1 comments about Beyond Words: Movement Observation and Analysis.

1. I didn't get a chance to read the whole book - I needed a few chapters for class but the book is interesting. The book is also very pertinent to my field of study: Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling. Beyond Words does shed light upon people's nonverbal communication which is something that tends to go overlooked in every day interactions.

5 comments about Writing the Broadway Musical.

1. Many of today's top talents in musicals on and off Broadway have studied with Aaron Frankel. Now anyone can learn the ropes from this honored director and instructor in a step-by-step guide that makes for good reading whether you are a writer, composer, or simply an avid theatergoer. I enjoyed the previous edition and found this revised and updated one an even more interesting read.



2. In only 192 pages, Frankel presents writing for the musical theatre from the perspective of the book writer, lyricist and composer -- and how each contributes to the whole. Enough specifics for each to gain a better appreciation of the others' unique contributions. The book would be an excellent introductory text for a musical theate workshop. Most examples from My Fair Lady are illustrative and excellent; other examples from Company were less helpful (as that show was less successful). Highly recommended for those working on musical to keep near at hand.



3. Frankel's concise, clear volume on writing large-scale musicals is a welcome addition to the bookshelf of anyone who wants to understand how this peculiar theatrical genre works-- when it does. By focusing on two artistically successful, well-known pieces in the canon-- "My Fair Lady" as a well-executed classic musical with linear plot, "Company" (my personal favorite) as a well-executed plotless musical whose songs move character forward--, Frankel can support his intelligent teaching points with concrete yet familiar examples. I'm very happy to see this book back in print.



4. This book gives a good foundation for basic elements of a musical script. I bought this wanting to write a musical script but not necessarily the lyrics/musical score and am a complete novice - was a bit lost on the different musicals it quoted. However another book that is quite "meaty" in terms of how to write a compelling gripping story/script for theatre is "The Writers Journey" surname is Vogler. What Frankel says is that the book or story needs to be written first before appropriate lyrics/musical score can be created. So I would have gone straight to this book first. Good as reference but can borrow from library, not a must have.



5. Aaron Frankel, who has directed more than 100 plays, loves the stage, especially musicals. He brings his genius to Writing the Broadway Musical by formulating an organized book, which is easy to use both as a reference and as a guide.
   
   He fills the text with pertinent examples -- plenty of them --like chocolate chips in cookies. Frankel's book is full of encouragement for the dreamers, while it outlines the practical aspects of taking a musical play from a dream to a full-fledged production.

3 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!

5 comments about Bellydance: A Guide to Middle Eastern Dance, Its Music, Its Culture and Costume.

1. This was a beautiful-looking book, though smaller in size than I had anticipated (not coffee-table sized but a smallish square paperback). It's pretty cursory in its review of culture and costume. Lots of details on things like instruments and drum patterns (in fact, a bit too much detail). I was expecting more clear delineations between the different styles of dress per culture, so I was a bit disappointed in that area. And I have to echo what another reviewer said, that the print is a little hard to read because of the choices in font and background colors in places.



2. This book is full of great information on the origins of belly dance, dance styles, moves and costuming however....it's virtually impossible to read the wealth of material contained on it's pages thanks to the use of dark and pastel colored photographs and patterns as a background for the print!! (Print which also wildly varies in color and sometimes all but disappears in the background altogether.) It's a real shame that the editors didn't take that problem in consideration at the time of publication because they have made an otherwise wonderful little book very difficult to enjoy.



3. It's by no means a text on belly dancing. But GREAT photos and little tidbits here and there on facts. I did learn some new things (I had a great bellydance teacher and learned a lot from her, but even so I find that this book also taught me something new...so that says something). By the way, it's a small book. FYI.



4. 
   This book is an excellent resource. The notes about the music are great. The photos are beautiful. There are explanations of the origins of the dance, the culture, costuming, music, zills, and performing. Make sure you read this in a well-lit room, as the text is layered over the photos.



