3 comments about Frasier.

1. if you are a frasier fan, this book is a wonderful behind the scenes guide to your favorite show.



2. I just recently got hold of this book and I must say, I'm glad I did. Thorough in every way, witty, and full of Frasier facts, no hardcore fan of the show should be without it. What I especially love about this book is that each actor is interviewed individually and gives their insights on their own characters as well as the other characters of the show. There is also a brief summary of the first 72 episodes as well as the entire script of the pilot "The Good Son" and bios of each leading cast member (even Eddie & his trainer!); not to mention lots of great photos. Frasier is without a doubt one of the most intelligent and hilarious American sit-coms ever aired and this companion book really does the show justice. Highly recommended :)



3. The doctor is in! Welcome to the wonderful world of "Frasier", two hundred and seventy-six pages crammed full of everything you could possibly want to know about the show, the stories, the cast, the callers, the writers and the history of Hollywood's most witty and sophisticated sitcom. Pull up a couch and let me explain... This book is the official guide to the hugely successful situation comedy based around the life, loves, family and friends of Frasier Crane, a character who first appeared on "Cheers" many years ago. Meet Seattle's hottest radio shrink, Dr. Frasier Crane; his stuck-up younger brother and fellow psychiatrist, Dr. Niles Crane; his father, Martin Crane, a retired cop; his radio producer, Roz Doyle; his father's physical therapist, and object of Niles' affections, Daphne Moon; his father's Jack Russel terrier, Eddie; fellow radio personality, Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe; and even Niles' elusive wife, Maris. Sit in on "The Dr. Frasier Crane Show" at KACL, and discover the origins of Dr. Crane's calling card, "I'm listening". Take a trip down memory lane with the show's creators and learn how "Frasier" actually came to grace our screens. Get to know the people involved with the show and let them take you through "A Week in the Life of Frasier" - from first draft to final take in just seven days. Could you ask for more? Well, actually, yes you could. You also get a list of the show's "guest callers"; an episode guide to the first, second and third series; a "Frasier" trivia quiz; the entire script of the show's first ever episode, "The Good Son"; colour photographs; full biographies of the characters and the cast and a whole host of other morsels that a true "Frasier" connoisseur would just die for. This book is everything a long-term fan of the show could wish for, as well as a great way to familiarize yourself with the world of "Frasier" if you've only just discovered it. As anyone who loves the show as much as I do will tell you, when you watch "Frasier" you come to recognise and love its characters, its situations. With every episode you learn a little something about life and you grow a little in spite of yourself. And suddenly the world doesn't seem such a bad place after all. So, my advice? Watch "Frasier", read "Frasier", eat, breathe and sleep "Frasier". And save yourself a fortune in therapist's bills.....

3 comments about Blasted (Methuen Drama).

1. Ten years on the dust about the "in-yer-face" theatre had been settled. Blasted was the first in a serious of sexual and violent plays. The play was a slap in the face for the everyday audience in the nineties.
   The play takes place in a hotel room in Leeds where Cate and Ian stop for a night. Ian is a tabloid reporter with a rude manner. He drinks to much and smoke to many fags. Cate is a serious, shy and young woman with fits during the play. They talk about Ian's health problems and Cate's life. Ian abuses Cate later, this takes place in the off. As the soldier enters, Ian got raped by the soldier. The torture for the audience continues as the play goes on. Ian eats a dead baby and Cate got raped for bread and a bottle of gin at the end.
   Sarah Kane showed how the atrocities of war have a connection with the daily behaviour to each other. A child abuse and the raping of a woman have the same defects to the soul on a lower level. The play is a mixture of emotional and physical violence. This makes the play very unbearable for the audience. Cate is the only light in the play. She has a religious belief after all and she is showing her social care as she feeds the blind Ian in the last scene.



