5 comments about Acting Up! How to get your kidz in the biz!.

1. I bought this book because my little brother decided that he wanted to enter this crazy industry and become an actor. I bought it because it never hurts to have a guide to look back at, plus, maybe there was some info in regards to kids that I already did not know. This is a great book. That only reason I gave it a four is because I did not really learn something new, but then again, I plan on working in the entertainment industry once I graduate so I already know alot in regards to breaking into it. But it is a great book. Also, it's an easy ready. Seriously, I read it in less than 45 minutes (and that's with me watching tv at the same time).



2. I Have been in show buisness for over 20 years, and my greatest fear has always been parents [paying too muchy for] acting teachers, photograghers and agents. This book will prevent that from happening. And save you many hours of frustration and regret. If your starting out, and even if you've been at it a while, this book is a MUST. Simple and straight forward.



3. As the mother of a young performer and a producer and performer myself, I am familiar with all the pitfalls, perils and pluses of having a child in "the biz". Lucia has accurately addressed the most important issues and then some. This is a MUST READ for anyone contemplating getting their child started in the business. Run, do not walk and buy this book. This book is easy to understand and covers all the major topics needed to make good decisions. Thank you Lucia it is about time someone wrote this book!!



4. This is a great resource for parents whose kids are eager to tap into their talents. In detailed and nicely organized chapters, it covers everything from how to deal with your child's aspirations and dreams in the business world to how to find and deal with representation. It's comprehensive, easy to follow and most importantly, stresses the "fun" factor for kids. Stage moms beware! This is a MUST READ for every parent with a future star in the family or a very expressive child.



5. This great "how to" book provides the information you need to get your children into show business. Clear, succinct information....and forms to walk you through your own experience.

5 comments about Dinner with Friends.

1. Dinner with Friends is an interesting, if seriously disturbing. Revolving around two couples that believe themselves extremely close, the play begins with news that Beth and Tom have separated and that Tom has run off with his travel agent. The story that ensues paints all of the characters in an incredibly believable way in which nobody is completely honest, everyone believes that they are right, and the boundaries of friendship for everyone are clearly defined.
   
   As a twenty-five year old man, I found it incredibly disturbing how truly Margulies was able to capture the middle aged experience. The logic of the characters evolution is flawless, and paints a rather grim future for all of us that believe that we're in love and know who our true-blue friends are.



2. If you haven't read Dinner With Friends, you won't be disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed it...great plot, great dialogue, great characters, and a bittersweet ending. Definitely a good choice.



3. This is an emotionally charged, witty, and brilliantly told drama of four friends struggling to understand marriage, divorce, intamacy, and each other. One of the best plays I've seen/read.



4. I'll avoid giving a synopsis as so many have already. I had the pleasure of seeing this play on stage. I had a conversation afterwards with one of the actors (Gabe) who is a good friend. There's one thing in particular I'd like to point out from the conversation with him. He told me that the play "doesn't read well" - you wind up thinking it's just another overwrought "Thirty-Something". But, it "plays" entirely differently. I will freely admit that the complicated issues brought up by the play had me crying most of the way through it. (Yes, I'm a guy.) Who's right? Who's wrong? Uh... yes! They all are... both right and wrong.

   It would certainly be easy to dismiss this work as just more "Thirty-Something" or as being too "Boomer"-esque. I'm not a Boomer. I'm an X-er, as a matter of fact, and it's resonating very loudly. My partner and I have struggled with the issues raised, as have partners of any generation, and will for generations to come.

   I don't want to discourage anyone from buying the book/script. But please remember, this is a play. Let in be enacted in your mind as you read. Feel the situation. If it's totally foreign, try to go outside of yourself and make it your own. The depth of the drama will come through.




5. Reading an unfavorable online comment from "Plattypus", I came across this sentence -- "Also, Margulies's use of conversation is not believable. Characters are always interrupting each other, which is certainly true in real life. However, in this play they do it constantly, and nobody ever seems to notice." This is a statement that has to be challenged. People in conversation -- particularly heated conversation -- interrupt each other (and themselves) all of the time. I have done experiments transcribing tape-recorded conversations that bear this out. If you're gonna knock a work, do so with a valid argument.

5 comments about Cats: The Book of the Musical.

1. Memories...CATs is one of the longest running plays of all times. A must see if you ever get the opportunity - take in this show.



2. I read a review that said the pictures were crisp. I ordered the book and found the pictures to be blurry and unprofessional. They look like they were taken from the front row during a performance with the wrong film speed and light setting on the camera. I was very disappointed with the pictures and overall quality of the book. This is not a high quality book of the musical, but I can't seem to find any other book about the broadway musical that contains pictures. Too bad.



