5 comments about The Misanthrope (Dover Thrift Editions).

1. The Misanthrope (1666) is a short play, one that can be read in a single sitting. Moliere's humorous style has weathered the centuries quite well, and footnotes are not needed.
   
   The protagonist is the misguided misanthrope, Alceste. His distaste for mankind does have one exception. He is enamored with the attractive, vivacious Celimene, but seemingly so is everyone else including Alceste's chief rival, Oronte, the two marquises, Acaste and Clitandre, and unnamed others in the background.
   
   The first scene introduces Philinte, an avowed friend of Alceste, that is unsuccessfully trying to moderate Alceste's adamant refusal to adhere to any social convention, custom, or civility which involves any form of dissimulation or flattery. Philinte argues that Alceste should torment himself a little less about the vices of his period and be more lenient of human nature and foibles. Good sense avoids all extremes. And Philinte questions whether Alceste is perhaps inconsistent in that he applies a different standard to the coquettish Celimene. The more pragmatic Philinte suggests that Celimene's cousin, Eliante, is more sincere and stable, and would be a more compatible choice. With uncompromising honesty Alceste agrees: "It is true; my good sense tells me so every day; but good sense does not always rule love."
   
   As the play proceeds, Moliere's misanthrope does become increasingly irritable with those about him, but I still found Alceste less mean-spirited than other misanthropes found in literature. Despite his sincere philosophical stance, Alceste remains in his awkward, humorous position relative to Celimene. It proves difficult to be a fully committed misanthrope while in love with a coquette.
   
   I am reviewing a Dover Thrift edition reprint of Moliere's famous comedic satire.



2. Moliere said that ' there is no comedy without truth, and no truth without comedy'. And his plays are a scathing and humorous depiction of a simplified, and stylized human nature. Whether it is religious hypocrisy in ' Tartuffe' , miserliness in 'The Miser' or misanthropy in ' The Misantrhope' Moliere often focuses on one quality in order to satirize and society and mankind in general. In the Misanthrope the main character Alceste tells the truth to everyone ( except himself) and in so doing alienates everyone. This is against the advice of his best friend Philinte. At the same time he is in love with the frivolous Celimene who he attempts to change by constantly criticizing. He begs that she retire with him away from the corruption of society but she prefers society to him. The play ends with Philinte and his fiancee trying to persuade Alceste to remain.
   Moliere writes in a clear, simple direct language and the surface sense of his work is readily understood. His view of human nature is harsh and critical , but redeemed by a comic laughter suggesting we are wiser if we do not take ourselves all that seriously.



3. "The Misanthrope" - this is the only play I read. This play is superficial and degrades, as always, women. The woman in this play is stereotyped as a flirtatious girl with many suitors. I did not find this play at all a farce and found the rhyming childish and annoying. The play ends without a true ending and will leave you wanting the time you spent reading it back. I do not recommend.



4. You might not think a play in verse written in the 17th century would be accessible and entertaining today, but this one's hilarious. Somehow the formal rhyming couplets make everything funnier. Get the Donald Frame translation - I've seen some others that weren't nearly as good.



5. It is my blief that everyone should read this book. I am a high school senior and find it very insightful. In addition to that, it is also very ammusing. It is an accurate commentary on society.

No comments about Theatre for Children in the United States: A History.

No comments about The Vision of Modern Dance: In the Words of Its Creators.

4 comments about Quentin Tarantino: Man and His Movies, The.

1. When Tarantino blew up in the early 90's, there were slews of quickie books written to cash in on his enormous popularity. This is not one of them. Jami Bernard has done one of the most thorough and detailed biographies ever done on a celebrity. She misses nothing. The only problem this book has is the same problem almost all Q.T books have- they were all written 2 to 3 years into his career, so there is no recent information. This is one book I'd love to see updated and re-released.It is a richly detailed and fair account of Tarantino's life and career up until 1995.