5. Kudos to the author. Well researched information in a small space. The publishers should be ashamed of themselves. They might have offered a few good quality photos of the dancers in their lovely costumes. If you are looking for visual here, forget it. The photos are quite interesting but each is printed in a kind of poor quality sepia or indigo tone with the text on top! Very bad. I used to work for a well known publishing company and know how cheap they can be. You have to work hard to read the text, not to mention look at the very terrible quality of what appears to be interesting photos. The information is worth it though. There is not much research on the art of belly dance. I have to say though this book is a bit of a tease

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

1. I chose to read the Dance series for a graduate school course over the summer of 2003. This third volume is delicious. It logically ends the most important story lines. The volume also contains perhaps the two best loved books in the series, "The Valley of Bones" and "The Military Philospohers". I have studied military history for over the past 25 years. In my opinion these three volumes provide one of the best insights to the bureaucratic dimension of war. They are an opposite yet complementary view of World War II as compared with a more corporeal work such as Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead". Powell the penultimate characterist becomes an expert narrator in this volume. As usual he continues to dazzle thorugh his use of the English language. Practical yet esoteric words that I added to my vocabulary from this volume include "palimpsest", "aperient" and "anent". Beware, exemplary writing ends with book nine. Volume IV, written in the novelist's dotage, is perhaps the very reason many view this series as dull and plodding. END YOUR PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCE of this series WITH VOLUME III.



2. This summer I started reading Powell's series in consecutive volumes --just finished "Books Do Furnish A room" which follows "The Military Philosphers" --It's fine, completely up to the quality of the preceding volumes but now treating the post-WW II period, our characters and some new ones, in a more hum-drum time. I don't know about the quality of the followng books but so far Powell is not in his dotage by any means .
   
   By the way, I took each individual book out of the library-- didn't use any of the compound or collected books.
   easier to handle, and on the eyes ---



3. One feels somehow quite melancholy in turning the last page to Powell's Third Movement. There are several reasons for this emotion, not the least of which is the gradual manifestation of a reflection Nick makes about halfway through The Soldier's Art, the second book in the movement:
   
   "That is one of the conceptions most difficult for stupid people to grasp. They always suppose some ponderable alteration will make the human condition more bearable. The only hope of survival is the realisation that no such thing could possibly happen."
   
   Then, too, there is Stringham's demise: From the first of these movements my favourite character, his witty, dashing, insightful bravura, even when reduced to the lowliest of ranks, always added poetic sparkle to the pages. When last seen taking his leave of Nick with a book of Browning's poems in his hand, I felt this tremendous deflation in that I'd seen the last of the most prodigally heroic of Powell's characters (a suspicion borne out later in the text, unless reports of his death turn out to be greatly exaggerated in the fourth movement.). Perhaps his niece, introduced in these pages, will turn out to be his avenging, well, not angel, but more than capable of doing damage to the loathsome Widmerpool all the same.
   
   If there were any doubters of Proust's influence on Powell, the third book here, The Military Philosophers, should put their doubts to rest. Proust is quoted at length, reflected upon, and, in his capacity as foreign Attaché, Nick manages to convince a high-ranking official that he should be included in the French curriculum.
   
   This is turning out to be a lovely work of literature indeed, though I find myself in sad agreement with another reviewer here that it's probably, like Proust, "not everyone's cup of tea." As Nick reflects in The Valley of Bones, the first book herein:
   
   "I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity. Books are inconvertible assets, to be passed on only to those who possess them already."----Powell's opus is that sort of book.
   
   A curious Widmerpoolian point: What Jenkins calls General Liddament's whimsical recourse to "Old English" at times, such as in his dispatch to Widmerpool, "The General bade me discourse fair words to you, sir, anent traffic circles." is not Old English at all. It's Elizabethan or Shakespearean English. Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is the language Beowulf was written in. It's so completely different from anything approaching modern English that it has to be translated by specialists to make any sense at all to the modern reader. It would have been just as alien to the Elizabethan ear, come to that. ----This sort of slip just won't do when there's a war on. ---I wonder Widmerpool didn't catch him out on it.



4. The so-called Third Movement of British author Anthony Powell's master twentieth-century opus, "A Dance to the Music of Time," comprises the three novels in which it was initially published:" The Valley of Bones," "The Soldier's Art," and "The Military Philosophers." It covers the military career of our narrator, Nick Jenkins, during the Second World War, opening during the period when hostilities had not yet completely begun, the period known as the "phony war," which Jenkins' friend and brother-in-law Chips Lovett, who will not survive, describes as a "tailors' war." Jenkins, whose father was a career military officer, has mused that his family has served in the military for centuries, always without distinction. He begins the war as a line officer, without distinction; he will finish it in a London staff position. The book is probably more easily read by those with a bit of military knowledge, particularly of pay grades and awards, but it will gift any reader with its undeniable lived experience of that great worldwide conflagration.
   
