5 comments about Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Part One: Millennium Approaches Part Two: Perestroika.

1. It always amazes me that people can zero in so narrowly and find something to fight about. It is a testament to the vitality of ideas and the triumph of morality over aesthetics, which might be a good thing. For myself, I don't care whether this play treats Reagan fairly or whether the playwright gets his facts straight on Ethel Rosenberg or anything else for that matter. What I enjoy is the writing. The play as a whole doesn't really add up to much for me (this volume works, while the second is virtually a total loss), but individual scenes are powerful and memorable. Some of the writing seems to me to be unrivaled in American writing. Roy Cohn is well-conceived, whether he resembles the historical figure or not. What a thoroughly imagined monster. As played by Pacino in the TV adaptation, he is poetically reptilian. This is Kushner's doing. But my favorite scene is between Cohn and his doctor. Cohn insists he has liver cancer and not AIDS and is prepared to play rough to force the doctor to change his diagnosis. What a magnificent and "true" moment. Here we see the depiction of power as perceptively conceived as an episode from the Watergate hearings. I can't remember a playwright ever going right to the heart of evil and yet finding such a richly sentimental way of showing it. The trans-gender double-casting works, as does the magical realism technique. It is a wonderful play.



2. The film was great because it was a rococo delirious ranting and raving half nightmare half dream with maybe a third half of delirium not tremens but definitely AIDS. But the play in print sounds wordy and quite often vague, vain and even void. It has probably aged though it might only have been easy and politically correctly incorrect at the time. A little bit of anti-Reagan anti-republican anti-establishment oration and a lot of banal very trite and at times humdrum conformist discourse. The trick is in bringing together blacks, Jews, Mormons, progressive snobs and popular effetes and make it all react in a high shocking half pleasing, pleasing because shocking and shocking because pleasing, situational comedy. You add homosexuality on that and it becomes provocative, with a queen and a few other characteristic personages. And the morality is all contained in one sentence page 204: "You have to reconcile yourself to the world's imperfectability by being thoroughly IN the world but not OF it." You can't imagine anything more demagogical and opportunistic than that. And it comes to a second decision or piece of advice: "The rhythm of history is conservative." And there we are with another fashionable idea of the 1990s: the death of history. There is no history any more when a certain level of development is reached. History does not move any more. History is conservative, conservational. Yet in spite of all that the play is funny. In fact it is a farce, a melodramatic farce and it may survive because of this dimension. It is a farce coming from the Reagan and Bush sr years and announcing the ridiculous end of the hope that was born with Clinton and buried by him long before due. When a period that could and should have been of change ends up in the savory and stinking rigmarole procedure of the impeachment of the President because of some sexual caprice of his in the Oval Office and the subsequent discussion whether sex requires penetration and whether buccal penetration is sexual. This kind of farce died with the Bush jr backlash, the war on Iraq and the birth of maybe a new hope of change after eight years of punishing castigation. You have the right to wonder if history is not a farce, but I am afraid that farcical dimension comes from the on-looking eye that does not believe life can be horrible to the point of justifying death.
   
   Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines



3. The book on amazon was cheaper than at my college bookstore and local bookstores. Brand new, came in time, and all together fantastic service.



4. After watching the Angels in America DVD, I wanted to see how it was originally as a play, and it does not disappoint. In many ways, I think it's a better experience reading this play than it was to see it on my tiny television. Angels in America is essentially a theatrical work, and the miniseries came off just as that, a filmed stage play, espcially in Part 1: Millenium Approaches, so that it seemed really static, even with, if not because of, Mike Nichols' direction. It was, on the other hand, tremendously faithful to the play script. As far as I could tell, not a word was changed.
   
   Part 2: Perestroika, however, had a few changes from the script to screen, and those changes worked well, making the filmed version far more dynamic than Part 1. There's some additional backstory that got dropped in the translation, but the spirit is very much the same.
   
   Ultimately, I recommend that you watch the DVD to get an idea of the characters' mannerisms and the staging, then read the script to fully appreciate the poetry of Tony Kushner's language. Buy it and love it!



5. Angels in America is probably one of the most important pieces of American theatre of the last twenty years. Outside of musicals, probably one of the few contemporary plays of the period that has had a significant mainstream impact outside of an adapted form (and probably significantly more important then a large number of the adapted ones even before it became an excellent miniseries). And for that reason alone, it is worth reading.
   
