5 comments about Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.

1. Computer generated effects are standard in movies now, and any big-budget action film can be expected to have plenty. We didn't always have computers, so the effects such as putting fantasy creatures on the screen, like King Kong, had to be done with meticulous stop-motion filming, whereby a movie frame picture would be made of a model Kong, then the model's arm would be slightly raised, one more frame of the movie shot, and the process repeated until a smooth arm movement could be seen when the entire strip of film ran. It was Willis O'Brien who animated Kong and many other creatures in early movies. It was Kong who inspired Ray Harryhausen to start making stop-motion films. In _Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life_ (Billboard Books), Harryhausen and Timothy Dalton tell the story of Harryhausen's entire career, including his humble beginnings. He was crazy about dinosaurs as a kid, and at the age of thirteen, he was taken by his mother and aunt to see _King Kong_. He studied up on the movie's techniques afterwards, and started making his own movies, first using a home camera that he could merely hope took only one frame at a time when he tapped it, and then purchasing his own 16 mm camera with a one-frame shift. He was one of those lucky kids who knew early what he wanted to do in life, and was able to do it; Harryhausen was the special effects wizard behind _Earth vs. The Flying Saucers_, _Jason and the Argonauts_, and _Clash of the Titans_, among many more. This beautiful book, filled with photographs and drawings to show how the models and effects were made for each of Harryhausen's films (and pictures of the artist's work as a thirteen-year-old as well), is a fascinating record of a career that could only have taken place in a restricted window of time.
   
   To start with a clearing of the record: Harryhausen's first model, a cave bear, was covered with fur cut from an old black fur coat hanging in his mother's closet, but despite reports to the contrary, his mother _did_ know all about it and _did_ give her permission beforehand. This reflects the support his parents gave him toward his youthful enthusiasm, and he is certainly grateful. Most of the book describes his work for the studios; it devotes pages and pictures to all his films, and he gives detailed descriptions of just how he managed particular shots. Harryhausen isn't boasting; throughout the book he lets us know what he thought worked and what didn't, what he is proud of and what he winces at. If stop-motion is no longer going to be an art form, it is good that we have this documentation of what he actually accomplished, for the complexity of his creations and the way they were shot is astonishing. For instance, the Hydra in _Jason_ not only had a serpentine body and a double tail requiring their own movements, but also seven heads. In every frame, the model's movements might be only a millimeter, but there were sometimes more than thirty movements to do. He would have to remember for each head whether it was in the process of going up, down, right, or left, if the mouth was opening or closing, if the neck was flexing, and so on. Astonishingly, he was so in tune with his creation that he did not keep notes on what each head was doing, except if he were taking a break at the end of a work period.
   
   Harryhausen has real affection for his creations. He has used real animals in some films, like an iguana made to look like a giant lizard in _One Million Years BC_. The trainer in charge of the iguanas was ready to use an electric prod to rouse the usually torpid lizards, but Harryhausen would not allow any cruelty, so action could only be obtained by a little prodding. Nonetheless, it was a lot harder to get the iguanas to move in just the way he needed compared to his obedient stop-motion models; he says that using models would have been more cost-effective and more realistic, too. He refuses to call his creations monsters; they are mostly creatures who are simply out of place. Of the tyrannosaurus in _The Valley of Gwangi_, he writes that he felt sorry for him, "... because all he wanted to do was live his life and eat a few people along the way." When he had to dismantle one creature to use its armature for another in a succeeding feature, he confesses, "It always breaks my heart to have to cannibalize my models. It's like losing a close friend." Gentle, self-deprecating humor is a hallmark of all the chapters here, no matter how technical the descriptions become at times. This is a handsome, large format book suitable for the coffee table; however, along with the beautiful illustrations, the written record of work here to show how creature features were made before the computers took over will be enjoyed by any fantasy film fan.



2. I just recently purchased Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.
   Mr. Harryhausen was influenced by King Kong for his remarkable career. I was influenced by his first movie released in theaters
   entitled BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS. Ever since I gazed at the
   incredible effects when I was six, I wanted to know why and how
   something could seem so life like. Unfortunately, all I did was manage amateur special effects with an 8mm camera, but enjoyed thrilling friends and relatives with what talent I had. Now I can appreciate all the patience and imagination that this
   genius has somehow transmitted to the screen. All of his movies are showcased with the wonderful behind the scenes stories and photos that made such magic in my childhood. Anyone who has ambition to follow the FX trade, should definitely read this book. Granted the technology is greatly improved today, but that even made Mr. Harryhausen seem more adept at his work. How tedious it is to move a model just a fraction of an inch until it appears fluid on the film...how educational it is to realize what props were used and what artistry was projected to make everything REAL. This coffee table book will be a treasure
   in my collection of literature.



