3 comments about The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line.

1. Such a beautiful coffee table book, I love it slightly more than the show it's about! The pictures are unbelievable: Ann Reinking as Cassie! When she could still dance! And talk! The only down-side is its immense cost: I actually had to prostitute for a week and sell my roomate , but I guess that's cause I'm an actor. Even if you're not an ACL fan, this is a really great tribute to the men and women of "the Line." (that sounds so military! MMM!)



2. This book is a wonderful, moving chronicle of one of Broadway's most famous long-running musicals. With a wealth of information about the show and the people who helped make it so successful, told in their own words, The Longest Line is something everyone who loves A Chorus Line should read.



3. This is a really touching tribute to what some feel was the most powerful moment in Broadway history. The shared thoughts from cast members and others involved in this glorious production are really heartfelt and are a joy to read. I enjoyed all the trivia throughout the book and also was pleased with the awesome pictures posted. This is the perfect book for any Chorus Line fan. I would really recommend it.

3 comments about The Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet: Theory and Technique.

1. OK, FIRT OF ALL THERE IS NO PICTURE OF THE FRONT COVER SO INCASE YOU'RE WONDERING THERE IS A WOMAN AND A MAN DOING ATTITUDE AND THE TITLE IS ON THE TOP OF THEM , ANYWAYS
   TABLE OF CONTENTS:
   BOOK ONE- THEORY ..........................PG.17
   ILUSTRATIONS TO BOOK ONE....................PG.32
   BOOK TWO- PRACTICE............................PG.35
   PART.1 EXERCISES A LA BARRE.................PG.35
   PART.2 PORT DE BRAS.........................PG.61
   PART.3 EXERCISES AU MILIEU..................PG.70
   PART.4 ADAGE................................PG.80
   PART.5 ALLEGRO..............................PG.210
   ILLUSTRATIONS TO BOOK TWO...........FOLLOWING 221
   INDEX.........................FOLLOWING PLATE 22
   
   (NOTICE THIS IS THE SAME AS IT APPEARS IN THE BOOK AND THERE ARE NOT TWO BOOKS IT'S JUST DIVIDED LIKE THAT, HISTORY AND TECHNIQUE)
   
   OVERALL IF YOU STUDY CECCHETTI OR SOMETHING ELSE THIS IS A GREAT BOOK WHICH COVERS ALL ASPECTS OF THE CECCHETTI METHOD SO DON'T THINK TWICE AND GO AHEAD AND BUT IT!!!
   
   <NOTE IF THIS REVIEW WAS HELPFUL TO YOU , I LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE PUT THAT MY REVIEW WAS HELPFUL WHICH I THINK IT WAS BEING THE ONLY REVIEW <<<<<<<<<IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS , DOUBTS OR ANYTHING WRITE A REVIEW AND I WILL ANSWER WHATEVER IT IS YOU WANT
   IF YOU WNT MORE ON CECCHETTI VISIT:
   WWW.CECCHETTI.ORG
   THANKS FOR READING > VALERIA*



2. I am very satisfied with this purchase. The shipping was very fast and the book just great.
   Thanks,
   Carola Tovar



3. Believe me, this is a book well worth adding to your library. It is as specific in detail as both the Kirov and Bolshoi 'lessons in classical ballet' manuals. Cecchetti classes are named after the days of the week so on any day the teacher would announce that 'today we are doing the Tuesday class'. Anyone teacher keen on investigating different techniques will find this work highly informative and it will assist in the broadening of their vocational students' dance vocabulary.

1 comments about The Singing and Acting Handbook: Games and Exercises for the Performer.

1. I think any musical theatre or opera performer will relate to the accessible and sympathetic way De Mallet Burgess and Skilbeck communicate their ideas. They have a real insider's grasp of their subject. I've had a go at some of the exercises and I am already becoming aware of aspects of my stage work that I know will benefit. What makes this book so enjoyable is that it is written from the performer's point of view. There is never any attempt to mystify. Quite the opposite - the gauntlet of detailed technical excellence is thrown down without ever forgetting that the ultimate aim is to put on a jolly good show; probably underfunded; possibly underrehearsed but with heart and soul. Excellent!

5 comments about Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach: Expanded Edition.