2. This book is a must-read for every true Tarantino fan.

   Jamie Bernard's book is simply amazing. It covers Tarantino's life from childhood till about 1996. The book is well-written, and goes deep into detail and uncovers Tarantino's life as hyperactive kid, movie theater regular, fatherless child and genius moviemaker. This is the single best book ever written about Quentin Tarantino. No other book delivers such great information, biographical facts and stories about the making of his early movies and involvements in projects. If you want to read a good book about Tarantino, get this one first. It's the best!

   trust me on this...




3. I just finished reading this book, and it is a fine work of reporting. It interviews people from both sides of the Tarantino debate (those who love him and those who hate him), and allows you to draw your own conclusions from all the statements. It covers Tarantino's life from his birth up to the moment when he made Four Rooms.

   Too bad this book is out of print. I hope there will be a reissue in the future, probably covering the latest works of Tarantino.




4. This book is a very good book. It gets you very familiar with Quentin and his movis. Every Quentin fan should read this book. I am going to read it again. Read the book!! Thomas Peterson MXPF89C@prodigy.com Kuna, Idaho

5 comments about Inside Star Trek: The Real Story.

1. I finally got around to reading this book in a spasm of Trek-related reading. It's been about 35 years since I read Whitfield's "the Making of Star Trek," which I eagerly devoured at the time. I was hoping for a similar nostalgic rush from this, but it never really happened for me.
   
   Of the two authors, Justman was the more important player creatively, while Solow worked on the business side. The story here is far from complete, but is nevertheless interesting. There are many stories of set building, uniform fittings, budget cuts, ego issues, and script procurement. Justman was an overworked, likable jack-of-all trades on the set, while Solow was the lubricant between the show and the network and studio brass.
   
   I didn't find the book at all dismissive of Gene Roddenberry, rather it was mostly quite respectful of him. I think some of the creative folks that were still around, such as Dorothy Fontana and John D.F. Black, could have added some much needed juice and color (unfortunately, others like Bill Theiss and Matt Jeffries have left us).
   
   Overall, a mildly interesting read; it's subtitle might have been "The Nuts and Bolts of Keeping Star Trek on Time and Under Budget." Nothing controversial, nothing very intriguing. Ms Fontana, your memoirs please!!!



2. I felt this book presented a raw Behind the Scenes look at Star Trek the initial series. This book was written after Gene Roddenberry's death so there is a feeling that things that were neatly hidden away have become reported. One thing the book points out is that Gene was by no means the creative genius of Star Trek. The series was the result of many creative people. It was also interesting to note the extent for which Roddenberry would go for royalties, even securing 1/2 of the royalties of the original Star Trek Theme by writing this obscure lyric that would never be performed, nor known about from the original composer. Good stories about Shatner's hairpiece and Roddenberry's falling out with Nimoy. All good reading.



3. I assume that if you're reading this review, we share in common the belief that Star Trek The Original Series (TOS) was great. Perhaps you bought the complete set of DVD's, like I did. The DVD's are worth it; I consider them one of my most treasured collections. I watch the episodes with my kids, and they love it. TOS is great television, with great writing asking intriguing questions about man's existence. Television writing has devolved since that time.
   
   I've read both "Inside Star Trek" and Yvonne Fern's "Gene Roddenberry, The Last Conversation". Both books look at different angles of Star Trek. Fern's book deals with the philosophical side of Gene Roddenberry, and how he perceived himself. "Inside Star Trek" deals with the business end of the show and all the difficulties encountered in producing it. It's an impressive story, and it's amazing that it ever got produced. Herb Solow and Robert Justman did a fantastic job producing the series.
   
   It's been about 33 years since I was in college. After dinner in the cafeteria, a group of us would congregate to watch Star Trek reruns on the local UHF station. That was a crucial time in the success of Star Trek, when the UHF stations picked it up, because it was otherwise a ratings failure on the networks. If it wasn't for the phenomenal success of Star Trek appearing in reruns on UHF, Star Trek would have been just a vague memory.
   