   "The Valley of Bones" opens with Jenkins, who has managed to get into the army, as a mediocre, older than usual, regimental line officer, during the phony war. It mentions the British evacuation at Dunkirk and the fall of Norway, and closes with the Germans about to take Paris. It introduces us to characters we'll see more of later, Odo Stevens, David Pennistone, and Bithel: Widmerpool's not around. Pennistone's a literary type - he and Jenkins discuss the views of war of French philosopher Descartes and poet-soldier Alfred de Vigny, and the doings of English poet Lord Byron, and his friend Caroline Lamb. It's pretty strictly about army life: it's quite funny in spots, but some readers may find it dry.
   
   "The Soldier's Art" opens as Jenkins has been called to a staff position, serving under his old nemesis from school days, Kenneth Widmerpool,while that former schoolmate continues his irresistible rise to money and power, fueled, Jenkins is now in a position to see, by his prodigious ability to work. The story also centers on the character arcs of two more former schoolmates, Charles Stringham and Peter Templer, Jenkins's closest friends from that time. We are kept in suspense as to their fates, but we come to see that Widmerpool does not mean them well. Stringham remarks early on that "it's awfully chic to be killed," and several relatives of Jenkins's wife will die: brothers at the front, others in the London bombing blitz. Jenkins will lose several more old friends and acquaintances. The book gives the impression of having been written in a white heat.
   
   "The Military Philosophers" opens with Jenkins at London's Whitehall, in his final posting of the war, a staff position providing liaison to England's allies. We see the fates Widmerpool has arranged for Stringham and Templer, as we meet Stringham's niece Pamela Flitton. She's introduced while working as a military driver; a beautiful girl, but considered difficult from childhood. She fascinates many men, Widmerpool among them. Surprisingly, to me, at least, the author mentions the findings at Katyn, where evidence emerges of a massacre of Polish military officers by the Soviet, thus predicting the shape of the postwar world. This volume ends with the war; it certainly has its funny bits, but is sometimes written in a more difficult style.
   
   The vast majority of people who read this volume can have had no first hand experience of England at war at this time, nor will any future readers. It's an invaluable telling of the way it was, well worth reading despite its sometimes somber tone.



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

2 comments about Best Dance Moves in the World, The - Ever!: 100 New and Classic Moves and How to Bust Them.

1. If you are like me and love to dance, you will love this book! It has over 100 new and Classic dances. I didn't know there were that many!!! It is fully illustrated and breaks down all the moves with step-by step guides. Be ready for that next dance, wedding or holidays and show everyone what you can do!



2. I'm a dance instructor and this book helps a lot for adding a few "twists" to my routines. The moves are classic, illustrations are colorful and fun (even displaying different wardrobes specific to the dance moves), and best of all, you're never short of ideas! Each move is broken down in pieces and the book also gives you recommended music and even precautions. Works great for dance parties too! You know those moves that it seems everybody knows but you? Not anymore! Highly recommended!

2 comments about Sip & Solve: Logic Puzzles (Sip & Solve Series).

1. I have solving Logic puzzles for years and this is the best book I have found. The puzzles are easy to transport and the title fits perfect.



2. These are fun puzzles, but a little too easy. Most of them can be solved in a minute or two. They don't come with a grid to solve the puzzle, so you will have to draw your own. Overall, it is a fun book for someone on the go.

No comments about What Is Dance?: Readings in Theory and Criticism (Galaxy Books).

1 comments about The Book of Movement Exploration: Can You Move Like This? (First Steps in Music series).

1. I am amazed at how useful this book is. I teach music, and like to do movement with my kids. Each activity is well explained, doable, and fun! Musical suggestions are given which is helpful. Every activity I have done from this book the kids have loved. I am impressed with all John Feierabends books in that it seems he is very good at collecting and presenting info. This book is based on Laban's philosophys.

4 comments about The South Pacific Companion.

1. Laurence Maslon has given us an indispensable treasure of a book in this South Pacific companion.
   
   One might have thought there might not be much to be said about this wonderful Rodgers & Hammerstein Musical, but Prof Maslon has created a wonderful book worthy of the show. Like his earlier Sound of Music book, Maslon begins by relating the background of the show, and recounts how the Second World War inspired James Michener's creative juices to flow in writing his book. Prof Maslon did a really wonderful job in telling of how the war influenced everyone involved in the creative team so that they could bring their unique talents to the making of the musical. After reading it I felt sure that R&H were able to write the show with the background of the war that influenced the creative team, and so they didn't write the show off their own bat. Prof Maslon's narrative is compelling and readable, just like his earlier Sound of Music book, and it was wonderful of him to tell us how the theme of racism was there from the moment when Michener penned his book. Though I would have liked there to be more coverage of the impact of this R&H musical, it was still an enjoyable book, with the photos and the song commentaries an added bonus. A minor quibble is that I wish there was more coverage on what influenced the writing of each song, such as the mention of Hammerstein's desire to write a "verb lyric" when he wrote Some Enchanted Evening. Also a new feature in this book is Prof Maslon's analysis of how language plays a part in the musical, and it does make me wish that this commentary on the show had been included in the Sound of Music book too.
   