   But there is more then that.
   
   The play actually is one of the most influential plays for a reason. It speaks to a number of socially relevent themes about the American experience. It deals heavily with the roles of gays in society giving a fascinating dialectic about the potential roles that gays can play in society. One of the most interesting social arguments in the play has to be the complete failure of the traditional nuclear family on every level, a statement that can echo the larger social issue where the image of the nuclear family has failed. As a tangent to that, the play deals heavily with the Mormon church, being both one of the only major religions founded in America and one of the religions with the heaviest focus on the family (and one of the ones with the harshest line towards homosexuality).
   
   This probably isn't a great play to read if you like to read things out of a larger social context. Honestly, though, I really can't imagine how any American could read this play without connecting it to the larger social issues (and I think that would be true for people of a lot of other nationalities as well, though to what degree I'm not sure).
   
   In terms of the actual play, its quite good. But I found (and just about everyone I've asked) has said that they found Part I to be much stronger then Part II.

5 comments about Understanding Movies, 11th Edition.

1. Giannetti's book is an excellent and very comprehensive resource for anyone interested in the art of filmmaking. Countless films (both classic and modern) from around the globe are dissected and illustrated throughout the book alongside each chapter's content, and I found the material as entertaining and interesting as it was informative. As a novice in the field, I learned plenty about the art of creating films and I gained a newfound respect for many popular and obscure titles. I applaud Giannetti for writing such a detailed, yet readable textbook and would recommend this book to all students, teachers, and general film enthusiasts.



2. What I like about this book is the way it's laid out for easy reading. The pictures are great memory refreshers of movies one may have seen and did not fully understand their rational and purpose. As a poet, I like the way it's linked with poetry and creative writing in many ways. One may also find several references to poetic style filtered through the book. The reading goes into details regarding the classification and various styles of films in the areas of realism, classicism and formalism. The principle regarding Mise en Scene was very interesting, especially the movies. The editing of shots from different angles make it clear as to why some films are disjointed and do not flow smoothly. Understanding how sound effects really bring movies to life over stage plays is an interesting process. The various styles of writing, storylines, ideology and drama are really strong areas in the text. This is an excellent book regarding the understanding of movies and their existing relationships to stage plays, musicals, and poetry. Other interesting books to read are: "Trilogy Moments for the Mind, Body and Soul" with the new Epulaeryu poetic form; "Everyday Miracles" by Margaret Okudo; "The Language of Poetry Forms" by Tree Good; and, "My Walk with Jesus" by Christina Jussaume.



3. Gianetti's classic textbook has been around for a long time, and gone through several printings and new editions. There's a reason for that: it is one of the best introductions to the analysis and appreciation of film that is around. This is the book I was assigned when I took my first film class ("Film as Humanities") in college, and it opened up my eyes to a whole range of elements that contribute to the making of film meaning. Now, a few editions later, I am still assigning the book for my introduction to film studies classes.
   
   What makes it so useful is that Gianetti focuses a chapter each on all of the different components that contribute to the significance of the final film product. He has a chapter on photography -- that introduces vocabulary for describing the images of film, the lighting, the framing, and the way in which the arrangement of elements on screen can direct the eye of the viewer. He has other chapters on movement, composition, editing, acting, story, drama, sound, and ideology, among others.
   
   A refreshing feature of the book, especially for an introductory level text, is that it does not make a sharp distinction between "art" films and "entertainment" flicks -- all of the elements he discusses apply to any films, and he illustrates them with copious examples from both the history of cinema and also from popular and accessible films of the last decade and even last year. At the same time, he is not timid about making judgments about films -- and giving his readers several tools for making critical judgments about what makes some films better than others.
   
   A guiding theme of the book, that lends continuity to each of the chapters and to the book as a whole, is Gianetti's emphasis on a distinction between the "realist" and the "classicist" and the "formalist" tendencies in film. In his chapter on story, among other helpful analyses of narrative styles and the formation and development of genres of film storytelling, he also explains what one would expect from a realist approach to storytelling versus a classicist (i.e. mainstream Hollywood) style versus a formalist approach. He similarly discusses realist and formalist approaches to editing and composition and acting and sound. This basic distinction turns out to be the key to understanding a wide range of differences between approaches to film.
   
