Book Reviews
Review: New Vibrant Sondheim Volume Will Delight Sondheads
Any Sondhead knows there are enough books, tapes, documentaries, podcasts, scripts, speeches, interviews and websites connected to Stephen Sondheim to fill a wing of Library of Congress bookcases. But, surprisingly, the newest – Sondheim, His Life, His Shows, His Legacy – is a welcome addition.
Book Review: Gorgeous, Insightful View of Collaboration in ‘Designing Broadway’
Designing Broadway, which looks like a coffee-table book jammed with gorgeous color photos and insider illustrations, is one of the finest examinations for both artists and people sitting in the seats for detailing the actual creative process in theater.
Book Review: New Sondheim Volume More About Interviewer
D.T. Max got Stephen Sondheim to reveal glimpses of his work process in five “interviews” but clearly, Max is almost as crucial, at least to him, for what’s in this book as what Sondheim says. At one point, Sondheim mentions that Max looks like Geoffrey Rush, but Max responds in a post-interview add-on that most people mistook him for Nicholas Cage when he was younger. And we care, why?
Review: In The Room Where Sunday in the Park Happened
It’s almost impossible to accurately depict the guts of the creative process, let alone make its intricacies interesting. But director-librettist James Lapine has not only conquered that task, he and 40 colleagues have produced one of the most compelling and detailed inside examinations of the full process of the creation of theater, covering everything from word choice in a lyric to choosing the theater venue.
Book Review: Stoppard Bio Is As Complex As The Man Himself
Most biographies factually mirror the life and times of their subject in a chronological narrative. But few mirror the complexity and structure of the subject’s own work with the stunning faithfulness of Hermione Lee’s exhaustive and exhausting epic examination of one of the greatest playwrights in English or any other language, Tom Stoppard: A Life.
Book Review: Bob Avian’s Engrossing Inside Look At Broadway “Dancing Man “
The paradigm of theater as a co-creative art is repeatedly depicted in Bob Avian’s autobiography Dancing Man, an engrossing account of the creation of theater seen from the inside in an illuminating tale told with the fair clear-eyed vision of someone who loves the art and the artists but who rejects wearing rose-colored glasses.
Bookshelf: Hirschfeld, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Michael Caine
If you’re a theater aficionado and received a nice check from your mother for the holidays or maybe from a busy relative gave you a gift card to Barnes & Noble, what should you spend it on? Here’s our review of a few books related to the arts.
Our Holiday Gift List For The Theater Buff In The House
Theater buffs are the easiest people to shop for on your holiday list, as our Brad Hathaway proves in his annual roundup.