3. This is a top-notch compilation of genius on the cutting edge of our cultural history.



4. Die-hard fans of special effects master Ray Harryhausen may recall Jeff Rovin's book "From the Land Beyond Beyond", which arrived in 1977. It was a welcome addition to the Harryhausen legacy, but was too subjective and fan-based for some tastes. Hard to believe it took almost thirty years for this definitive, color version of the Harryhausen story to arrive on the scene. Some will feel it is merely an extension of Ray's previous work, the Film Fantasy Scrapbook, and in many ways, it is, but there's so much detail here that this deluxe volume is worth picking up. Though of course modern special effects have become almost ridiculously complex, it's wonderful to hear Ray describe in great technical detail the processes and techniques he used to bring his animals and fantasy creatures to life in films like "7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Jason and the Argonauts". He's also candid about which films worked for him (and audiences) and which somehow missed the mark. Even readers who prefer modern spectacles to Harryhausen's classical, stately epics should find something of value here, and there is plenty to inspire any animator, filmmaker, or budding cinematographer. This book isn't just a special effects guide, it's a valuable and integral part of the history of film: Harryhausen's career spanned five decades, and he worked with some of the greats in the industry--not only effects geniuses like Willis O'brien, but actors like Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, James Franciscus, Honor Blackman, Richard Carlson, Jane Seymour and Raquel Welch. A little pricey, but worth the cost. A must have for Harryhausen fans, naturally, but anyone interested in the movies will come away satisfied.



5. So much has already been said & written about this amazingly talented man that although his talents have always been savored like fine wine....talking about his painstaking incredible stop-motion animation abilities almost seems to be redundant. Suffice it to say that so many of us monster kids sat in awe of Ray's work as we watched " The 7th Voyage of Sinbad " circa 1958.Harryhausen has always accomplished more on the movie screen with his special effects techniques than computers will ever be able to do. This book lovingly details all of the richness of Ray Harryhausen----Thanks for a great book, Ray !

5 comments about A Dance to the Music of Time: Fourth Movement (Dance to the Music of Time).

1. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Dance series for a graduate level course over the summer of 2003....until I got to the last volume. In my opinion the books peaked with the sixth, "The Kindly Ones" and finshed delightfully at book nine "The Military Philosophers". Most major character lines were completed and the story had reached a logical and chronological end. For this reason Volume Four reads like a long and arduous addendum. The new characters are unappealing and the loss of the most interesting personalities from the prior three volumes is immense. Further, a personal irritation of mine is the continued use of archaic verse lifted from often bad and lugubrious poetry. Powell is indiscrimant in adding pages from irrelevant works while not advancing the story line. Did he write these last three novels to augment his income as he approached his later years? Regardless they alloy this otherwise delightful series. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, END AT BOOK 9, DON'T BOTHER WITH THIS VOLUME.



2. Anthony Powell has been dubbed "the English Proust". Having read both Proust and Powell, I think it would be more accurate to say that Proust is the French Anthony Powell, A.P. being, in my opinion, by far the more accomplished writer. I remember reading a caption to the effect that after reading Powell's works, returning to other writers's required an effort of the will. This is exactly how I felt after enjoying Dance. The manyfold characters of Dance have now become more real to me than most people I've know in my life and it is fair to say that A.P. belongs to that category of rare writers who can change your outlook on life. An abridged audio version of Dance is available (read by Simon Callow) but it is on audiocassette and out of stock. I hope this or another audio version will be made available in more modern form (CD etc.) for those who like the spoken word too. I can't get enough of Dance, whether it be text, sound or TV series.
   
   I agree with a previous reviewer that the later volumes of Dance are weaker than the earlier, and I wish Powell had chosen something more mainstream than necrophilia to pepper his tale of the fifties. But as A.P. himself wrote in his memoirs: with every writer there's something to put up with. "Dance" is too good to deserve less than five stars on account of a somewhat bizarre last part.