   While he doesn't go into film theory directly, he points out where some of the critical ideas he raises have provoked controversy among film theorists, and he is able to capture clearly the key ideas that are debated by film theorists without in any way bogging the text down in jargon. He maintains througout an emphasis on what might be called first-level film analysis -- before we can apply theory to films, before we can reflect on the nature of film, or on the deeper meanings of films, we really do need to learn how to get clear about what is on the surface: what is happening on the screen and in the sound and in the story, and why. While there are other good introductory film books out there that focus on different aspects of film (like Bordwell's Film Art), I really can't imagine a better guide than Gianetti's to getting clear about what is there on the surface. Highly recommended for those interested in the nature of film.



4. This is an essential book for students of cinema. It does one thing and it does it quite well: it introduces you to the language of film analysis, the categories that critics use to analyze a film. It doesn't try to cover film technology or history.
   
   I totally agree with the other reviewer that the new editions are completely unnecessary, and serve only to destroy the market for used copies. Buy one of the older editions unless it's for a college class and you need the same edition as the class.



5. This is a great book although, amazon never delivered. I had ordered this book 2 weeks before school(along with 2 other books for school), it never came. Amazon said that i have an "undeliverable" address, but when i ordered it from ebay i got it in 3 dAys! Then i had to wait forever for a refund!

5 comments about Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre.

1. I've recently discovered improvisation. As a tai chi instructor I've found improv fits in perfectly with my other training. It teaches you to find a way to say yes to what is offered you, good and bad. It helps put you in control of your own life.



2. Honestly, I don't know why there are so many positive reviews for this book. I purchased this book based purely on that criteria.
   
   I was expecting the best book anybody can get their hand on to learn improv, but what I got was a tedious toil read with nothing practical to be taken from the book.
   
   The author constantly went on talking about himself and his theater, and put me to sleep with all these fluffs. The information is presented in "how-to" unfriendly. I couldn't even figure out what was the point the author was trying to make with all these fluffs. Look I don't care about the "you" and "what you did", all I care about is the "I", the selfish me...which is the learning the material in a easy "how-to" fashion that affects me.
   
   Frankly, I am extremely disappointed, after all the positive reviews. Am I missing something? Am I the only one here who found this book useless?
   
   Don't waste your time and money on this.
   
   A much better book on improvisation will be "Truth In Comedy", which the information are much more easy to learn on a practical level.



3. You don't need to be interested in theatre to find this book fascinating. I've purchased over a dozen copies to give to my friends. It's changed my life more than any other!



4. This book taught me many, many things, mostly immediately applicable to improv but also, on a deeper level, everyday life. It is not a book of physical techniques to try but of mental exercises to show us how we think of the world, how we are trained not to think and what we subconsciously do or avoid doing. This theoretical base I see as being immensely helpful to understanding improvisational work, but the lessons I have learned easily apply to real life situations. The author writes mostly non-linearly, but it is still very easy to follow and full of life rather than being overbearing and pretentious or dry and dull. Reading it has also exposed me to many fascinating stories, especially in the final chapter on Masks and trance, which tells us of hypnotic states and Mask-related cultures across the world and across time. The lessons we learn from these apply to our world as well, but we are conditioned to reject Mask work as being silly or strange. This book has changed and will continue to change how I think of myself and my interactions with other people and I am sure that once I get back into the improv workshop I will be a more confident and knowledgeable performer, both consciously and subconsciously, and thus a more eager participant and more ready and open to further teaching. I recommend this book to any who want a theoretical, metaphysical and spiritual guide to both improvisational performance and the constant improv performance of life.



5. As a theater actor, this book has been a very good tool for me. It has made me a better listener which is important on the stage. Just memorizing lines is not enough. In case someone drops a line, you can immediately come to their rescue, without making them look bad, thus maintaining the scene. I highly recommend this to anyone in the theater.

2 comments about Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz, from Godspell to Wicked.

1. Carol de Giere delivers an Amazing analysis of Stephen Schwartz. No one has done this, and de Giere's analysis is fascinating.
   
