By Judy Samelson
07 Nov 2009
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By Gerard Alessandrini with Michael Portantiere
Published by: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books
Publication Date: November 2009
List price: $24.99 hardcover; 288 pages, illustrated
Gerard Alessandrini has made a career out of biting the hands that feed him—and making those hands applaud in the bargain. Alessandrini's creation, Forbidden Broadway, has been the culprit—a side-splitting revue that has spoofed the best of Broadway in 20 different incarnations over 30 years. Now, from the creator–writer–director himself, written with Michael Portantiere, comes the first-ever chronicle of the revue that has parodied stars from Merman to Minnelli, composers from Sondheim to Lloyd Webber and shows from Les Miz to Avenue Q. In this new book, Alessandrini, who received the 2006 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, looks back at the creation and evolution of Forbidden Broadway with, notes the publisher, "zany parodies, hilarious lyrics, and behind-the-scenes stories" from former cast members including Bryan Batt, Christine Pedi, Daniel Reichard and many more. In his dedication, Alessandrini salutes his family, "who taught me that no matter how brilliant a show is, you can always find something in it to criticize." This is a lesson he learned well, as chapters with titles such as "Cats, Phantoms, and More Misérables," "Teeny Todds and Grim Hotels" and "Who's Afraid of the Light in the Piazza?" attest. This "mockument" contains over 100 black-and-white and color illustrations from the various productions in New York, Los Angeles, London and worldwide as well as photos of the celebrities who came to laugh at themselves, including Carol Channing, who was an early supporter. When she discovered she wasn't in the the show, Channing actually lobbied Alessandrini to add a spoof of her, which he did, in a number called "Dolly is a Girl's Best Friend." Channing so loved the show that she brought pals Mary Martin and Ethel Merman to see it. As Alessandrini tells it, his mother was in the audience that night and after the curtain, she ran over to Merman and said, "Please pay no attention to anything my son says in the show. He really loves you and is a great fan of you both, so please forgive him." That, it turns out, is his open secret. Amid all the jabs and hilarious brickbats, Forbidden Broadway is what Alessandrini did—and does—for love.
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By Jerry Orbach and Elaine Orbach with Ken Bloom
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: November 2009
List price: $23 hardcover; 208 pages
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By Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lindsay & Crouse; Adapted by Bert Fink
Published by: Little Simon
Publication Date: October 27, 2009
List price: $26.99 hardcover
November 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lindsay & Crouse's The Sound of Music. The show, which opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959, starred Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, and was, of course, turned into a classic family film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, thus ensuring its place in our collective memory. This month the hills have come alive again with the tale of Austria's von Trapp family in a most-unique offering for children (of all ages): a collectible pop-up book adapted by Bert Fink, a senior vice president at The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. Most pop-up books are all about the images and this one is no exception: Dan Andreasen's imaginative illustrations include the story's unforgettable scenes—the Nonnberg Abbey, the von Trapp's palatial home with the children lined up dutifully on the stairway, the stage of the Salzburg music festival—and the book's creative paper engineering by Bruce Foster brings these illustrations to life with intricate pop-up detail. However, what gives this volume an even greater interactive quality is the attention given the text. Each page features a small booklet that when opened reveals additional, smaller pop-up images as well as the adapted story. Fink has taken great care to utilize dialogue directly from the Lindsay & Crouse libretto and has planted lyrical clues throughout the prose for fans to pick out (each chapter, for instance, begins with a reference to a "favorite thing" such as "One of Maria's favorite things was to sing out loud" or "Singing together had become one of the von Trapp family's favorite things"). And as a special treat, lyrics from some of the musical's favorite songs are included—such as "Do–Re–Mi," "Edelweiss," "My Favorite Things" and the title song—making it difficult to resist the urge to sing along as you read.
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By Kevin Hylton
Published by: CreateSpace
Publication Date: August 25, 2009
List price: $19.99 trade paperback; 240 pages
Subtitled "Interviews Including Pulitzer, Tony, and Oscar Winning Playwrights and Screenwriters," this new collection got its main title from an email the author received from one of the writers queried. "Fine…I'll talk with you," was all it said and the acceptance took even the author by surprise. The idea for a book was born out of Hylton's personal quest to get a play or screenplay produced. His goal was simple yet grand: Conduct a series of autobiographical interviews with our most noted writers and get them to talk about how to break into the film and theatre industries. Having met with many a rejection of his own plays, Hylton writes in his Introduction, "I figured I should ask someone who had some success in writing for film and theater how they did it." And he did. Over time, he gathered a remarkable roster of subjects, including the late Horton Foote and Wendy Wasserstein (in one of the last interviews before her death), Edward Albee, Nilo Cruz, Neil LaBute, Ken Lonnergan, Paula Vogel, Alfred Uhry and many more. These professional playwrights and screenwriters, notes the publisher, are represented in their "own words without any editorializing. . . . Hylton explores how these celebrities became interested in theater and film, launched their careers and navigated the systems to become successful professionals in their industries."
