Musical Theatre For Dummies

Musical Theatre For Dummies PDF

Author: Seth Rudetsky

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2023-03-08

Total Pages: 423

ISBN-13: 1119889502

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Discover what goes on behind the curtains of your favorite musical Do you want to know more about the fascinating history of Broadway musicals, the stars of yesterday and today, and what goes on behind the curtain of a musical production? In Musical Theater For Dummies, Broadway insider and host of Sirus/XM Radio’s ON BROADWAY channel Seth Rudetsky takes you backstage and reveals everything you want to know (and what you didn't know you wanted to know) about life in the theatre. How did musical theatre begin? How did Broadway stars become stars? How can you launch your own musical theatre path, whether in a school musical, community theatre, or on a path toward Broadway? Get answers to all these questions along with tons more insight from the unofficial "mayor of Broadway." Learn the history of musical theater and discover the stories of shows that have run for years ... or closed before opening night! Trace the development of productions, from the initial idea all the way through opening night and beyond Discover what it takes to make a musical come together, from pit musicans, stage managers, and swings to designers, casting directors, and more. Get insider advice on the skills you need to perform in professional or amateur musical theater productions Whether you're completely new to musical theatre or have a few Tony awards displayed over your fireplace, this is the book for you. Enjoy real-life anecdotes shared with the author by Broadway's biggest stars as you become a musical theater know-it-all.

Between the Lines

Between the Lines PDF

Author: Uli Beutter Cohen

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-11-09

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1982145676

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"From the creator of the popular instagram account Subway Book Review comes a collection of over 150 of the most fascinating and inspiring stories from strangers on the subway--a glorious document of who we are, where we're going, and the stories that unite us"--

Shakespeare and Geek Culture

Shakespeare and Geek Culture PDF

Author: Andrew James Hartley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-10-15

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1350107751

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From fantasy and sci-fi to graphic novels, from boy scouts to board games, from blockbuster films to the cult of theatre, Shakespeare is everywhere in popular culture. Where there is popular culture there are fans and nerds and geeks. The essays in this collection on Shakespeare and Geek Culture take an innovative approach to the study of Shakespeare's cultural presences, situating his works, his image and his brand to locate and explore the nature of that geekiness that, the authors argue, is a vital but unrecognized feature of the world of those who enjoy and are obsessed by Shakespeare, whether they are scholars, film fans, theatre-goers or members of legions of other groupings in which Shakespeare plays his part. Working at the intersections of a wide range of fields – including fan studies and film analysis, cultural studies and fantasy/sci-fi theory – the authors demonstrate how the particularities of the connection between Shakespeare and geek culture generate new insights into the plays, poems and their larger cultural legacy in the 21st century.

The Caped Crusade

The Caped Crusade PDF

Author: Glen Weldon

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-03-21

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1476756732

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"Since his debut in Detective Comics #27, Batman has been many things: a two-fisted detective; a planet-hopping gadabout; a campy Pop Art sensation; a pointy-eared master spy; and a grim ninja of the urban night. Yet, despite these endless transformations, he remains one of our most revered cultural icons. [In this book, Weldon provides a] look at the cultural history of Batman and his fandom"--Amazon.com.

Seth's Broadway Diary

Seth's Broadway Diary PDF

Author: Seth Rudetsky

Publisher:

Published: 2014-10-05

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9780990316152

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"If you don't happen to have a nice gay Jewish nephew who is a musical genius and hilariously funny with ties to musical comedy stars and an obsessive need to pick apart every single note of their careers, and who also comes home and tells you all about it while dishing them and ordering Chinese take-out not to mention counting calories all at the same time, then Seth Rudetsky is your man. Please buy this amaaaaahzing book so he'll stop e-mailing me."" -Nathan Lane A compilation of Seth's hilarious, Broadway-centric "Onstage and Backstage" columns for Playbill.com, chronicling Seth Rudetsky's unique life on and around the Great White Way. Seth's Broadway Diary is full of his personal Broadway experiences, such as going to the final performance and party for Rent, watching in terror as Jeff Bowen was dragged off the stage during title of show] and the night he saw Spring Awakening and helped Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele break (-ish) the law. Plus, inside scoop on what it's like performing with tons of fantastic stars like Rosie Perez, Andrea McArdle, Betty Buckley, Bernadette Peters and more.

Between the Lines

Between the Lines PDF

Author: Nikki Grimes

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2019-03-19

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0525515151

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This thought-provoking companion to Nikki Grimes’ Coretta Scott King Award-winning Bronx Masquerade shows the capacity poetry has to express ideas and feelings, and connect us with ourselves and others. Darrian dreams of writing for the New York Times. To hone his skills and learn more about the power of words, he enrolls in Mr. Ward’s class, known for its open-mic poetry readings and boys vs. girls poetry slam. Everyone in class has something important to say, and in sharing their poetry, they learn that they all face challenges and have a story to tell—whether it’s about health problems, aging out of foster care, being bullied for religious beliefs, or having to take on too much responsibility because of an addicted parent. As Darrian and his classmates get to know one another through poetry, they bond over the shared experiences and truth that emerge from their writing, despite their private struggles and outward differences.