2. Briskly sloughing off all but the necessary history of two people's past's, and keeping the present hooded and unknown, Sarah Kane puts people together under circumstances that press from multiple directions, and squeeze them until they are as compact, as primal, or as insane as humanly possible.
   Ian and Cate know each other. They were together before and now, are together again, in a posh hotel room in Leeds. He's older. She's more confused and goes through spells, possibly seizures. He's a reporter, who carries a gun and is dying. She can't help but lead him on. In comes the Soldier, and the War and the vile difference between two people feeling each other out while playing sexual politics, and someone beyond limits and feelings and hopes.
   To say this is a shocking play is an understatement. It is very violent, sexual and disturbing. There is nudity, much alcohol/smoking, gun threats, rape, oral sex, torture, cannabalism, masturbation....
   And it's powerful. Beyond the point of this play lies a no man's land.



3. This is the play that introduced the world to Sarah Kane. It is undoubtedly violent and sexually explicit, but through all this pain and anguish grows love and forgiveness.

   The play is set during an unnamed civil war, the action, however, takes place in Ian's hotel room in Leeds. Ian, a reporter, lures Cate, his former lover back to his hotel where he abuses, belittle's, and minimalises her to nothing more than a piece of pentratable flesh. However, pretator becomes prey when a tortured, guilt-ridden but totally immoral soldier invades the room and proceedes to punish Ian for both his social (to Cate) and political (as a reporter in the field) crimes. The horror he inflicted upon Cate is multiplied infinately upon himself by the soldier. He is left humiliated, impotent, hungry and stripped of all "civilisation". Kane makes him nothing more than a helpless animal. With nowhere left to turn, his only salvation now is Cate.

   Marquis de Sade meets shakespeare? yes. Perhaps more on Shakespeare than de Sade although many might disagree. The language is stripped back and minimalistic and the violence is written like dialouge. This is a huge challenge for the actor but Kane makes it clear what she wants from the three players. Yes the violence (which I haven't even begun to discuss and shall avoid doing so), is extreme. PREPARE THYSELF. Despite this, the soul of Kane's debut is the gentleness that reaches through it. Upon first reading/viewing, most will be shocked and repulsed but observe: The most gentle, least violent of the three characters is the one most triumphant (or closest to it). The most provocative aspect of this play is (apart from the violence) is the extreme fragility of these characters even when they are commiting the most vicious acts. Underneath the horror is something precious that's been broken somewhere and they can't move on with their lives. The play is written to make your heart bleed, not make your stomache churn.

   These are not one-diamensional characters despite their brutality. This has the potential to be a dynamic play but that all depends on the choices of the actor and director.

   I encourage ALL to read it even if it's from morbid curiosity. There is an undeniable beauty here that will be discovered if you look closely. This isn't a horror show. It serves a higher, moral purpose. See for yourself.

No comments about Inclusive Creative Movement And Dance.

3 comments about Secrets of Screen Acting (Theatre Arts Book).

1. This was a very informative book for my Acting for the Camera students. Promoted interesting questions and good discussion.



2. During my first read through my jaw kept dropping as I came to understand how little I know about screen acting, even at my low level of experience.

   This book did more to open my eyes to the virtually hidden peculiarities and demands of acting for the screen than anything I've ever read. The pages of review sheets at the back are worth the price of the book.

   The style is readable and the author speaks with the authority of experience. I'm sure that this will turn out to be the best investment I've made in my fledgling career as a film actor. I'm going to give this book to my closest actor-friends. I can't think of a better way to show how much I value them.




3. Includes numerous detailed techniques for film acting, such as adjusting your performance for various camera distances (master shot vs. close-up, etc.

3 comments about People and Pianos: A Pictorial History of Steinway and Sons.

1. Relatively recently updated, this book is a brief and sugar coated, but very interesting history of the Steinway & Sons company, arguably manufacturer of the finest pianos in the world. The black and white photos (not terribly well reproduced) give a sort of scrapbook character to the piece.
   
   For the piano officianado who appreciates the character of a Steinway, it is a nice little history of the Company.



2. This is a reprinting of the book written by Theodore Steinway on legal pads that in 1953 was given to Steinway and Sons employees as a commemoration of the company's one hundredth anniversary in the U.S. The original book was reprinted in 1961 with minor additions. This reprinting expands the earlier limited-printing editions with a 40-page section with material by Henry Steinway and the president of Steinway and Sons Bruce Stevens recounting the history of the company over the last 50 years. Both old and new parts are heavily illustrated with photographs of noteworthy individuals and Steinway pianos from different eras. Readers learn why and how the Steinway piano came to be and continues to be the preferred piano by almost every top music performer and composer around the world.