   I would not recommend this book to new viewers of Star Trek, until they have seen the shows, because the book tends to reveal the magic. Roddenberry is a god to some, but he had "feet of clay". Also, reading about the actors tends to diminish the herioc stature of the characters they protrayed. "Inside Star Trek" shows you all the nuts and bolts of how the thing was put together, and how it fell apart.
   
   Looking back, Star Trek was an incredible achievement.



4. This book is a masterpiece of non fiction documentary reporting. It explains what really happned way back when far more clearly and deeply then anything I have ever read, period! We need books like these on almost every subject. This book dispells so many myths its mind boggeling. I encourage everyone to read this book even if they hate star trek, just for an example of good writing.



5. I could never have dreamed of the value of this book - I bought it and was amazed! This book is a must-have for every fan of the original series and real trekkie!
   The complete background of the beginning of the series, the problems, the costs and the riscs to make the series - all covered within this essential book. It was great fun to read and
   extremely interesting. Believe it or not, I had some good laughs too!

   Hard to realize how some things have been done and worked out. The real point in trying to catch a copy of it is that the writers were really there at this time! They perfectly know what they are talking about.

   Try to get a copy of that book as fast as possible. Out of print for some time now it is very hard to find and I'm afraid I won't sell mine... *g*

4 comments about Being and Doing: A Workbook for Actors.

1. I started reading this in order to better communicate with actors so I could more easily get them to do what I wanted. I realized that "do" was the wrong word in the first place. The right state of mind governs the kind of acting that is genuine and compelling which turns out to be the most entertaining. This book helped me understand that among the most important tasks a director has is providing the environment within which the right state of mind is a natural part. The actor just simply becomes and "acting" is no longer necessary.



2. I'll admit that at first glance Eric Morris's System can seem scary and misaligned. But I believe it to be a very misunderstood system.
   
   I too was skeptical in the beginning, but after studying this technique (with Eric, but mostly with Anthony Vincent Bova in NYC, Eric's protégé), and after seeing the difference from "acting" and what this Work creates, there's no way I'd ever go back to the "acting" form.
   
   Eric Morris teaches the actor how to react honestly and in the moment, including everything that's going on inside and out-the other actor, the props, the imagined objects that one might be working for-that impels you to "do" whatever the character is required to "do", but out of a real reaction, not just because you're doing it.
   
   I've studied Adler, Strasberg, Meisner, and with Robert Lewis. I've hashed through the process of verbs, actions, objectives, obstacles, and onward; and they're all good and dandy for figuring out what's going on in a script, what the characters are doing and why; but other than that, these techniques never helped me figure out HOW to make it real to ME... How to get to a place where I'm actually functioning from a real, organic, truthful state ... How to get to the point where I am "doing" all the script tells me to do, fulfilling the "actions," out of an honest REACTION to what's going on.... Not just "playing" as if I am; how, in essence, creating the realities of the character....
   
   No matter where you go, all the great teachers (and actors) say the same thing, "Acting is reacting." Even the most used and cherished word in the actor's language, LISTENING, is about focusing outside of yourself and REACTING to what is there. This Work trains the actor to create the stimuli that will fulfill the demands of the piece, specifically, wholly, and with Truth.
   
   For the most part, plays and movies are imagined circumstances, and we as actors, have to create stimuli to react from, so we're not just faking, or indicating our performance. I'd rather watch two people have a relationship on film or on stage, than two actors reciting words, no matter how well they "act" it. If they don't believe it, I won't. This System trains you to create those stimuli and REACT to them honestly, fully and truthfully.
   
   A crucial part of Eric's System is based on Instrumental Work, which is the process of identifying blocks and fears and tensions to expression and, one-by-one, through the use of hundreds of exercises, eliminating them. It's really about self-awareness-learning about yourself and how you function, so you can "get out of your way" and function truthfully on stage or film and get to where you need to get to in a scene. I think this is the aim of every method, but I feel that this System is the only one to address the issues of the actor on a personal level. If I'm tense and depressed (in real life; me the actor), I'm not going to be able to REACT truthfully in a scene where the character has just won the lottery and is jumping with joy. If I push for the emotion, I'll be faking and will "act" that I'm joyful. If this is enough for you, then Eric's work is definitely not your thing. But if you're looking for creating reality and REACTING with truth, nothing surpasses this Work.
   