   She talks about "Godspell,", and "Pippin," and "The Magic Show," and "The Baker's Wife", and "Working," and "Rags", and finally, and most importantly, de Giere spills the whole story of "Wicked." And she tells amazing backstage stuff. She was actually there.
   
   Buy the book. It's amazing.



2. If you are a fan of the music and genius of Stephen Schwartz, then you will not be disappointed in Carel de Giere's account of his journey as songwriter and lyricist from Godspell to Wicked in Defying Gravity. I have been a fan of Stepehn Schwartz's music for over thirty years and found Ms. de Giere's detail, via a chronological narrative, with personal notes, reflections, interviews and photos to be a marvelous insight into Stephen's musical career. It's as though you've been given a free ticket to the window of his musical life and can sit back and enjoy the show as you turn every page. The stories about the development of various songs and the singers/actors who performed them were so engaging that I found myself searching the internet to hear them perform. This is a book that will be read more than once. Bravo!

4 comments about Oedipus Rex - Literary Touchstone Edition.

1. Okay, this is probably one of the most disturbing stories ever written. Maybe that is why I love it so much--it's a horrible, disturbing story that has managed to keep society hooked for eons with its steady of the omnipotience of fate.
   
   Because, yes, despite all the glorious incest that all the high schoolers obsess over, this is about fate, a man who is doomed to a horrific life from the moment he is born.
   
   On top of this is the basic human emotions and attachments, the attempt of the human will to fight fate.
   
   It's a hard battle, but it certainly is a good one to read.



2. THIS EDITION HAS SPACE FOR YOUR NOTES, AND ALONG THE SIDE IT HAS NOTES THAT HELP YOU BETTER UNDERSTAND THIS ALREADY GREAT STORY. ONE MORE IMPORTANT REASON FOR YOU TO BUY THE TOUCHSTONE EDITION IS ITS PRICE, CAN'T BE BEAT. I ONLY WISH THAT IT WAS THE SIZE OF OTHER PAPERBACK BOOKS.



3. This product is extremely helpful when reading Oedipus. It is a fantastic version of the play.



4. "Oedipus Rex" is not only the most read Greek tragedy, it is also the most misread. The play's reputation exists in part because it is presented as the paradigmatic example of the Greek tragedy by no less an authority than Aristotle in his "Poetics." No doubt this reputation played a part it making it one of the relatively few plays by Sophocles that has been preserved from ancient times. Whenever I have taught the Greek tragedies in various classes my students almost always find in the play the best examples of Aristotle's key concepts of harmartia ("tragic error of judgment"), anagnorisis ("recognition"), peripeteia ("reversal"), catharsis, etc. Still, there is the fact that because even those who do not know the play know the story about the man who killed his father and married his mother, "Oedipus Rex" is usually misread by students. Because they know the curse they miss something very important: the curse that the oracle at Delphi tells Oedipus (ln. 752-57) is not the same curse that was told to his parents (ln. 676-78).
   
   The only reference to Oedipus by name in Homer appears in the "Iliad" (Book 23, ln 756) where it says that the king of Thebes died in battle, which suggests he was not blind. At some point in between the time of Homer and when Sophocles wrote this play, the tradition became that Oedipus blinded himself (Ismene refers to it in "Antigone," ln 37-39, which was written 15 years earlier but may have been edited later to conform with the more famous work). Sophocles could be playing with the legend again by having the prophecy change because this way there is an explanation for the sin of incest being part of the prophecy: it is added when Jocasta tries to thwart destiny and she herself gives the baby Oedipus over to the huntsman to be killed. Consequently, in the view of Sophocles at least, the incest is a punishment for the actions of Jocasta and not something that the innocent babe Oedipus faced from the moment of his birth.
   
   Anyhow, there is no need for me to convince you that "Oedipus Rex" (a.k.a. "Oedipus the King" and "Oedipus Tyrannos") is a great play and the epitome of the Greek tragedy. So let me instead recommend this Literary Touchstone Edition with it use of sidebar notes to explain terms, concepts and mythological references. Once upon a time it seemed like only Shakespeare got this treatment, so it is nice to see Sophocles being treated the same. Before you read the play there are some Reading Points for Sharper Interest, which give readers some key things to consider whether they are reading the play for the first time or the twentieth. A list of Dramatis Personae is provided before the play and a look at the Mythological Background follows, although reading that latter one first as well could be quite useful.
   