3. About this fourth movement, two salient features strike me: 1) If you are not deeply steeped in literature or, perhaps, to put a finer point on it, the history of literature, if you don't understand this remark, made by Nick in The Temporary Kings, the second of these three final efforts, that, "It is often pointed out that one form of Romanticism is to be self-consciously Classical.", you are going to miss out on much of the work's depth. Indeed, if you have not read one particular book, Burton's delightful, age-old, rambling The Anatomy of Melancholy, you will miss out on much. So much is seen through a literary lens. 2.) This movement is indeed a departure from the other three, in that, were I asked to sum up its theme in one word, that word would be: Necrophilia
   
   I'm not going to delve into the psychology of Pamela Widmerpool nee Flitton or into that of Russell Gwinnett here. But let's just say that, primarily through these two characters, this movement plumbs the depths of sadism and masochism (particularly the latter) so subtly and deftly, and yet so uncompromisingly that it makes just about anything else written on these themes seem exhibitionist and superficial by comparison.
   
   Also, a word on the opus as a whole, now that I've read all four movements: It does not measure up to the standard of Proust, as is often claimed. Really, it's an entirely different sort of work than Proust's. Proust is solipsistic (in a profound sense) and poetic. Powell is gregarious and deeply prosaic. His style of writing reminds me of the Latin I had to construe as a youth.
   
   Near the end of the third movement, our narrator Jenkins confesses to a weakness for Poe. Here, that "weakness" blossoms improbably like a rose in a charnel house. After completing this fourth movement and meditating on the entire "Dance" for some time, I discovered that the overall affect on me was that it was extremely weird, weird in a way that I find impossible to put into exact wording, weird, no doubt, in the way that critic Harold Bloom uses the word when he avers that all great literature strikes the reader in this way, as weird.
   
   As odd as this recommendation may sound, one could do worse, far worse, than to return to Poe's poem Annabel Lee after completing this massive opus in order to gain a sort of perspective, whether one likes the poem or not, perhaps particularly if one does not.



4. To arrive at the 4th movement of 20th Century British author Anthony Powell's "A Dance to the Music of Time," is, of course, to arrive at the season of winter, as we can see from the front of the soft-cover volume, a reprint of the painting by the 16th century French artist Nicolas Poussin, from which title Powell's masterwork, initially a 12-book series, takes its own. The series'1st movement, chronicling the schooldays of Powell's narrator, Nick Jenkins, was, of course, spring; the second movement, chronicling the palmy young adulthood in London of the narrator, his friends and acquaintances, was summer. World War II was fall. We now arrive at winter, melancholy; discontented, to quote Shakespeare's Richard III; and shot through with death. Powell's language is frequently more Latinate and pompous than in his earlier books; his plots and characters are less dense, and less funny. Our narrator, Jenkins, becomes less an actor in the tale than a bystander; the books read almost as a prolonged afterword as loose ends are tied up.
   
   "Books Do Furnish a Room," first in the final trilogy, is set in the immediate post-war years of the late 1940's. Mention is made of the many people Jenkins knew who were lost in the war: his closest friends from schooldays, Peter Templer and Charles Stringham; his friend from young London salad days, Barnby. Several of his wife Isobel's many siblings have also been lost: as well as her aunt Molly Jeavons. Our narrator Jenkins is working on a study of Robert Burton, sixteenth-century author of "The Anatomy of Melancholy," and the mood is melancholy indeed. Mention is made of the difficulty and expense of getting clothing ration coupons, flowers, alcoholic beverages, gas. "Books Do Furnish a Room" is the nickname of a literary compere of Jenkins'; but he does not dominate this volume. Instead, we see quite a lot of Kenneth Widmerpool, the boys'bete noir from schooldays, and the woman he's married, Charles Stringham's universally-acknowledged to be difficult niece, Pamela Flitton. However, the book largely centers on X.Trapnel, mysterious author, whom I've always thought was based on the mysterious real-life 20th century German-American writer B. Traven, author of the 1927 novel "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," among other works - it was made into a famous movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston, directed by Huston's famous son John. And then, of course, there's Trevanian, pen named author of "The Eiger Sanction."
   
   The second book, "Temporary Kings," centers on an international literary convention in Venice. We meet some new characters, principally American academic Russell Gwinnett. But the action really centers on Lord Widmerpool, as he has been named a life peer, and his wife, Lady Pamela. More of Jenkins' friends and relations are lost.
   
   In "Hearing Secret Harmonies," the last book, set in the 1960's, we meet and will see a lot of one Scorpio Murtlock, youthful guru extraordinaire and leader of his own cult. But once again, Widmerpool, now Lord Widmerpool, chancellor of a red-brick university, will dominate, as he is first caught up in the student unrest that characterized that long-gone era; and then delivers himself and his goods to Murtlock. And yet more of Jenkins' friends, relations, and acquaintances are lost.
   