3. First written in 1953, People And Pianos is a chronicle of the history of Steinway & Sons, an institution famous for creating great pianos. The original edition was a memento to commemorate the company's 100-year anniversary; now a new edition is made available to the public, filled cover-to-cover with vintage black-and-white photographs and illustrations as well as an update by Bruce Stevens that continues the saga of Steinway & Sons to the present day. Personal reminiscences on maestros such as Ignace Jan Paderewski, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Josef Hofmann, Glenn Gould, Rudolf Serkin, Dame Myra Hess, and Arthur Rubinstein by Henry Z. Steinway, the last family member to be involved in the business, are included. A remarkable narrative, especially recommended for piano enthusiasts interested in knowing the inner details of an institution that took upon itself the task of creating great and complex musical instruments.

No comments about Rachel: A Play In Three Acts (1920).

1 comments about The National Black Drama Anthology: Eleven Plays from America's Leading African-American Theaters.

1. This book is a beautiful represention of today's Black theater. We so often "forget" that there are talented Black playwrights, who are rarely given notice. The book shows the broad spectrum of life and views in one culture. Today I notice and give accolades to those with the God given talent of dramatic creativity.

4 comments about Creating Life on Stage: A Director's Approach to Working with Actors.

1. Without doubt the most important book on directing since Harold Clurman's seminal On Directing, I found Marshall Mason's Creating Life on Stage both moving and inspiring. When this book was released earlier this year, I was preparing to direct a production of Wilder's "The Matchmaker". I found Mason's insights into the most critical aspect of directing: how to coax the most inspired performance out of an actor truly illuminating.
   
   How do we create the most fertile ground for truthful living on stage? In an almost simplistic, highly organized methodology, Marshall Mason lays out a set of tools for us to use. Mason manages to present this material so simply and lucidly, that almost anyone who picks up this book, interested amateur or Broadway veteran will profit from its contents. This is very difficult material to articulate, but he manages to relate concepts of character, behavior, even consciousness and spirituality in a way that is practical and executable on stage.
   
   Highly useful for both actors and directors of all levels, it truly is "...utterly invaluable".



2. One might think that directing plays was an arcane art for certain geniuses, but as the great Alvina Krause would agree, directing plays is about LIFE and it IS life and therefore this advice about organizing work, interacting with others, managing one's own drive is good advice for anyone. I would particularly recommend it for writers. And especially people who write about the theatre. This is a clear book, not as simple as might seem on first reading, and a joy to read.
   
   Mary Scriver



3. This book provides complete instructions on how to be an excellent director, from choosing the project to opening night and beyond. Theatergoers with an interest in how a play gets from a script to the performance they see should find the book fascinating. Mr. Mason writes in a gentle, intensely serious, sometimes wry style that is a pleasure to read. Young directors would surely benefit from Mr. Mason's 40-some years of experience in the theater. Actors should find it very interesting to know what a director does before first rehearsal (and it is a lot), and to read in print a description of the sort of direction they know in their hearts they deserve. Mr. Mason touches frequently and perceptively on Stanislavski and has an appendix on Sandy Meisner's teachings (and other illuminating appendices). If you know a young person considering a theater career, this book would be a very useful and supportive gift.



4. There is no doubt that Marshall Mason is one of the great directors of the past half century. With his new book Creating Life On Stage, he has shown himself to be one of the great teachers of directing as well.
   
   Not all great directors make great teachers. And not all great teachers make great directors. I'm too young to have seen Harold Clurman's work, but there seems to be a consensus that his productions did not always meet the standards of his wonderful, seminal book On Directing.
   
   Mason's book, written in a clear, often chatty voice, undertakes to describe a system for directors--akin to Stanislavski's for actors--that can reliably clear the way for inspiration and creativity. Mason draws on both his own vast experience and the groundwork set down by other major figures, ranging from Elia Kazan and Sanford Meisner to Anne Bogart.
   
