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Post by partytentdown on Oct 13, 2016 10:16:02 GMT
someone recommended a book about a flop west end musical at the Savoy but I can't for the life of me remember what it was, can anyone remember? It had a slightly risque title. A Fanny Full of Soap - Nichola McAuliffe. Isn't there a similar book from someone who was cast in Les Mis? Letters from Backstage - Michael Kostroff. Also, similarly A Year With the Producers by Jeffry Denman. That's the one - what show is it based on? |
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Post by anita on Oct 13, 2016 10:21:45 GMT
There is also one I would love to read by Jeremy Sandford entitled : "Year of the Queen - the making of Priscilla Queen of the Desert the musical" but I have only seen it for sale on a kindle. Has anyone seen an actual paper copy for sale?
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Post by 49thand8th on Oct 13, 2016 12:55:05 GMT
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Post by anita on Oct 13, 2016 13:07:05 GMT
Lots of biographies; 2 of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Crawford's autobiography [& one by someone else, Biog of Michael Ball & "Behind the Smile" by Paul Nicholas.
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Post by viserys on Oct 13, 2016 14:15:43 GMT
A fun read with a more American slant are Marc Acito's (fictional) books "How I paid for college" and "Attack of the Theater People", both set in the 80s.
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Post by anthony40 on Oct 14, 2016 20:08:35 GMT
In terms of hardback theatre related books I have the following:
Rent by Jonathan Larson
Chess by William Hartston
Tarzan- The Broadway Adventure by Michael Lassell
Les Miserables- History in the Making by Edwin Behr
Sunset Boulevard- from Movie to Music by Edward Behr
The Story of Miss Saigon by Edward Behr and Mark Steyn
The Complete Aspects of Love by Kurt Ganzel
The complete Phantom of the Opera by Gregory Perry
Hairspray- The Roots hosted by the Authors of the Ht Broadway Musical by Mark O'Donnell, Thomas Meehan, Marc Sharman and Scott Wittman
Disney's Beauty and the Beast- A Celebration of The Broadway Musical by Donald Franz
The South Pacific Companion by Laurence Maslon
Disney's AIDA- The Making of the Broadway Musical by Michael Lassell
The Lion King- Pride Rock on Broadway by Julie Taymor
Disney's The Little Mermaid- A Broadway Musical by Michael Lassell
The Producers- The Book and Story behind the Biggest Hit in Broadway History- How We Did It by Mel Brooks and Tom Meeham
Wicked-The Grimmerie
Les Miserables-From Stage to Screen
Art isn't Easy- The Theatre of Stephen Sondheim by Joanne Gordon
Everything Was Possible- The Birth of the Musical Follies by Ted Chaplin
Michael Crawford; Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String
Stephen Sondheim- A Life by Maryle Secrest
Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber by Stephen Citron
Reading Stephen Sondheim- A Collection of Critical Essays- Edited by Sandor Goodhart
Stephen Sondheim- A Casebook- Edited by Joanne Gordon
Andrew Lloyd-Webber- His Life an Works by Michael Walsh
Sondheim by Martin Gottfried
From ABBA to Mamma Mia!-The Official Book by Anders Hansen & Carl Magnus Palm
The Making of Gypsy
The Making of West Side Story
The Making of The Fantacticks
The Sound of Music- The Making of America's Favourite Musical
The Sound of Music- The Family Scrapbook
Forever Liesel
The Rocky Horror Show Book 1973- 1987 by James Harding
"Creatures of the Night" The Ricky Horror Picture Show Experience by Sal Piro
The Official Rocky Horror Picture Show-Audience Par-Tic-- Pation Guide
The Rocky Horror Treasury-A Tribute to the Ultimate Cult Classic Musical
Rocky Horror- From Concept to Cult by Scott Michaels & David Evans
Wicked- The novel by Gregory Maguire
Aspects of Love by David Garnett
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Post by JJShaw on Oct 14, 2016 22:36:18 GMT
if you're a les mis fan LES MISERABLES: HISTORY IN THE MAKING is a really great one and is quite uncommon (although Amazon have it for a penny so what do I know!) remember seeing it in my Library years ago, it was a great read.
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Post by 49thand8th on Oct 15, 2016 17:36:19 GMT
After over 20 years, have they finally fixed "Philip Cross" to read "Philip Quast?"  |
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Post by peggs on Dec 6, 2016 20:35:44 GMT
The National Theatre Story by Daniel Rosenthal (thought I would dip in and out of this as it was so big, but ended up reading it cover to cover. Unputdownable!) On your recommendation have got this from the library, took me a while to get into it with all the pre start up bits but once it pretty hooked so thanks for the tip off, I do have to put it down as it's so large that really have to read it resting on my knees, at night I fear I might fall asleep and get smacked in the face by it. |
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Post by Tibidabo on Dec 6, 2016 21:44:04 GMT
I can't see this already in the thread - I thoroughly recommend Antony Sher's 'Year of the King.' I haven't read it for years and have had to replace 2 copies so far that I 'lent' to people, but it sticks in my memory as a wonderful account of Sher's angst from start to finish of how he approached playing Richard III in the 1980s. I remember being in hysterics as he described an ASM's horror at being given the dubious task of finding out the weight of a human head!
Sher writes well and all his actor's insecurities are laid bare as he goes through the rehearsal period to opening night.
One already mentioned up-thread, that I'd like to second, is Michael Crawford's autobiography 'Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied with String.' Because he was illegitimate, the message to let the close family know the baby had arrived was to announce safe arrival of the 'parcel' by sending a postcard. The 'string' bit was the code for a boy. How Crawford got into acting, almost by accident, and learnt his craft the old-fashioned way, makes for interesting reading.