3. I loved the stage musical and didn't understand a word except for "Memories". And I love the video to death. But this book is no way a companion to the video, unless you're just looking for the words to the songs. In that case you've spent way too much (the lyrics can be had on the WEB)! The cast in this book is different than the Video and if you have young kids who love the video like mine do, they are going to ask (and say)"Why daddy does Gus look different, or that's not Gus". The only worth while text is from Andrew Llyod Webber and it happens to be the shortest article of the 4 included. I was disappointed to say the least and in hind sight find that 99% of the reviews are "irrationally" positive and not at all realistic.



4. Well There's Not much to it...
   Some info about T. S. Eliot, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Others
   Lyrics from the Songs which i like
   And Pictures of the Original Broadway Cast
   A bit pricey for just that...
   Still A Good Book...



5. I am a big fan of Cats(we're talkin' realy big!I know all the lyrics and dances)and I found this book a great addition to my Cats Collection,which includes greasepaint, Old Possum's Book, T-Shirt,hat, sweatshirt,ORIGINAL BROADWAY COSTUME WORN BY CYNTHIA ONRUBIA(VICTORIA), fan-made costume, A WIG WORN BY VEERLE CASTELYN(JEMIMA), 5 CDs, Video, 2 DVDs, ticket stubs, autographs, program, magnets, letters from actors, and a WIG WORN BY CYNTHIA ONRUBIA THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY VICTORIA. This book is wonderful and added to my huge collection. It might not be as valuble as the two wigs or the costume, but it is still a cool book!

2 comments about The Open Door.

1. This is really an extension of Brook's ideas in "The Empty Space." It is my favorite work of his, as the writing is much simpler and digestable than I am used to, yet it is no less insightful and inspiring.

   I feel that anyone who loves theater should read Brook: I always come away from his ideas feeling inspired and invigorated: my mind spinning with countless new possibilities. Thinking both as a director and an actor, I find Brook very useful. Perhaps his best quality is his love of experimentation- of finding what works but being ready to reject it for something better. Brook is an explorer more than a theorist. This collection of essays/speeches is an important aid to understanding where his journeys have taken him in his understanding of what makes good theatre.




2. This is a collection of three shorter pieces: essays, transcriptions of speeches, etc. The book is well-edited and provides a good insight into the experiences which seem to have motivated Brook to do the kind of ground-breaking he is noted for. However, if you're looking for a single, clear thesis, try a different book.

   I highly recommend this book.

5 comments about Chance and Circumstance: Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham.

1. weighing in at 642 pages, this book is a dancer's story. The key to this is located in the subtitled 'Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham' - the word WITH is the key word. Ms. Brown was a dancer, and perhaps the best dancer of the Cunningham company, but she was not John Cage nor Merc Cunningham. While the book was quite informative early on, dealing with the founding of the Cunningham company for example, there was also more than a good deal of "I did this, and I did that".
   
   I read this book and have no desire to own a copy. It may well be instructional to dancers but I didn't enter into the read as one, and left the book with a case of 'please, not another word'. The book was too long. The book was too long.



2. Merce Cunningham and John Cage are two of the most significant figures in dance and music in the second half of the 20th century. Cage, who is aruguably the most influential artist of the second half of the century, has been much written about, and was himself a prolific author. Cunningham has also published influential books, and the two have been the subject of numerous documentaries. But not until now has there been an insider's view of what it was like to be an intimate part of the Cage-Cunningham inner circle, a world that included artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, composers Earl Brown, Morton Feldman, and David Tudor, and many others. Brown has written an honest, sincere account of what life was like touring the US in a VW bus with Cage at the wheel, stopping for picnics along the way. Moreover, while Brown clearly adores both Cage and Cunningham, she doesn't hesitate to provide occasionally hair-raising accounts of things said and done by these two artists that seem incongruous with the myths built up around them. In that regard, Brown renders them human in a way I have never previosuly encountered. Reading that Cage, while in his cups one night, held forth on how turned on he was by Merce, should finally set the record straight (pardon the pun) about Cage's sexuality. The book is a treasury of great anecdotes about Brown's life on the road with an astonishing group of artists, and I felt privileged to have been privy to the journey. It is also a savvy analysis of Cunningham's choreography from the perspective of someone who actually danced it. This book should be required reading for anyone seriously interested in understanding the lives and work of Cage and Cunningham.