   It's rather a glum volume, all told, and not nearly as entertaining as its brilliant predecessors. But if, you've read your way through this lengthy series, and,like some of us, you want to know what happened then --- well, you might as well read it.



5. Anthony Powell's masterpiece "A Dance to the Music of Time" is essential reading for any lover of literature.

4 comments about Musical Theatre: A History.

1. The author was unpleased with my initial review so I removed it. However, I do hope this book finds its way on to all teachers/professors desks who teach the history of the American Musical. The book however is probably unusable for today's college students as it is almost all ink...(and sadly, most students can't read...). There are few pictures, due to budget, publisher and time constraints, so I was told, and there is not a DVD or CD which probably would have made this cost prohibitive. The website of Mr. Kenrick's, [...], remains marvelous and user friendly for the computer generation of students.



2. Okay so there's a thousand books on the history of musicals out there and this is basically the same thing you'll learn there except it takes you back to anicent Greek theater. Most of the later part of the book is taken off the author's website and the biblography is a little too much.
   I think he is a little hard on recent musicals but I am glad that he loathed Ben Brantley's horrible NY Times article proclaiming the "death"
   of musicals.



3. I've been hooked on musicals since I saw my first one on Broadway back in the 1960's. It's obvious that John Kenrick is even more so. His knowledge and expertise on this art form clearly comes through in his conversational writing style. The who, when, where, what, why and how of the various musicals through the ages are truly informational gems. This is a great book that allows the reader to peek behind the curtain while studying musical theatre's evolution. It is a great source book for those of us who aren't in musical theatre and wish to test our knowledge of what we have seen or know; as well as to track down totally unfamiliar musicals and discover what's been missed. I always thought of the musical as having come into existence in the last 100 or so years. Boy was I wrong! "Musical Theatre-A History" is an excellent read and reference!



4. I couldn't agree more with K Carlson - this book is a great read. At any age.
   
   I know lots of students - including students of the theatre - and they've shown me that JA Kawasky's declaration of the death of reading is premature. While Kenrick's book does not boast a CD, it combines scholarship with great readability, and is great fun, besides. (Compare R Knapp's two books, The American Musical Theatre and the Performance of Personal Identity; ... and the Formation of National Identity - which DO have CDs, but are pedantic and unreadable).
   
   Highly recommended.

No comments about Dance Music Manual, Second Edition: Tools. toys and techniques.

3 comments about The Commercial Theater Institute Guide to Producing Plays and Musicals (Commercial Theater Institute).

1. This book is an exciting read for anyone who has ideas for plays and musicals, but is unsure how to get them produced. It gives practical informations in a way that makes it "user friendly". I highly recommend this book for anyone with unheard ideas for the stage!!!



2. Any who want to put on a play will find the decades of experience of the Commercial Theatre Institute lends to working knowledge and real-world applications, collecting for the first time the cream of the crop of advice from the professionals who participate in an annual intensive program in New York. Chapters include interviews and contributions from over thirty such professionals as they explore everything from fundraising and Broadway and off-Broadway productions to community theatre and sponsorship and co-production opportunities. This excellent survey will appeal to any interested in commercial play production's nuts and bolts as well as to those libraries specializing in community drama and theatre efforts.



3. This book isn't for everyone. However, if you're seriously interested in producing for COMMERCIAL theater, this is THE book. It's full of useful, pertinent info, and is a guide to and insight into some of the top players in the exhilirating world of commercial theater. As a playwright, I learned a lot -- including a definite sense that I am NOT the one to produce my own musical.

4 comments about The Beatles (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers).

1. A stunning revelation -- indeed, the time has come for our culture to embrace the meshing of education with fun! Thank you, Mike Venezia for engaging us in this clever strategem which challenges the mind by simultaneously making light on the fringe and exerting a powerful exactitude on the mainframe.



2. This is a book I would have given ANYTHING (within bounds of reason) for as a child. I love it! This is a delightful read that will hopefully introduce this next generation to the Beatles and the social and musical impact they had on the world. It is an excellent teaching tool for parents and educators.

   I have always believed, from the time I was a very little girl, that the Beatles have set new standards in music. I think this book does an excellent job of introducing the act you've known for all these years to the next generation. The Beatles are timeless.




3. This book is a terrific, entertaining, concise history of the Beatles that is easy for children to read. Being a huge Beatles fan myself, I found the book covered all the bases without leaving too much out. I would recommend this book for any aspiring elementary music teacher.