Dame Julie of Walters has also done a cracking autobiography.
Enjoy!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2016 10:10:05 GMT
A fun read with a more American slant are Marc Acito's (fictional) books "How I paid for college" and "Attack of the Theater People", both set in the 80s. I love both of these books so much!
I did come home from NY with a very shiny coffee table book of The Great Comet - half price in Barnes and Noble and with bonus CD of la Groban's songs from the show...
I have a huge shelf of theatre books mainly procured for work...I'll post a list when I'm at home (as I keep meaning to on this thread)
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Post by CG on the loose on Dec 12, 2017 11:31:24 GMT
Two big glossy coffee-table books arrived courtesy of the birthday fairy, I don't think either have been mentioned previously:
Curtain Call - A Year Backstage in London Theatre (2016) by Matt Humphrey (photography) and John Schwab, with a foreward by David Suchet. Curtain Call's inaugural book features backstage photographs and interviews from a number of London productions in 2015, including full credits for each production featured at the time it was covered.
London Theatres (2017) by Michael Coveney and Peter Dazeley (photography), with a foreward by Mark Rylance. A tour of 46 of London's theatres, from the Royal Opera House to the Hackney Empire, with stories of the architecture, productions and personalities that have defined each, and photographs of front of house, auditorium and backstage areas.
I've had only the briefest flick through them so far but they look beautiful and having watched many of the productions featured in the first and visited almost all of the theatres featured in the second, I fully expect to lose many, many hours over the holidays delving deeper.
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Post by CG on the loose on Dec 12, 2017 12:35:20 GMT
The latter has been, several times on the book club page. The former is interesting. It was intended as an annual project, but alas didn't happen. A wonderful book, but extraordinarily expensive and of limited appeal, I guess. Ah - didn't cross-reference there! Thanks |
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Post by TallPaul on Dec 12, 2017 13:13:12 GMT
My Christmas present to myself is the above mentioned London Theatres. I've got 12 days to clear all the clutter from the coffee table!
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Post by peggs on Dec 15, 2017 13:14:59 GMT
The former is interesting. It was intended as an annual project, but alas didn't happen. A wonderful book, but extraordinarily expensive and of limited appeal, I guess. Oh is that the case, that's a pity though not surprising I guess, I did have to wait until it was severally reduced before buying it. I suppose it's just as well as I don't have any shelf space for the theatre books I've already bought. |
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Post by karloscar on Dec 15, 2017 15:21:30 GMT
Ethan Mordden writes entertainingly and knowledgeably in his series covering each decade of Broadway musicals from the 20s onwards. The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen covering the 80 and 90s is probably the best. His views are quite controversial, but I tend to agree when he is critical of some huge hits, and affectionate about some minor shows that deserved a bigger audience.
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Post by Jan on Dec 15, 2017 19:25:03 GMT
Depends doesn’t it. If you remember Bill Bryden’s wonderful NT Cottesloe company then “Impossible Plays” by Jack Shepherd is interesting. If you don’t, it isn’t.
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Post by Stephen on Dec 22, 2017 22:11:48 GMT
My Christmas present to myself is the above mentioned London Theatres. I've got 12 days to clear all the clutter from the coffee table! What a smashing treat! It looks like a wonderful book. Do let us know how you find it. |
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Post by TallPaul on Dec 23, 2017 12:21:26 GMT
Do let us know how you find it. Trust me, it's that big, it wont take any finding.  |
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Post by dani on Dec 24, 2017 19:28:08 GMT
Mention of the London Theatres book, which I'm hoping someone will have got me for Christmas, makes me think of Michael Coveney. If you can get a copy of his book The Aisle is Full of Noises, it's pretty interesting. It's not that widely available, though, as I think it had to be taken out of circulation because another critic threatened him with a libel suit. I used to enjoy his waspish writing and think he had a good eye for new talent and no fear of putting people's noses out of joint.
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Post by Mark on Dec 24, 2017 23:31:56 GMT
I got my sister "Through the window" for Christmas, the Dear Evan Hansen coffee table book. Hope I can get a look in too!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2017 0:53:17 GMT
Ethan Mordden writes entertainingly and knowledgeably in his series covering each decade of Broadway musicals from the 20s onwards. The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen covering the 80 and 90s is probably the best. His views are quite controversial, but I tend to agree when he is critical of some huge hits, and affectionate about some minor shows that deserved a bigger audience. Mordden’s books are fine until he reaches recent decades when his politics destroys any critical acumen. For musicals fans who loved ‘Not Since Carrie’ about Broadway and Broadway bound flops there is now a British counterpart ‘Must Close Saturday’ by Adrian Wright. |
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Post by Snciole on Jan 2, 2018 15:02:05 GMT
I don't know if this is of interest but Theatre Book Prize long and short lists are good for the previous year's books str.org.uk/events/bookprize/index.htmlThough my money is on Balancing Acts for 2018's prize |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 9:08:02 GMT
I got my sister "Through the window" for Christmas, the Dear Evan Hansen coffee table book. Hope I can get a look in too! Its great! Not got far into it because I've been distractd by the London Theatres book, but what I have flicked through is good. |
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Post by anita on Jan 3, 2018 10:25:55 GMT
{As I posted on a different thread} You can now get an actual paper copy of Jeremy Sandford's book "Year of the Queen: the making of Priscilla Queen of the Desert the musical" from Amazon.- out tomorrow. Awaiting my copy.
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