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By Geoffrey Block
Published by: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: November 26 2009
List price: $27.95 paperback; 446 pages, illustrated
The rich vein that is the American Musical Theatre seems to hold an unlimited capacity to be tapped. The latest miner is Geoffrey Block, who in the second edition of his "Enchanted Evenings" investigates the history of 18 musicals, including Show Boat, West Side Story and The Phantom of the Opera. Writing in his Introduction, Block, Distinguished Professor of Music History at the University of Puget Sound, states his goal: "In this selective (and to some degree idiocyncratic) survey I do not presume to develop a theory of permanent or ephemeral values or to unravel the mysteries of either artistic merit or popular success. I do, however, attempt to establish a critical and analytical framework that might contribute to an understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the selected musicals." This edition also, notes the publisher, "addresses the importance of film adaptations of Broadway musicals," including an examination of the film translations of Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber's work with, respectively, Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" (2007) and Joel Schumacher's "The Phantom of the Opera" (2004).
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By Maria-Cristina Necula
Published by: Amadeus Press
Publication Date: October 2009
List price: $27.99 hardcover, 352 pages; illustrated
This new book takes readers behind the scenes of the world of opera via encounters with the art's leading stars and personalities. The book is divided into two parts. Part I focuses on interviews with the great performers, conductors, administrators, film directors and designers, including Placido Domingo, James Levine, Peter Gelb, Joseph Volpe, Renee Fleming, Ramon Vargas and over 20 others. The performers tell of their passion for singing, the devotion to their art and their personal philosophies about singing—and about life. The administrators detail their commitment to protect and nurture the art form. The conductors, directors and designers weigh in with their unique contributions. Part II gives the floor to author Necula who, notes the publisher, "recounts the unconventional and at times amusing path where she met and came to know the stars of the lyric universe."
The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together
By Twyla Tharp
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: November 24, 2009
List price: $26 hardcover; 147 pages
As a follow-up to "The Creative Habit," her 2003 book that explored the ingredients that go into creativity, internationally acclaimed choreographer Twyla Tharp has turned her attention to the art of collaboration in a new book that distills her professional life into an examination of how working together breeds success. "Over four decades," Tharp writes, "I have worked with thousands of dancers and almost a hundred companies. I've experienced the thrill of shared achievement and seen what happens when group efforts fizzle. My professional life has been—and continues to be—one collaboration after another." Tharp, notes the publisher, draws "on her extensive experience working with such luminaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Jerome Robbins and Milos Forman as well as institutions including American Ballet Theatre and the Joffrey Ballet" to detail "the challenges and rewards of collaborating with individuals and communities, collaborating at a distance or in a familiar space, collaborating with total strangers and with the closest of friends." Tharp cites examples from her own life as well as from other noted teams in history, such as the Wright Brothers and Marie and Pierre Curie, and divulges the secrets that make partnerships work. And the formula, she believes, has more to do with practicality and common sense than magic. "You can get what you want from your collaborators," she writes, "if you're smart about how you ask for it."
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Edited by Robert Viagas
Published by: Playbill Books/Applause Books
Publication Date: November 2009
List price: $35 hardcover; 468 pages, illustrated
At the risk of being accused of blowing our own horn, we simply can't resist giving it a blast for Playbill magazine's fifth annual edition of "The Playbill Broadway Yearbook." Fashioned like a high-school yearbook, the volume features photos (over 4,000 of them), cast lists, anecdotes and more for every show that ran during the 2008–2009 season. That's 78 Broadway shows that include not only productions that opened during the season—like Tony winners Billy Elliot and God of Carnage—but also long-running hits from seasons past that are still going strong on The Great White Way, like The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King and Wicked.
Judy Samelson, former editor of Playbill, gathers information on theatre-related books, including published plays, for Playbill.com's monthly Shelf Life column. Write her at jsamelson@playbill.com.