   Actually, a lot of what is included in this book would be useful reading before rather than after. The rest of this volume is devoted to brief considerations of the Origins of Greek Drama, Tragedy and the City (looking at the importance of these dramas to the Athenians), Conventions of Greek Drama, and Aristotle's Influence on Our Understanding of Tragedy. If anything, depending on how much you already know about such things, these sections may be too brief. But they do provide some key concepts for better understanding "Oedipus Rex." Even teachers who cannot get classroom sets of this edition to give their students to read can take advantage of what they find here to benefit their students.

5 comments about Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery.

1. There was nothing wrong with this product. My daughter dropped the class in college that required this book; therefore, she didn't need the book any longer.



2. I find that all of Eric Franklin's book are invaluable for anyone interested with body movement.
   
   Dancers, fitness instructors and even therapists have much to gain by the use of imagery.



3. The body is an amazing thing. We look at architecture and don't see a simularity in it with us, yet just as beams and walls and cielings support buildings, bones, ligaments and skin support what we inhabit and live in. Just as a building's foundation and subsequent floors affect how it stands and reacts in an earthquake or wind storm, how we walk, position our pelvises, carry our shoulders and necks and arms affects how we react to our environment and as this book emphasizes-- gravity.
   
   DATI brings together everything wonderful about our bodies. Gravity isn't good or bad, it just is and we need to learn to deal with it. DATI is one of the best books on getting to know your muscles. If you don't know why they or even if they do and where they are, you can't work with them. Franklins visualization is second to none as far as helping the reader gain feeling through imagining water or air finning up an area and then letting it all out. He takes what we can relate to, describes it in another area, and moves us through to places that we didn't have names for.
   
   Franklin has a sense of humor. (Humor is imporatant because it establishes a sence of the irony in looking at life.) He tells the reader of a commedian who went to basic training. After a week, his stomach started to feel funny. He went to many doctors, convinced that something was dreadfully wrong only to discover that for the first time in his life that he was not suffering from heartburn! This is important because in changing our bodies, when we change soemthing that is bad, it might not feel right.
   
   I highly reccommend this book especially for GYN patients. Doctors who aren't trained in body movement will not understand how to guide their patients into understanding. I've had nine children and was getting revolted by what I felt like I had no control over. Since I am a yoga practicer, I decided to see what I could do before an operation and this is turning out to be a great investment. I think the best thing is that I have gotten control over muscles that are attached to bones that are attached to connective tissue that work with inner organs that were once loose. I am not afraid to sneeze any more or of watching nurses react with paste faces to what I tell them. This book has helped me get more acquainted with my body so I am able to discuss it. It's very hard to go in to a doctor's office, see a nurse that you've never seen before and start discussing problems that you never thought you'd have to deal with. When you know your body, you can speak with confidence about it. (In my case, the problem is in the process of being fixed.)
   
   I highly suggest that OB/Gyns/urologists and family practitioners at least read this book. Without an understanding of how the body's muscles are used, doctors don't help us unless they are cutting in to us. I almost had an operation based on one doctor's response to my sagging organs with, "OK, I can operate on that." The man is nothing but a body mechanic-- he doesn't understand how our bodies work-- just that when they don't that he can fix them through an operation, and isn't aware of what a patient can do to help her-or-himself, yet he is one of the alleged finest in our state. He's really not that great-- he's like a musician that can only play one style of music with one instrument. If he was ever inspired, he's lost it. I am not slamming him; this is the case with many, many doctors. (This is the case with anyone who has done the same thing for too long and not realized that how little they know.)
   
   I urge patients to learn from books like this and learn to ask questions and help yourselves. Doctors are slaves of convention and the latest word from the AMA. I am not against operations to fix what doesn't work, but the ramifications of an operation can be bad-- for what my doctor was proposing, I would have never been able to do certain stretches and bends in yoga. Give your self six weeks to try Franklin's approach and fix your problem and if it doesn't work, get operated on. I will warn anyone doing this that if you don't have a background in body movement, ie; yoga, dance, some type of athletics, it will take longer to get results. Our body awareness starts on the outside and works inward, and you will have a new vocabulary to get familiar with.
   