4. It is nice to see that along with Ludwig Van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Peter Tchaikovsky that author/illustrator Mike Venezia is also looking at 20th century types like Duke Ellington, George Gerswhin, Igor Stravinsky, and the Beatles for his Getting to Know the World's Greatest Composers series. In case the young readers who come across this book do not know, Venezia points out that from 1964 to 1970 the Beatles were the most popular musical group in the world. Unlike most of the other great composers Venezia looks at the Beatles never had any real musical training and were pretty much self taught. Venezia talks about the origins of rock 'n' roll and the influence of particular artists on the Beatles. He then provides early biographies for John, Paul, George and Ringo, with each of the Fab Four getting their own cartoon, before providing a brief history of the band.

   The actual compositions of the Beatles are dealt with in only general terms. The only songs that get mentioned are "She Loves You," because of the cheery "yeah, yeah, yeah" part, Hello Goodbye" because there is a photo of them performing it, and the 40-second final piano chord of "A Day in the Life" from the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. Venezia does provide some basic music appreciation lessons talking about the Beatles experimentation with different kinds of instruments, bringing in musicians from symphony orchestras, and such. However, this is no substitute for actually listening to the group's music. Of course, once you start talking about great Beatles songs, where do you stop? Just have your young reader put on a Beatles album while they read the book.

   The biographical sections on the early years of the four Beatles and their early days trying to make a name for themselves will prove of most interest to young readers. My only real complains about this volume would be that it really does not talk about the impact the Beatles had on popular culture, which was immense, and that except for the difference in Ringo's nose you cannot tell the Fab Four apart in Venezia's cartoons. I was sort of looking forward to better caricatures than this, to be honest.

3 comments about One on One: The Best Women's Monologues for the 21st Century (The Applause Acting Series).

1. Really funny monologues (Holly Hughes's, Christopher Durang's, Peter Petralia's, and Laurel Haines's); serious (William Gibson's, Neil LaBute's, and August Wilson's); and some just plain dangerous (Anna Deavere Smith's and Lydia Lunch's). The work is from 2000 and after--the playwrights are diverse, including Theresa Rebeck, Murray Schisgal, and Nilo Cruz. About seventy good parts to choose from--nice pieces by Maria Irene Fornes, Crystal Field, Young Jean Lee, David Simpatico, and Anne Elliott--way too many to count. Meryl Streep, eat your heart out!



2. As a director of a professional theater, I can tell you that the right monologue is vital for a great audition. Finding the perfect monologue is a hard task for any actor and it's even harder for female actors. This wonderful resource provides a wealth of women's monologues for both the professional and educational theater. After providing solid advice for choosing the right monologue, Henry, Jaroff, and Shuman offer a robust choice of monologues from a wide range of playwrights and styles. Thoughtful, complex, and beautifully theatrical, these monologues provide plenty of choices for the perfect monologue. A must have for any actor's library!



3. The book has some interesting and creatively written monologues but, as an actor and auditor, I didn't find one piece that I would want to perform or see at an audition. It is full of past tense stories or memory pieces and I'm not a fan of passive, past-tense monologues for the audition situation. Sorry, I don't recommend the book if you are looking for auditioning monologues.

2 comments about Bats Around the Clock.

1. All night long the bats get down on American Batstand and at each hour the bats take up a different dance as Click Dark, their host, introduces a new tune. Children will love the sotry and feel absolutely brilliant once they've discovered that they can use this story to learn to tell time or help reinforce what they already know all on their own.



2. While not exactly a "learn to tell time book", this adorable book teaches clock/time recognition along with bat acceptance. Excellent art and rhyme make it a must for bat fans of all ages.

5 comments about Musical!: A Grand Tour.

1. Denny Martin Flinn obviously has a great interest and love of musicals. I applaud this facet of his personality. Unfortunately my minor contribution to the genre has aroused nothing but his ire. Should I defend myself? Would it not be better to pretend I never saw his work?

   Well, as he has based his attack on little more than 2 songs from one of my more successful efforts, a show about an Argentine lady called Evita, I feel I can speak out, albeit modestly. I shall refrain from using words he used about me like "drivel" and "illiterate" that clouded Denny's perspective. After all, he may hit it big one day (his writing shows great promise) and I would then be sorry I had offended him.

