GardenThe Little Girl and the WolfIf Grant Had Been Drinking at AppomattoxCasuals of the KeysThe Macbeth Murder MysteryGentleman ShoppersThe Last FlowerACT TWOThe Pet DepartmentFile and ForgetMr. Preble Gets Rid of His WifeTake Her Up TenderlyThe Secret Life of Walter MiddyWord Dance (Part Two) Only material authorized for the production of this play may be used."Of belly laughs there is abundance...Small, cozy, and completely captivating revue...a sheer delight... joyous, magnificently lunatic festival" - New York Daily News
The Front Page
Ben Hecht - 1924
Hildy wants to break away from journalism and go on a belated honeymoon. There is a jailbreak and into Hildy's hands falls the escapee as hostage. He conceals his prize in a rolltop desk and phones his scoop to his managing editor. Their job is to prevent other reporters and the sheriff from opening the desk and finding their story. Some hoods are enli
Balancing Acts: Behind the Scenes at London's National Theatre
Nicholas Hytner - 2017
He directed both the London and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, each of which ran for ten years. He directed Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III on both stage and screen. In short: He is one of today's most successful and admired theatrical impresarios.In Balancing Acts, Hytner gives us a detailed behind-the-scenes look at his creative process. From reviving classic musicals and mastering Shakespeare to commissioning new plays, he shows theater making to be a necessarily collaborative exercise, and he writes insightfully about the actors and playwrights he's worked with: Derek Jacobi, Richard Griffiths, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Harold Pinter, and Tom Stoppard among them. With a cultural range that spans from The Mikado to The Lady in the Van, Balancing Acts is not only a memoir but a gathering of illuminating notes on the art of directing and a thoughtful meditation on the purpose of theater.