1. This book is a must for all serious performers of Bach's music. It is the only book that details not only of most of the dances that appear in Bach's works, but provides a fundamental vocabulary for a discussion of rhythm. After that has been provided, dances are discussed with clarity and precision, with a wealth of original sources for the reader. There is nothing on the market like it.



2. It certainly broadens one's knowledge and appreciation to study the physical dances that so much of Bach's instrumental music was based on. But there's a difference between music written to literally accompany dance and music stylized in the form of dances, meant primarily for listening. Bach did not play Saturday night dance gigs in Leipsig nor did Chopin play his waltzes in Parisian ballrooms. Tempos (and flexibility within those tempos) need not be based on realistic assumptions of how people may have actually danced bourees and minuets. There were enough differences in style among Italian, French and German strains of late Baroque music (and dance) that one should be cautious about any definitive rules here. That being said, the book is well written, illustrated and an interesting read.



3. This book provides a fine survey of the rhythms associated with the most prevalant Baroque dances. Although stylized dance pieces and other instrumental works beyond the dance hall might not strictly follow the rhythm of the original dance, this book provides a solid grounding for any person interested in the topic and wishing to flexibly apply dance rhythms to their own interpretations of Bach's music. Thus, this book is important to any performers serious about playing Baroque music and especially Bach's.
   
   I recommend the book for its information but also because it is so easy to read.



4. Only book of its kind - especially for the serious musician and performer.



5. Very well reseacrhed, clearly written and well organized. All we need now is an accompanying DVD that demonstrates the dances in period costume and with a reasonable company of dancers.

2 comments about Mazurkas.

1. This book is based on FR. Kistner Leipzig edition. Editor is Chopin's pupil Carl Mikuli foreword dated 1879, 30 years after chopin's death.

   There are many other editions of Mazurkas which I personally prefer to this available but I rate this book as a important reference to learn what the composer was intended. The editor Carl Mikuli was Chopin's piano pupil and many times he witnessed the performance of composer himself which were only to those of close to him. (Chopin did only a handful of public concerts and recitals in his life) However, intimate accounts of how his (Chopin)fingers were shaped during the passages could only be used as a sentimental knowledges which has little use for today's performance standard.

   Nonetheless, we could keep in mind that what composer himself tried to express and teach his students his music as a great way to express our feeling through these beautiful works. Many Mazurkas have only a few pages and many could be played by begining students.

   There are discussions of how the Mazurkas should be played, outside this book but Mikuli himself did not address this matter. (Where should the Mazurka's accents have to be placed--and there is a accounts of Chopin and Meyerbeer arguing reported by other pupil von Lenz who was taking lessons of Mazurka.)

   Convenient package of 1 book with this inexpensive price, with the cover portlait by Eugene Delacroix, also Chopin's close friend is a great buy for the piano students of all levels.




2. This edition of Chopin's Mazurkas is far from definitive, but for the piano student and music lover, it is a great value. To get the composer's entire output of Mazurkas at this price is remarkable. Recommended!

2 comments about From the Ballroom to Hell: Grace and Folly in Nineteenth-Century Dance.

1. This book does indeed give the reeder a close look at the society and ettiquitte of this period. Since I was researching the Regency when I purchased it I was a little disapointed to find that it's focus is primarily the latter part of the nineteenth century (1830-1890), and is based primarily on American publications of ettiquitte manuals. I was delighted to discover a wealth of information about everything from dance steps to party preperation to elaborate flirting rituals that can be caried out with parasols and gloves. It certainly says everything Emily Post might have at that time as well as providing a vivid picture of society in a bygone era. A must have for anyone enamored of the Victorian era and usefull still though slightly less relavent for Regency fanatics.



2. Consists primarily of bits and snippits from Victorian American etiquette manuals. Some insights into high society life and how it changed through the course of the 19th century can be drawn, keeping in mind these were the suggested forms of behavior not necessarily what was actually done. There is plenty to read between the lines. Some sheet music in included along with some dance steps. There are also recipes for makeup and concoctions for cleaning. Fashion descriptions are fairly superficial, but adequate. Over all, I'm glad I bought it.

3 comments about The Films of Leni Riefenstahl, Third Edition (Filmmakers Series, Number 74).