   "Buenos Aires", the song that particularly upset him, is sung in the show by a fairly uneducated working-class lass of 16. I therefore felt that too sophisticated a lyric would not match her strident and unsubtle views of life. Eva Peron singing "You're The Top" would not be appropriate. DMF asserts (quite rightly) that someone using the word "coming" in a lyric should be aware of its other meaning - I agree, but in "Buenos Aires" the sexual interpretation of that word was the principal interpretation and the key to the song. DMF spotted this but thought I hadn't!

   Also I am misquoted: it's "shoot" not "shout me up with your blood..."

   To be accused of not advancing the plot with my lyrics is a little unfair as there is no book in any of my shows. Therefore the lyrics are the book, and the plot. In fact I even won a Tony for the book of Evita! I said when I accepted the award that it was a bit ridiculous for me to win as there was no book as such, but reflected afterwards that the plot, told entirely thru sung words, must have qualified me.

   Evita may be dire in DMF's opinion, but the terrible songs certainly advance the plot.

   He also has a go about Christian Dior and Lauren Bacall references in "Rainbow High" having nothing to do with Argentina "just after World War II". Well, yes and no. Both Dior's New Look and the height of Bacall's fame ("The Big Sleep") took place in 1947, when Eva was desperate to make her mark on the world stage. Reference to two world-wide popular icons would have been quite natural to a wildly ambitious woman in the presence of her private dressers and promoters.

   Anyway, I am suitably chastised as a "hackmeister" and shall avoid DMF at parties. Those who don't hate everything I've done might like to check out the following five attempts at a good lyric which I feel fairly happy with:

   I Don't Know How To Love Him, One Night In Bangkok, Pity The Child, High Flying Adored, Circle Of Life.

   There are a few others knocking around and a few singers from Elvis to Elton to Barbra to Elaine have had a go so they're not too hard to find.

   I warmly recommend this book to all but Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber fans.

   Tim Rice Aug 2 1998




2. This book feels more like a collection of unrelated magazine articles than a book. A lot of the information is repeated (Funny Girl & Gypsy had the best overtures, pit bands are good, etc) and especially towards the end, the author goes from historian to strident critic.



3. The introductory chapter on the history of musical theatre from ancient Greece to the 20th century is outstanding. I've never read any account that was better or more thorough. Unfortunately, that's the only strong part of the book. The rest of it is dull to read and contains many factual errors. Still, I'd recommend borrowing it from the library just to read the intro.



4. I found this book to be much more interesting than other histories out there on Musical Theatre. There are some errors, and I disagree with the idea that the American Musical ended with Chorus Line, but all in all I found the book to be very entertaining.



5. ... it does contain some interesting material in amongst the dross; the problem is finding that needle in the strewn hay. Clearly Flinn loves the theater and obviously has done a lot of reading about the subject. Unfortunately, he included just about everything he had read about musicals in such helterskelter fashion that I found myself wanting to take out a blue pencil to tighten his prose and impose some organization on his material. There are factual errors, contradictions among his own opinions and plain illiteracies (e.g., 'wile away their time', 'both as dancer, choreographer and writer'). He goes on and on about the brilliance of Michael Bennett and how 'Chorus Line' pretty much is the end of the Broadway era, and then we note that he was a dancer in a Las Vegas company of 'Chorus Line.' He damns Sondheim with faint praise. He does lambaste the dumbed-down musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, which I applaud heartily. There were some pictures of original casts and productions but often we were led to believe a picture is of the original production when it is obvious that it is of a revival.
   
   I could not recommend this book as a basic text about popular musical theater.
   
   Scott Morrison

5 comments about Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Applause Musical Library).

1. While I do like this book and will keep it, it's not what I thought it was when I ordered it. This is not the sheet music for Sweeney Todd, it is the dialogue and lyrics only.



2. Great collection, with the right keys and all music for show. Including the cut 'judge's song.'



3. I became upsessed with this show when I saw the DVD with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. Now I am so happy to have the enire show in my lap. It arrived today, and it already has an honored spot in my script library (right next to Hairspray)



4. I received the wrong item from Amazon, though I was billed for this one. Instead of the all-inclusive book ($100), I received the 30 page "musical selections" book ($12). It seems that the wrong label was affixed to the item. Even though Amazon took it back, be careful. Try to make sure that you are going to receive the correct item.



5. This is the script of the play by Christopher Bond, which the Sondheim musical is based on. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit, as a theater enthusiast. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves the musical and would like to read a slightly different vision of the story. To me, Todd's character seems very different in the play than in the musical. An entertaining read.