3. The wonderful thing about this book is that it gives a very close-up view of the Cage/Cunningham world, especially in the early years of the Cunningham Dance Company. It also presents the two major figures, John Cage and Merce Cunningham, in a critical light. We see them both as the towering creative forces that the outer world knows, as well as the difficult, moody, and complicated people they really are, or were.
   
   The book is exhausting in the way it reveals Brown's life as a dancer, and the tensions and struggles of the Company. Perhaps it could be a few pages shorter, but (in the first half of the book) the insights into the world of modern dance in general, and the NY avant-garde in the 1950's and 60's in particular is fascinating and valuable.
   
   It's also a good example of why people should keep detailed journals.



4. This book is an excellent opportunity to examine Merce Cunningham's work. Carolyn Brown was probably his favorite dancer. She was intimately connected to Merce and John Cage. Many will come away with a more real understanding of what "chance" means to this work. This is very much a dancer's view of things. I only wonder why it took her thirty-five years to write this book. She confesses to the book deal being offered and signed almost as soon as she retired. There are telling comments on State support of the arts and on unions.



5. As a former student and long time friend of Ms. Brown and Merce Cunningham, I was moved and delighted to revisit the struggles, perseverance and creativity that went into daily life during the years Ms. Brown spent in the Cunningham Company and to understand, from her viewpoint, the inner workings of Merce's choreographic process. I learned so much and appreciate the knowledge, skill and levels of artistry, friendship and as well as travail that made those years so vital. Thanks, CB

3 comments about In the Can: The Greatest Career Missteps, Sophomore Slumps, What-Were-They-Thinking Decisions and Fire-Your Agent Moves in the History of the Movies.

1. This book is a waste of money. The authors claim to have spent "hundreds of hours" watching films to come up with a list of the worst movies that famous actors made. But there is no evidence they even saw some of the movies. It's just a rehash of stereotyped film flops, such as Ishtar, Town & Country, Catwoman, etc.
   
   Each "chapter" is merely a couple of paragraphs that summarizes an actor's career and then gives a little synopsis of the worst flop of that performer's career. There is no evidence of any research being conducted other than a quick Internet search. You'd find more information on Wikipedia than you'll find here. Some "chapters" are literally four paragraphs and say nothing other than someone like Madonna is a bad actress.
   
   Get ten pages into this book and you'll regret buying it. Here's a sample from just the first few pages: Ben Affleck "not only isn't funy, he isn't remotely charming." Tim Allen "hasn't shown he has the chops to pull off any performance on the silver screen." Drew Barrymore has "not played the lead in any motion picture of any consequence."
   
   Do you see where this is headed? They make catty remarks about easy targets but offer nothing of substance. And their opinions are so off-based that you have to question everything in the book.
   
   One problem is that the book is divided by actors (alphabetically). But really what these authors are doing are reviewing (in a couple paragraphs) the bad movies the actors were in. The book should have been divided by movies--but there have already been a couple (much better) books done that way, so the only way to justify this book was to divide it by actors even though the content really is more about the film than the performer. For example, for Warren Beatty there are paragraphs about how bad the movie is but little mention of the actor himself. For Alec Baldwin, they make fun of him for being in the children's movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but then admit he's better than the other performers and basically just don't like the movie.
   
   Don't waste your money on this. The publisher loses credibility when this type of poorly-researched, badly-written waste of time gets put into print.



2. This book sounded good: An alphabetical listing of nearly all recent movie stars with a discussion of each star's worst film. To qualify, a film had to be both a commercial and critical disaster. Only problem is the authors appear to have written the book over a long weekend. The entries are very short -- usually a page, sometimes less -- and contain almost no background on the films, apart from their box office take and, occasionally, quotes from reviewers. We all know Halle Berry's a fine actress and Catwoman was a bomb. Why not tell us how she came to make the film, what problems the film encountered in production that made it so bad, and so forth? The authors did essentially no research that might have enabled them to discuss these issues. Instead they provide a brief summary of the actor's career before and after the bomb under consideration and make a few smart remarks about the movie itself. They would have to be far wittier than they are to pull this off. In short, if you are movie fan, you probably already know everything you will read in this book. For a much better book on the same subject, check out James Robert Parish's Fiasco.



3. The authors seem to have had a very rough job while researching this book--it consists of nothing but big, big Hollywood bombs. I never thought it would be this fun reading about Battlefield Earth, Surviving Christmas, Mary Reilly and other tanks by Hollywood's biggest stars. Lots of interesting information. It's a page-turner.

5 comments about Mark Kistler's Imagination Station: Learn How to Drawn in 3-D with Public Television's Favorite Drawing Teacher.