   Imagery is hard. You have to know how to focus. I highly suggest that you try yoga. I learned to empty my mind in a Hatha Yoga class and learned to chant because it kept my mind on my body position and my breath. I am a highly amped person and need this-- others may be able to do it more easilly. If you have never worked out before, I think that you will get better results from this book if you take at least a short class in something so that you can get used to how your body works. You may also benefit from Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting where she teaches acting using the entire body. Acting isn't about --I strike a dramatic pose here-- it's about how one REacts to the environment and this creates what you are phsyically.



4. I found this book to be eye opening, and immensely helpful with all the exercises that are discussed in the chapters. I improved my dancing within two weeks of reading and starting the exercises. It's concise with a nice touch of humor. I'm recommending this book to all my dancer friends both social and professional. I love this book and I have plans to purchase all of Eric Franklin's books.



5. I work in the fitness industry as well as dance. I see how important dynamic alignment is to do ANYTHING in dance and I think the general population needs a deeper understanding of it. I struggle with my balance and this book has been a wonderful tool to help me improve my technique.

3 comments about The Women..

1. This photographic essay on the beauty of muscular women also includes the women's stories. Many of the photographs are suggestive in nature.



2. Although she had a significant literary and later political career, in theatrical circles Clare Boothe Luce is best recalled for THE WOMEN, a play that opened in New York in 1936 with an all-female cast. Critics were not enthusiastic, but the show was a huge hit with audiences, racking up over six hundred performances in its initial run and going on to a wildly successful tour--something almost unheard of for a non-musical. Directed by George Cukor and starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, the 1939 film version was a legendary smash, and the play has been twice revived on Broadway and performed numerous times in regional, academic, and community theatre.
   
   The play concerns Mary Haines, a wealthy and happily married socialite who is friends with Sylvia Fowler--a poisonous gossip who discovers that Mary's husband is having a torrid affair with sexy shop girl Crystal Allen. Mary takes her mother's advice and ignores the affair, hoping it will blow over; Sylvia, however, explodes it into a front-page scandal, and divorce is the result. Along the way we receive portraits of the women of the era: wealthy women, titled women, clerks, secretaries, models, maids, cooks, and, of course, wives, some happy, some unhappy. One divorce follows another; one scandal errupts after another.
   
   THE WOMEN was written in a era in which it was assumed that a woman's only real satisfaction was marriage to a successful man, and it reflects the attitude of the day. Unlike the celebrated film, which focused on acid comedy, the play is as much drama as comedy, moving at a fast clip and taking pot shots at virtually every female stereotype imaginable. It is wickedly funny, yes, but it is also a surprisingly effective argument for feminism in its portrait of a distinctly anti-feministic society.
   
   At some point in the 1960s Luce updated the play slightly, removing many distinctly 1930s references and replacing them with then-contemporary ones. This was a mistake, for the play works best as a period piece, a sharp gaze into what it was like to be a woman in the United States of the late 1930s. Fun to read but best seen in performance, it is a classic of its kind. Recommended.
   
   GFT, Amazon Reviewer



3. I thought I was getting a novel-like book; instead this was a script. It was interesting to read this format as it gives a lot of details about how the author wants from the characters, etc.

5 comments about Long Day's Journey into Night.

1. I had a friend once tell me that he had just read this play and had decided it was overrated. From that point on, I never considered anything he had to say very important. He had pretty much revealed his inner workings and I saw him for the ignoramus he is. I have read this play numerous times, seen play versions with Ralph Richardson and Jack Lemmon playing James Tyrone. It's a beautiful play, a funny play, a play that works one over, and leaves one feeling totally satisfied. If you never really understood the idea of catharsis, watch or read this play. I don't see the play as having flaws, although a well-known dramaturg once told me he thought the play needed cutting. Personally, I think the play needs nothing. Cutting would turn it into another play, not the magnificent work it is. The "fat," as for as I'm concerned, is as important to it as duck fat is to a delicious confit. Still, there must be those who could like to turn it into a two-act, so the audience can get home by 10:00 to watch reruns of "The Golden Girls." If it were cut, the play would not be able to work its magic of making one feel that one has been through a long evening with the characters. These idiot editors would trim a Haiku if you let them. This play is just about as good as it gets in the modern theater we are taught to love.