   In short, this book is such a wonderful follow-up to the Sound of Music book, and it's an indispensable part of any R&H fan's collection. I really think these books deserve to be in print forever. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to similar companions for The King and I and Cats, and I wish Prof Maslon every success in his future books on R&H musicals.



2. This book delivers on its promise to guide you through the development and success of Rogers and Hammerstein's musical SOUTH PACIFIC. Filled with anecdotes and insights into the major productions, it adds to the enjoyment of this musical theater masterpiece. A more thorough and detailed look at the current Broadway revival at Lincoln Center (a PERFECT show, go see it!) is all that is lacking. (You will find a couple of pages on the revival all the same.)



3. In this beautiful coffee-table book, Laurence Maslon gives us the complete history of the musical theatre masterpiece "South Pacific." As in his previous book "The Sound Of Music Companion", Maslon is well-researched and always entertaining. The photographs, both color and black and white-- printed on glossy stock; many of them taking up a full page-- illustrate the emotional power of the original 1949 Broadway production starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza; as well as subsequent, though infrequent, productions.
   Maslon puts particular emphasis on the historical importance of this musical, beginning with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He gives a thorough, detailed history of World War II, and describes the various fates and events that brought author James Michener, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and director Joshua Logan together to create "South Pacific" in 1949. Just as Michener's original book "Tales Of The South Pacific" won a Putlitzer Prize for literature, so to did "South Pacific" win the Putlizer Prize for drama; one of the few times that honor was bestowed upon a musical; "Of Thee I Sing" from 193l being the only other.
   Rodgers and Hammerstein made no concessions to conventions. "South Pacific," which confronts racism and prejudice head on, was ground-breaking and still is controversial. The song "Carefully Taught," the point of the ENTIRE show, makes plenty of people nervous and uncomfortable to this day. Rodgers & Hammerstein were pressured, at various times during various productions, to remove the song from the show. They steadfastly refused to do so.
   The disasterous 1958 movie version, with those wretched color filters that nearly ruin every song, nearly ruined "South Pacific's" reputation. Maslon is much too kind to the movie version. Rodgers, Hammerstein, and Logan all HATED the movie version. Yes, Logan directed the Broadway, National Tour, and London Productions AND the movie version-- and he HATED the movie version. Ironically, London critics hated the stage production, but went MAD over the movie version, which played uninterrupted there for several years. Equally appalling, both the 1958 movie version and the 2001 TV adaptation (with Glenn Close and Harry Connick, Jr.) violate the carefully crafted structure of Logan's and Hammerstein's original stage libretto. The 2001 TV adaptation is not as painful to watch as the 1958 film version, but it is equally misguided.
   Thankfully, the 2005 "South Pacific In Concert At Carnegie Hall" (starring Brian Stokes Mitchell and Reba McEntire) returned to the original structure and libretto. The success of the Carnegie Hall "Concert Version" undoubtedly led to the 2008 Broadway revival. Directed by Bartlett Sher and starring Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, the revial (which swept the 2008 Tony Awards; exactly like the Original Broadway Production had done in 1949) reaffirms that "South Pacific" is an important, historical and musical theatre, masterpiece. Maslon concludes: "Almost sixty years after its premiere, nearly a decade into a new century, there is still much to be carefully taught by that most eloquent and rhapsodic of "Teachers"--"SOUTH PACIFIC."



4. My favorite musical is South Pacific. The 1958 movie version introduced me to the beautiful scenery of warm Pacific islands, a compelling story, and above of all, to some of the most memorable songs I have ever heard. How this magnificent motion picture came to be is told in this book. But the movie is only part of the fascinating story that unfolds on the richly illustrated pages. First there was the Second World War and a naval officer named James Michener. The South Pacific Companion tells the story of how this former book editor's observations of the men and women stationed in the South Pacific led to his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, a sweeping novel full of characters and places. How Hammerstein and company pulled the plot and storyline from that novel provides another interesting part of this book. Rogers composed the music, seemingly without effort. Then the cast had to be chosen. Soon the reader is a witness to how it was done on Broadway, and also gets to see how that hit production was translated into the celebrated film. A person can learn a lot about how Rogers and Hammerstein worked their magic in this wonderful book.