   I know that Meryl Streep, Brando, Ed Norton, Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and a handful of other amazing actors don't fake it, don't just indicate the realities of the character and the circumstances. They create them. Be it imagined stimuli they are creating, or through the available stimulus around them, they open themselves up and REACT truthfully to everything -the other actors, the set, the space, the props, the object or person via Sense Memory, etc. I KNOW they do this for a fact! They've talked about it for years.
   
   Eric helps you get to the place that they do-where you can function truthfully, where your instrument is accessible and available, where you are open and are willing to go where the character needs to go, emotionally, psychologically, and physically.
   
   My advice is read Eric's books. If they pique any interest in you, if they strike a cord, study with Eric or Anthony, or at least contact them for further information about the system. I think you'll be quite surprised and utterly amazed at the tools this Work can provide you as an actor.



3. This is a wonderful workbook--easy to follow with great exercises. If you do the exercises, I guarantee you will improve your acting and accessibiltiy to your emotional instrument. I use them in my classes when I teach acting.
   The results are phoenomenal.

   If you just read them-- and let them sit there they won't do diddly squat. This book is the beginning of an eye opening approach to acting by Eric Morris. The exercises are powerful, will deepen your intensity and provide access to your emotional instrument. Do read this book in conjunction with No Acting Please which better explains Eric's work. Follow it with Irreverent Acting. The three act as a powerful acting trilogy and together form some of the best books on acting ever written.




4. Having read this book in my acting class, I feel I gained little in the way of learning about acting. It's really just a collection of preparations, such as overcoming fear, and learning how to relax. The exercises are great, but that's about all this book is good for. The author tends to repeat himself over and over throughout the book. So, if you're looking to learn how to act, don't get this book. If you want to learn exercises to deal with fear, tension, and other "blocks," get this book.

5 comments about At This Theatre.

1. Excellent book for the person who wants historical facts and figures on some wonderful(and not so wonderful) Broadway shows and the theatres that played them. Obvisiously not all Broadway shows. Enough to keep the enthusiast informed, especially me being an overseas buyer.



2. ...you'll love this greatly expanded version (with lots of photos) of the "At This Theatre" feature. I find that keeping it up to date is actually fun! Five major theatres have been renamed just since this 2003 edition. Nicholas van Hoogstraten's "Lost Broadway Theatres" makes a wonderful companion volume.



3. If you love Broadway and all the famous theaters you'll love this book!!



4. Imagine a compilation of about 40 articles where each one focuses on a different extant Broadway Theatre and you have a notion of what is in this book. Each article covers ownership, architecture, a narrative list of many of the productions the Theater hosted (along with notable cast members) and is accompanied by informative photos. Because it is organized by existing theaters, this is not the most accessible way to learn Broadway history and there are some gaps. Also a map of where the theaters are located would have been nice. But there are treasures to be found here. It's not 'Lion King' but it's worth the price of admission.



5. Part of the description reads, "AT THIS THEATRE tells the complete history of Broadway in the 20th century, theatre by theatre."
   This is not true. NONE of the plays that I know were on Broadway and I have playbills for were in this book. When I first looked at it at the bookstore, I wasn't able to see inside the book as it was wrapped in plastic so I was unable to note that before I bought it. I bought it and now I will be returning it.

4 comments about Shakespeare's Wordcraft.

1. It was a delight to read and reference this work for details into Shakespeare's inner voice and language. How did he form the words that have so emotional impact? Scott Kaiser provides a master key in the usage itself and how the sounds and symbols of words sharpened the ear to be pierce through with richer meaning. I've been looking for something like this for years, and I'm glad someone finally wrote it. Fantastic book for playwrights, screenwriters, and writers of all kinds to add new dimensions to their own stories.