2. Eugene O'Neill's classic play, "Long Day's Journey into Night," is an autobiographical work that makes you feel immense pity for his family life. It's a great read, and wonderful to analyze! Just don't think that this will be a playful romp through the theater. O'Neill tackles a lot of heavy issues in this play and it can be difficult to read.



3. Starting in the 1600s, America was known as the place to make it big, where one could make a decent and happy living if one just worked hard. Whether contrasted to the chaos of Revolutionary France, the abject urban poverty of Dickens' England, the abject rural poverty of Ireland, the militarization of German society or the civil strife of Russia; America was heaven on Earth, a place where one could live the life they wanted. This image gradually wore away by the early 1900's, and this disillusionment was captured in work after work of American literature. The Great Gatsby unveiled the decay of the super-rich, The Grapes of Wrath showed the pitfalls of the rural farmer, Sinclair's "The Jungle" revealed the horrors of industrialized society, and To Kill a Mockingbird forced us to confront the horror of Jim Crowe laws. But no work so fully and so subtly attacked the everyday failings and desperation of middle class America until this short classic by Eugene O'Neill. This story has no true protagonist or antagonist. Instead, it examines one middle-class family, the Tyrones, over the course of one day. The Tyrones live in their own house, and are financially independent. The parents are middle-aged. The husband is past his prime earning years, and his wife, Mary, is addicted to snuff. One son is an alcoholic womanizer, and the other is frail and probably a nervous wreck. Nobody is in danger of starvation or eviction, but the family as a whole has problems, with depression probably being universal. Everyone has personal failings that weigh on their souls, and each day is a struggle to get through without damaging relationships with each other. Hence the title of the book, a long day's journey into night. Night probably means death here, as noone in the family is going to die soon. The journey is the time they have to spend with each other and put up with each other. This fate, this tragedy probably afflicts more people around the world than any other, and that is to have to live with your failings and those of your loved ones. This book was published at the end of O'Neill's career, and is supposed to represent his family. Regardless of its intention, this is a great book, and of the few American classics that anyone around the world can understand.



4. I have written reviews of some of Eugene O'Neill's other plays elsewhere in this space. I have noted there that Iceman Cometh is my favorite for a variety of reasons, some of them political. Journey, however, may be O'Neill best play and not only because it is somewhat autobiographical. The trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional family that is ultimately clueless about solutions to what ails each of the four characters (father, mother and two very unlike sons)is very much the stuff of modern drama. The intervention of the gods would seem out of place here.
   
   In O'Neill hands the tensions, misunderstandings and illusions presented are recognizable to today's audiences, even those who may themselves be troubled about finding solutions to some very disturbing problems. Althought this is a difficult play to read (and more difficult to watch performed)virtually everyone I know who has read and/or watch it has survived to the end. And was glad of it. That will tell as much as anything else that I could add that we are dealing with a master work of American literature. Enough said.



5. I recently re-read "Long Day's Journey into Night" on a vacation flight and was surprised to find how well it stood up in my second reading.
   
   The first time I read the play was when I was in my late teens and I could easily relate to melancholia of Edmund.
   
   With age and time, I am less melancholic and perhaps less Edmund-like but "Long Day's Journey into Night" is a wonderful play. The most personal (autobiographical) of O'Neill's work: it also is his most universal work.
   
   On every page, the American Dream/nightmare comes through with a brilliance perhaps not equaled elsewhere.
   
   If a professional or quality amateur production of this work is not readily available to you, I highly recommend you pick up a copy. Enjoy!

5 comments about I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History (Wisconsin Film Studies).

1. This is a book that should have been filled with fascinating stories but instead is the Dragnet ("Just the facts, maam") version of one Hollywood producer's history. After working with some of the greatest movies stars, you would think Mirisch would have some great insight into the egocentric business or some incredible stories. But what you get in this book is just a year-by-year, movie-by-movie, bare-boned, accountant-like recollection of his films.
   