1. This is Dr. Hinton's third rewrite of the divine Leni and her films. Each time he aquires a bit more information from his research and other bits and pieces from a personal friendship which now spans 30 years and will continue until his death--since Ms. Rienfenstahl has declared herself immortal and God is taking her at her word. This book is a solid piece of film history and worth reading to gain a perspective about this remarkable woman and her contribution to 20th Century film.



2. In its third edition or printing, Hinton's book obviously has an audience. I wonder if it is largely an academic audience suggesting that young Americans are still being exposed to Riefenstahl's work as a filmmaker and to an increasingly revisionist view of that work as dedicated to beauty and not at all bound up in politics. Most especially, this work, according to Hinton and to Riefenstahl whom he greatly admires, has nothing to do with Hitler and Nazis. Hinton takes issue with both Kracauer and Sontag whose treatments of the filmmaker he views as unjustifiably placing her in the ranks of those who knowingly and willingly served the Nazi regime as propagandists. The eternal return of Riefenstahl and the arguments that swirl around her work and her person continues to be a fascinating if alarming component of our culture. Whether she is or isn't implicated as an apologist for fascism is perhaps less important than the fact that she and her works have become inextricably bound up with controversies about Nazi cinema and its afterlife, as Eric Rentschler refers to it in the subtitle of his book, The Ministry of Illusion. Hinton, as an apologist for Riefenstahl, will give little satisfaction to readers who want to know something about those controversies. The book offers a rather naive understanding of the components of German fascist ideology and aesthetics and their historical backgrounds while remaining stubbornly lavish in its praise of the filmaker and her films. Hinton's book will please those who want to believe that art and politics, even in the Third Reich and its various afterlives are completely separate matters. It will also irritate those who are unwilling to believe in such a separation generally and especially in the case of this still living filmmaker whose work is indelibly connected with the propaganda of the Nazi Party.



3. Dr. Hinton's third rewrite of the history of this incredibly talented woman, detalining her enormous contribution to 20th Century film making. Her detractors, and there are still many non-believers who work so hard to destroy her reputation, will be hard pressed to find fault in Dr. Hinton's work. Now, at age 99, Leni continues her life's work, now focusing on underwater still photography, with the same enthusiasm and unbridled passion that she brought to cinima.

5 comments about Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian.

1. Jeffry Vance and Suzanne Lloyd (Harold's granddaughter) have put together a fascinating book on Harold Lloyd's films and life. Always considered one of the "big three" silent film comedians, it has been difficult to appreciate Lloyd because his films were rarely shown at revivals and on television. The release of this book and the showings of his films on TCM are starting a Harold Lloyd revival.

   This book features many large, beautiful photographs from the Lloyd estate. Many of these photos have never been published before. Jeffry Vance has written incisive reviews of each of Harold's features. He details important events about the making of the films, and why they were successful (or not). He also includes some surprising details about Harold's and Mildred Davis Lloyd's private life. Suzanne Lloyd has included a chapter of her remembrances of Harold. Finally, a long interview is included that Harold gave to the AFI before his death.

   If you are a fan of silent film comedies, you won't be able to put this book down.




2. Jeffry Vance and Suzanne Lloyd (Harold's granddaughter) have put together a fascinating book on Harold Lloyd's films and life. Always considered one of the "big three" silent film comedians, it has been difficult to appreciate Lloyd because his films were rarely shown at revivals and on television. The release of this book and the showings of his films on TCM are starting a Harold Lloyd revival.

   This book features many large, beautiful photographs from the Lloyd estate. Many of these photos have never been published before. Jeffry Vance has written incisive reviews of each of Harold's features. He details important events about the making of the films, and why they were successful (or not). He also includes some surprising details about Harold's and Mildred Davis Lloyd's private life. Suzanne Lloyd has included a chapter of her remembrances of Harold. Finally, a long interview is included that Harold gave to the AFI before his death.

   If you are a fan of silent film comedies, you won't be able to put this book down.




3. Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian by Jeffret Vance and Suzanne Lloyd is a brand new fantastic book on the life of a master comedian and filmmaker. This is truly a great book and I urge you to buy it. If in the past you've only been familiar with the films of Chaplin and Keaton, please buy this book to find out how much Lloyd actually inspired Chaplin and Keaton's films. Harold Lloyd was not only a great actor, but he and his cameraman Walter Lundin created various great camera angles and innovations. Harold Lloyd's Masterpieces such as GRANDMA'S BOY (1922), SAFETY LAST! (1923), GIRL SHY (1924), THE FRESHMAN (1925), THE KID BROTHER (1927) and SPEEDY (1928) are just as spectacular today as the day they were filmed. Harold Lloyd's "talkie films" have known to be not so good however Harold did make 3 great films in the 30s called MOVIE CRAZY (1932), THE CAT'S PAW (1934), and THE MILKY WAY (1936). Harold Lloyd then drifted away from filmmaking to pursue other interests until the 60s when he re-released some of his films in to two compilation films and so forth.

   Harold Lloyd will forever be my favourite cinema genius and go ahead and buy this book and hopefully his films will be released on DVD as soon as possible.




4. Harold Lloyd is often called "The Third Genius," though in his day he was as popular as either Keaton or Chaplin, and reportedly made more films than the two of them combined (a claim I've read, but which stretches creudulity, considering how few of them survive...). This big rich book, co-authored by Lloyd's granddaughter, is ripe with photos, and, while not precisely a biography, paints a warm and impressive portrait of this devoted artist and his work. I give it 4 stars only because its size means you won't be carrying it on the bus or even to bed-- it is definitely a living room book; one to show to friends. and enjoy over coffee.



5. This is a wonderful book loaded with beautiful pictures, both candids and stills (proof that black and white photography is just as visually arresting as color photography, if not more so), together with chapters about Harold's feature films, his early life, an interview he had with members of the AFI late in his life, Greenacres (the fairytale-like estate he built for his family), his relationship with his wife Mildred Davis, his later years, and the author's memories of Harold. Suzanne Lloyd was raised by her grandparents, so this was a real labor of love, one which produced a very classy book. Sometimes it seems like all celebrity bios, particularly ones written by close family members, are either total hack jobs or total sugarcoating, but this one shows honesty and evenhandedness. For example, Suzanne, in the chapter on her grandparents' romance and eventual marriage, mentions that even though they did have one of Hollywood's longest marriages, a marriage which is also considered one of Hollywood's happiest, Harold did cheat on Mildred and have affairs (such as with his leading lady Jobyna Ralston). This is rather shocking information, esp. because their marriage is often held up as one of the rare few happy ones from Hollywood, but Suzanne conveys this information in an evenhanded way instead of making excuses for it or demonising Harold. (Though honestly, by today's standards, Harold's extramarital exploits seem rather tame.) And this couldn't have been easy to do, considering she was talking about her beloved grandfather being unfaithful to her equally beloved grandmother. Throughout the book, she gives a balanced portrayal of her grandfather, and though he did have faults, like any normal human being, he still comes across as a really nice guy, a class act, a consummate professional, a truly talented comedian, someone who really cared about his fans, particularly from the younger generation, someone who did an awful lot of good things for child burn victims (and other children in general) in the hospitals run by his fraternal organisation the Shriners.
   
   My only complaint about this book is that it wasn't long enough! I wanted to read even more about all of these great films and to see even more pictures. I also wished the filmograhy had listed which of these films are lost and which survive. Obviously all of Harold's silent and sound features are still with us, as are all of his three-reelers and many of his later two-reelers, but I would have liked to have seen a listing of which of his Glasses Character two-reelers are lost and which are extant, and particularly would have liked to have seen a listing of which of the 14 Lonesome Lukes are the ones still known to survive. Still, all told, this is a fabulous book, a great addition to either your coffeetable or your own personal library on the bookshelf.

No comments about The Hayloft Gang: The Story of the National Barn Dance (Music in American Life).

2 comments about Disney's Beauty and the Beast: A CELEBRATION OF THE BROADWAY MUSICAL.

1. This book is excellent. It is filled with gorgeous pictures from the Broadway musical. It also contains the complete lyrics and a story line of how the actual musical was produced. This is a definite for any musical theatre fan!



2. This book was a real treat going through. Loaded with photographs, it tells the story as a script, shows the design of the characters, and then shows the special effects, sets, and other cool stuff. It's a great soveneir of the musical, and if you haven't it's a great book to read to experience the musical if you can't experience it on Broadway