2. Kaiser has the entertaining idea of using brief quotes from Shakespeare--hundreds and hundreds of quotes--to impart lessons for effective, occasionally memorable writing, mostly word usage and sentence structure. Thus one is treated to numerous Shakespearean quotes as examples of notable word usage and fundamental writing techniques identified by Kaiser. He names these words, additions, repetitions, reverberations, transformations, substitutions, omissions, order, and disorder. Within each of the nine chapters are several subsections for different aspects of the technique. Delayed Repetitions and Landings are two of the eight aspects under Reverberations. "Shame, and eternal shame, nothing but shame" from "Hamlet" is one example of the former. "Dost thou teach pardon, pardon to destroy?" is an example from "King Richard the Second" of Landings, explained as "[t]he last word or words of a phrase repeated as the beginning of the next phrase." The unique writer's handbook can be studied systematically or be a bedside companion to dip into randomly for enjoyment and instruction.



3. Nine basic patterns of Shakespeare's language are revealed for students of both English and drama, offering a survey of how Shakespeare used words, phrases, expressions and images to solidify his ideas and plays. WORDCRAFT could have been recommended in our Literary Shelf area but is featured here for its broader applications to drama students at the high school, college and public performance levels alike: this audience will especially appreciate Shakespeare authority Scott Kaiser's revelations.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



4. This book analyzes Shakespeare in a way that makes it easy to understand. This book has really helped me in a class that I am taking about Shakespeares works and has helped me not only understand the words and message of Shakespeare's stories, but also helped me get to be one of the better students in my class!

5 comments about The Ultimate Broadway Fake Book.

1. Great! Found the book to be very helpful in finding the music I have been looking for.



2. Although like a lot of Hal Leonard books the chords can be a bit "commercial" and the layout lacks that professional fake book lead sheet style that makes it more comfortable to use on a bandstand, I have to say that this is an incredibly useful resource of showtunes - - bordering on voluminous.
   
   About 95% of the tunes the gigging Jazz musician plays comes from showtunes, but few Jazz musicians are willing to openly come out and say, "I play showtunes," that said, to Jazz performers looking for those undertapped standards missed in the REAL BOOKS, this book is a gem... To vocalists, cabaret performers and working piano lounge players consider this a lifetime repoitoire that can fit in a computer carrying bag (minus the computer.)
   
   As for the chords... most of them work quite well with solo piano (especially some of the diminished passing chords and stuff like that) but for ensemble playing a combination of ear and pen and pencil will be necessary.
   
   Tunes are written in reasonable keys, have lyrics and range from classic Cole Porter/Richard Rogers/George Gershwin Broadway to some of the newer stuff (circa A Chorus Line, Jesus Christ Superst, etc.) And as an added bonus, this well indexed fake book even includes a section where the musicals that the tunes came from get brief bios... not only education, but great if you'd like to have a cute, informed Michael Feinsteinish way of showing that you know ABOUT the tunes.
   
   Spiral binding makes the book easy to use on a piano... but weight will be an issue with music stands, and in times these spiral books fall apart so my suggestion is to buy the book and put copies of frequently played tunes in clear sheet binders.
   
   So far, thrilled with this purchase !



3. I've always been a broadway buff, and I bought this book just for casually toying with my autoharp at home; I'm not a professional musician.
   
   For my purpose, this book is wonderful: I can easily play the songs from the listed chords, and there's a huge variety. I think it has done a great job of picking out the most classic songs from the early through mid 20th century, although by necessity as it gets closer to the present it gets a little more sparse, fleshing out the more popular shows a the expense of some of the excellent but less known ones.
   
   While some reviewers have correctly complained that the book doesn't include everything... if it did, it would look like an encyclopedia, and cost as much. It has a well selected set of music given that they have to cram it into a book you can carry in your backpack. Also, keep in mind that they can't necessarily get the rights to publish everything at a price that would make the book affordable. I accepted before I bought it that I'll need to supplement it with a few more song books, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper to buy this than to buy a songbook from every musical I'd want one for.
   
   The indices are very useful: notice the plural, indices. It's indexed by song title, by show title, and by composer.
   