   The first hundred pages involve a little of his background and the large number of insignificant films he made in his early years. As mentioned in another person's two-star review of the book, Mirish seems ultra-sensitive to perceived anti-Semitism, twisting a comment made by a professor at University of Wisconsin to mean Jewish Mirisch wasn't welcome there (if you read it carefully, the professor was actually offering him a scholarship that Mirisch was dragging his feet on accepting and was giving him some needed honest advice).
   
   There are a few interesting stories in the book, mostly about casting decisions. Tina Louise as the Marilyn Monroe role in the TV pilot of Some Like It Hot. Peter Ustinov originally signed to be Inspector Clouseau before Peter Sellers.
   
   He spends only 8 pages on West Side Story but 17 on the now insignificant movie Hawaii. He also has some memories mixed up--he claims Billy Wilder made "The Fortune Cookie" because he "was a great football fan and a regular viewer of Monday Night Football." Yet Monday Night Football didn't start until four years after the movie premiered!
   
   There are a few in Hollywood who don't come off looking so good--Steve McQueen in particular--but even then the author handles them gently and obviously doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings with this book. He never takes advantage of the chance to go back and rethink some of his casting choices (such as the miscast leads in West Side Story). Instead almost everyone he worked with was talented or wonderful.
   
   For what sounds like a fascinating life, this book is suprisingly dull. You will not learn much that hasn't been told better elsewhere. Mirisch sounds like a really nice guy but in the end he's just in a business where the numbers are what matter. And he really wasn't making much "history" as the title claims.



2. Although I have yet to finish reading this book (I am about 1/4 way through it), Mirisch tells the history of his family and how they came to carve out careers in different aspects of the movie industry. Along the way, Mirisch relates anecdotes about various well-known stars of yesteryear and gives details as to how several of his films came into production. For anyone who has an interest in the film businesses and its related history, this book is a 'must read' that accomplishes remaining clear of bogging the reader down in any superfluous technicalities.



3. This book contains some innaccurate references to films and people Mr. Mirisch worked with and my copy didn't contain an index. Very little is information is given about Mirisch's early childhood or his teenage years as a film usher. In one passage, he states that he turned down a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin because he thought the head of the department was anti-Semetic. Mirisch thought a remark that "there are very few other jobs open for an Academic like you" supported this idea. Often the reader can get lost in some very technical jargon about film financing and investing. In simple terms this could mean: If the film flops, the director and the cast take the blame and if the film is a success, the producer makes the most money and takes credit for it. A researcher should read this book to check the accuracy of film titles and names mentioned. Example: Monogram's film series was The Teenagers, not "The High School Kids."



4. This is an amazing recollection of how movies became a business and magic happened with humble beginnings by the Mirisch family, especially Walter.
   
   Enjoy your incredible reading journey.



5. Here is one of the most successful producers in the business who started from the bottom and worked his way up to having the biggest, best, independant company in the world. The Mirisch Company. I cannot say enough about reading this book, I was riveted, I received the book on a Sat.and couldn't put it down till I finished it. Wow, what an education I got. Can you imagine having the foresight to have on your regular staff.
   Billy Wilder, Norman Jewison, John Sturges, Blake Edwards, Fred Zinnemann.
   
   John Moio

5 comments about 101 Drama Games for Children: Fun and Learning with Acting and Make-Believe (SmartFun Activity Books).

1. I have been an acting teacher for nine years and an co-author of my own acting book "Finally..Monologues That Work" and the one thing children love the most in class is the games! Games and more games. They can't get enough. 101 Drama Games For Children gives us variety. It is a great source for teachers who teach acting or in the classroom. It keeps the children interested, helps them learn and they have so much fun. Who could ask for more.



2. This book focuses a lot on the younger crowd, but can be enjoyed by students of any age! I'm an elementary drama teacher. Great buy!



3. I teach a summer drama class for grades 1-6, and it has a lot of really great games for all of the age groups, I do however wish there were a few more for the younger groups, but many can be adapted.



4. While not directly about "Drama", this book offers great games to get children thinking fast and exercising their creative muscles. I am having a lot of fun using it in an introductory drama class for 1st to 3rd grade chilren. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for ideas to use creative play groups more than for teaching specific dramatic techniques. It's about the fun of imagination!



5. You will use this book over and over. I teach gifted upper elementary and middle school drama students. This book is one of my favorites - it is likely to be one of yours too.