   The result is a rich blend of the traditional and the adventurous, drawing on the best of each. He describes how to make effective use of improvisation to stimulate the depths of actors' creativity (explore the history of the play, but don't demand a predetermined conclusion...); as well as innovative techniques such as the baby exercise for lovers (check it out--you'll love it).
   
   Nor does he neglect the basics, and even they can have a fresh feel to them. Look for advice on how breaking down a script and constructing a rehearsal schedule can be conduits for inspiration. Even volume notes and tech can make a good story. After shouting several times from the back of the theater "I can't hear you!" during a dress rehearsal an actor shouted back in frustration "F*** you!" To which Mason immediately replied, "THAT I heard!"
   
   Most of the book, however, is devoted to creating a rehearsal dynamic that invites the maximum creativity and enthusiasm from designers and actors alike. "We'll try to be something of a family here," he tells his cast, "but our family will be based on mutual respect." He goes on to add, "if we, the artists cannot communicate with each other, how can we hope to communicate with an audience?"
   
   Creating Life On Stage is an important and welcome book to any director's library. None that I have seen offers the kind of advice for talking to designers that Mason gives, both practical and rich. It is telling that he calls this section not "working with designers" or "dealing with designers" but rather "stimulating designers." The same holds true for working with playwrights--and if there's one thing Marshall Mason knows, it's how to sustain a successful relationship with a playwright. His fifty-year collaboration with Lanford Wilson is proof enough of that.
   
   There are a few times where he seems a bit caught up in the virtues of his approach--telling us in one instance that he thought his production of Private Lives was "much funnier (and more honest) than the acclaimed Broadway production the same year." But this is hardly a flaw--his goal is to help directors create work they can be justifiably proud of.
   
   The approach to directing he describes, from choosing a play to "Enduring Opening Night" may just be one man's opinion. But any director would do well to consider his techniques. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay it is this: I'll be using it.

No comments about Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838-1952.

5 comments about Life Is a Banquet.

1. I read this biography years ago, but after reading a recent article about Rosalind Russell, decided I just had to have it. She was the real deal - actress, star, no-nonsense dame. I love her.



2. Reviewers don't mention the ghostwriter of this autobiography which is told in the first person, the hilarious and wonderful Chris Chase who also wrote Betty Ford's biography.
   
   Anyone familiar with Chase's articles in the NY Times and her book would recognize her voice here.
   
   The book is wonderful but while it's honest about Russell's deep religious feelings and patriotism, it skates over her right-wing sympathies (to which she was entitled) and her friendships with Nazi sympathizers.
   
   Russell was indeed a multi-talented and fascinating woman who had an amazing life. I liked and admired her--- I enjoyed this book immensely, but I wish she had been challenged more.



3. This is funny, poignant, interesting, and delightfully written. Russell begins with her childhood adventures riding horses with her brothers and sisters and also talks about her loveable, eccentric father and too-funny eldest sister, who was nicknamed "the Duchess" before moving on to her stage and then movie career. You feel as if you have come to tea with Miss Russell and she is telling you stories.



4. This book is almost just as funny as one of Rosalind Russell's movies. I learned much I hadn't known before about her early life, as well as her co-stars. The book gives hilarious insights into such projects as His Girl Friday (1940), and The Women (1939), her first comedy.
   
   Roz, the fast-talking dame, will never disappoint in this three-laughs-a-page book. It's also got some great photographs, of her childhood, early acting career, and behind-the-scenes shots of her films. If you are a fan of Rosalind Russell, missing out on this book is your loss!



5. As a longtime "Auntie Mame" fan, I was anxious to read "Life is A Banquet". I'm thrilled to say that Ms. Russell didn't disappoint. She is a gem ~ authentic and honest and a wicked sense of humor. She maintained her ability, despite her success and life in Hollywood, to laugh at herself and those around her. If you can find a copy of this book, grab it and enjoy the ride. She absolutely lived her life as a banquet. May we be so lucky.