1. While aimed at kids, this is a great place to start at any age. If you have been looking at other drawing books, and the books you have seen before only make it harder, your search is over. Mark makes it easy for anyone at any age to get basic drawing skills, the building blocks you need to get started. He teaches the skills that other books make seem complex, without the stress or making it go over your head. His way of teaching is simply the easiest method a person can have to start drawing. And if the books are good, his old show on PBS and his videos are even better. Mark makes drawing so fun kids beg to use the book again and again. He does not start by intimidating you with the completed project, in fact you don't always know what you are drawing until you are done. He takes you one line, circle, or square at a time and before you know it you have a fun drawing. I also reccommend you try the books from Ed Emberly, or check my lists on Amazon for kids that want to learn to draw, or be a cartoonist or animator.



2. I bought this book to relearn how to draw properly. While the book is directed at a young audience, adults-at-heart like me will benefit from the drawing principles such as foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading and shadowing, contour and horizon (plus 1 and 2 point perspectives). My disappointments were that a few later lessons repeat previous lessons and that it uses blank pages after each lesson for you to practice on. I suggest you use a separate sheet of paper to do this so you can pass this book to your kids and their kids and so on and so forth. Despite these, I still rate it 5 stars.

   I can now draw simple everyday objects both as cartoons and as realistically as I can. They're not professional quality yet, the book recommends daily practice until they are and that's exactly what I'm doing.

   This isn't the only book you should buy though if you want to draw artistically. In my case, I'd like to draw comics-style characters and objects so I can move on to animating them later. I got Tom Alvarez's "How to Create Action, Fantasy and Adventure Comics" (separately reviewed) which is also an excellent how-to book.




3. Mark Kistler's books are EXCELLENT for anyone who want to learn to draw. The layout of the book is fun easy to follow. Although it is geared toward children it is appropriate for a beginner adult. It starts with simple concepts and gradually builds on what you've already learned. Anyone at any age will be impressed by what you will be drawing in a short amount of time. I bought this book for my children and was so impressed , I started drawing myself. My children love this book and so do I.



4. Mark Kistler's books are wonderful, entertaining books that canteach anyone (of any age) how to draw! I bought his books for my sons,and I quickly became a devoted fan and an avid drawing maniac myself! The book is packed with pages of fun drawings, as well as 'story starters' in which kids are asked to complete the story. Mark's enthusiasm for drawing and story-telling just bubbles up out of the pages of this book. As a mom, I appreciate his encouragement for kids to watch less tv, say NO to violent video games and drugs, and to expand their brain power by getting involved in art. This book is a 'must have' for all teachers and parents who would like to see their kids motivated to express their creativity and feel good about their drawing ability.



5. If you think you stink at drawing, think again! Mark Kistler shows you how, step by step, to draw pictures that really look like something and tell a story besides!

3 comments about My Children! My Africa!.

1. Here is a painful play about the hope of a country and it's people falling by the wayside under the mad rush of anger and rage and frustration.
   
   There are only three characters here: Mr. M, a black teacher in Brakwater, called "the location," the black town outside the white town of Camdeboo. Thami, also black, is a leading young student, and protege of Mr. M. And Isabel, a white girl Thami's age, who befriends both of them after an interschool debate.
   
   Together the three of them agree to prepare for a competition which may represent the best and brightest of a new generation of South Africans. One that is marked by a union between blacks and whites, in the spirit of education, knowledge and words. Such is the hope. But the hope ultimately gives way to the heart wrenching evil of apartheid as it cuts the three apart. Mr. M and Thami diverge about how to fight apartheid and Isabel struggles as her new friendships crack, and spirits wane.
   
   Painful. Spiritually uplifting, then crushing. Eye opening.



2. My Children! My Africa! was the first book I've read ever to make me cry--so much towards the end that I had to put it down. It is the touching tale of a white South African girl who befriends a black South African boy and his teacher, amidst a time of strong racial tension. Their teacher helps them to learn that even though others may be at war, they still have the chance to pave the road to a new, better Africa. Fugard's best play ever!



3. In My Chindren! My Africa!, Fugard tells the story of a white South African girl who becomes involved in debates with a black South African boy and his teacher, but as the racial tension increases, tragedy becomes inevetable. Fugard tells a powerful story which not only addresses the racially charged South Africa he is from, but race relations and the need to realize the differences between people of race are only skin deep.

No comments about Authentic Movement: Moving the Body, Moving the Self, Being Moved: A Collection of Essays.

1 comments about Performance Theory (Routledgeclassics).

1. Schechner's Performance Theory marks a watershed in the study of performance. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone concerned with theater, anthropology, or ritual.