Got to Be Something Here

Got to Be Something Here PDF

Author: Andrea Swensson

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 2017-10-10

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1452956367

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Beginning in the year of Prince’s birth, 1958, with the recording of Minnesota’s first R&B record by a North Minneapolis band called the Big Ms, Got to Be Something Here traces the rise of that distinctive sound through two generations of political upheaval, rebellion, and artistic passion. Funk and soul become a lens for exploring three decades of Minneapolis and St. Paul history as longtime music journalist Andrea Swensson takes us through the neighborhoods and venues, and the lives and times, that produced the Minneapolis Sound. Visit the Near North neighborhood where soul artist Wee Willie Walker, recording engineer David Hersk, and the Big Ms first put the Minneapolis Sound on record. Across the Mississippi River in the historic Rondo district of St. Paul, the gospel-meets-R&B groups the Exciters and the Amazers take hold of a community that will soon be all but erased by the construction of I-94. From King Solomon’s Mines to the Flame, from The Way in Near North to the First Avenue stage (then known as Sam’s) where Prince would make a triumphant hometown return in 1981, Swensson traces the journeys of black artists who were hard-pressed to find venues and outlets for their music, struggling to cross the color line as they honed their sound. And through it all, there’s the music: blistering, sweltering, relentless funk, soul, and R&B from artists like Maurice McKinnies, Haze, Prophets of Peace, and The Family, who refused to be categorized and whose boundary-shattering approach set the stage for a young Prince Rogers Nelson and his peers Morris Day, André Cymone, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis to launch their careers, and the Minneapolis Sound, into the stratosphere. A visit to Prince’s Paisley Park and a conversation with the artist provide a rare glimpse into his world and an intimate sense of his relationship to his legacy and the music he and his friends crafted in their youth.

Folded Notes from High School

Folded Notes from High School PDF

Author: Matt Boren

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2018-04-03

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0451478223

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A status-obsessed senior unexpectedly falls for a freshman because of his Danny Zuko audition in their high school's production of Grease in this outrageously funny epistolary novel set in 1991. "Matt Boren brilliantly captures the voices of students way back in 1992 with humor and wit and a unique ability to shift from freshman to senior, boy to girl, cheerleader to theater geek. In this hilarious novel, Boren adeptly proves that the more things change, the more things stay the same." --Kelly Ripa The folded notes collected for this book represent correspondence surrounding one Tara Maureen Murphy, senior at South High c. 1991-1992. It's 1991, and Tara Maureen Murphy is finally on top. A frightening cross between Regina George and Tracy Flick, Tara Maureen Murphy is any high school's worst nightmare, bringing single-minded ambition, narcissism, manipulation, and jealousy to new extremes in this outrageous, satirical twist on the coming-of-age novel. She's got a hot jock boyfriend in Christopher Patrick Caparelli, her best friend Stef Campbell by her side, and she's a SENIOR, poised to star as Sandy in South High's production of Grease. Clinching the role is just one teensy step in Tara's plot to get out of her hometown and become the Broadway starlet she was born to be. She's grasping distance from the finish line--graduation and college are right around the corner--but she has to remain vigilant. "This dumb town, as we know, can be a very tricky place." --Tara Maureen Murphy It gets trickier with the arrival of freshman Matthew Bloom, whose dazzling audition for the role of Danny Zuko turns Tara's world upside down. Freshmen belong in the chorus, not the spotlight! But Tara's outrage is tinged with an unfamiliar emotion, at least to her: adoration. And what starts as a conniving ploy to "mentor" young Matt quickly turns into a romantic obsession that threatens to topple Tara's hard-won status at South High....

Doing the Time Warp

Doing the Time Warp PDF

Author: Sarah Taylor Ellis

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-01-27

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1350151726

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Doing the Time Warp explores how song and dance – sites of aesthetic difference in the musical – can 'warp' time and enable marginalized and semi-marginalized fans to imagine different ways of being in the world. While the musical is a bastion of mainstream theatrical culture, it also supports a fan culture of outsiders who dream themselves into being in the strange, liminal timespaces of its musical numbers. Through analysing musicals of stage and screen – ranging from Rent to Ragtime, Glee to Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music – Sarah Taylor Ellis investigates how alienated subjects find moments of coherence and connection in musical theatre's imaginaries of song and dance. Exploring an array of archival work and live performance, such as Larry Gelbart's papers in the UCLA Performing Arts Collections and the shadowcast performances of Los Angeles's Sins o' the Flesh, Doing the Time Warp probes the politics of musicals and consider show the genre's 'strange temporalities' can point towards new futurities for identities and communities in difference.