   I'm rating this book 4 stars instead of 5 primarily because of the binding: I hate plastic comb bindings. I know it's a big book and they want to bind it cheaply so it's affordable, but even a wire spiral would be better... marginally, anyway. I'm convinced the pages will eventually tear along the binding, so I know that I'll eventually have to figure out a way to re-bind it.
   
   My other complaint, and it's fairly minor, is that some of the songs are a bit sparse on chords: I ocasionally find myself wanting to pencil in a few extra chords... but hey, it's my book now, I can do that. If you're really helpless with music you'll have a problem with that, but then, if you're that helpless with music you probably wouldn't want a fake book, now would you?



4. This book has some interesting good and bad points. First, the good: It's a fake book in the Hal Leonard style, in original keys, of a wide selection of the best known Broadway songs. Lots of good stuff. And unlike The Ultimate Fake Book (which is great for other reasons), the songs are conveniently organized by Show rather than by Title. A nice addition is a synopsis of each show and its relevance at the beginning of the book.
   
   But the bad... first, like other very large Hal Leonard books, the binding is a plastic tab that is hard to turn relative to spiral bindings and tends to come apart over time. Second, many (but not all) songs have what appear to be guitar chord charts, which are distracting to everyone else. And third, it doesn't have all the songs you expect.
   
   For example, it doesn't have songs from the movie versions (which you may not realize weren't part of the broadway version) or songs from updated broadway versions. The play "Grease" is represented, for example, but lacks the theme song (Grease), Hopelessly Devoted to You, Greased Lightning and other big hits from the show. Similarly, Starlight Express in its original incarnation was not that big a hit. "The New Starlight Express" was. Amazingly, there are only a few songs from the latter in the book; it's missing "He'll Whistle At Me" and "Next Time You Fall In Love", along with about six others. This means, of course, that after seeing the (current) broadway production, you won't be able to pick up this book and play the tunes; they're not there.
   
   However, there are a LOT of great tunes that are there, the organization is great, and as always Hal Leonard did a great job of arranging them.



5. I have so much fun playing Broadway songs on my violin. I really do. The nice thing about this book, especially for violin, is that it only shows the melody in treble clef so it eliminates the annoying page-turning you have to deal with when playing from a piano book. Though sometimes I get sad the book doesn't have a song I like in it, but it really has a great selection, one or two songs from any Broadway you can think of and many pages of music from greats like Les Miz and Phantom. Well worth the investment.

5 comments about A Little Night Music (Libretto).

1. A Little Night Music is Sondheim's most beautiful show. it also has probably the most brilliant lyrics of any (especially songs like Now, Liasons, and Weekend in the Country.) My single disappointment with this score is that it does not contain the alternate version of "Glamorous Life" sung by Fredrika, which is probably the second most beautiful, heartbreaking song that Stephen ever wrote. this song was not in the original Broadway production but is included in many ever since it was used in the film. If you have never hear it, go out and find a recording of it. the song is available in other books (sondheim anthologies and musical theatre books) so do not fret



2. I'm not sure why there are review for the book and the movie, or why someone comments that this isn't the full score. I ordered it, and they sent me the full piano/vocal conductor's score.



3. I really thought I was getting a score. This is NOT a score. This is a libretto only. A previous review by a customer was misleading, and the description of the product not clear. This is NOT a score. No music, only lyrics.



4. As advertised, this is the full vocal score to "Night Music" by Stephen Sondheim. The music is presented as a piano reduction of Tunick's orchestrations with instrumental cues written in. Measures of music which were omitted from the original Broadway production have been included, but are marked with asterisks detailing their omission. People familiar with the show will notice that Sondheim composed lyrics for the opening number which have been traditionally replaced with "la's." The score includes a complete breakdown of Tunick's orchestration, and notes that some instrumental parts are "optional."



5. I gave the musical five stars, not this movie. What were they thinking by not putting the original cast in it!!!If they can remake all these other movies, they can remake A Little Night Music, and put some damn good singers in there. Does anybody know a producer? I don't. Get cracking!! This is too good a musical to have just the one pitiful example.