3 comments about Three Plays.

1. Best known for her philosophy of Objectivism that permeates her novels, Ayn Rand also infused her stage plays with the same ideals and philosophical dilemmas. This collection of three plays, only one of which has been produced, is uneven and amateurish at times, but it highlights Rand's deepest beliefs in how people act. For any fan of her writings, "Three Plays" is a must read, but one does not need to be overtly familiar with her works to enjoy these words crafted for the stage.
   
   The first play, "Night of January 16th", is the only play to have been produced (however unhappy Rand was with the resulting changes) and also perhaps the strongest of the three. It is a courtroom drama where the jury is drawn from members of the audience, a situation which guarantees a different ending based on how the audience perceives the 'testimony' given by the characters. Another aspect that makes this play unique is that there are few, if any, truly likeable characters. In trying to determine if the murder victim was killed by his wife or his lover, the reader may find it hard to like or believe either woman.
   
   The second play, "Ideal", is the weakest of the collection, in which a beautiful Hollywood star is suspected of murder and seeks refuge from the police among a variety of her fans. All of these fans have written her letters pouring out their souls and their devotion to her, but all fail her in the end. It is a clunky piece, with descriptions, plot devices, and numerous location changes which makes it hard to picture this play being performed on stage, perhaps one of the reasons it was never produced.
   
   The final play, "Think Twice", is described as a philosophical murder mystery, and plays out like a closed-room mystery, where almost everyone in the house is a suspect. The course of the play examines whether what a person thinks and says matches their actions. It doesn't flow quite as smoothly as "Night of January 16th", and would lend itself well to some modernization if it were ever to be produced. This collectin of plays is helped tremendously by explanations from the author herself, especially regarding "Night of January 16th", which offer insights into what she was hoping to achieve with these plays.



2. This omnibus edition contains the scripts to Ayn Rand's three stage plays: "Night of January 16th" (1933), "Ideal" (1934) and "Think Twice" (1939) (the latter two plays were never produced and are reprinted from "The Early Ayn Rand"). These are some of Rand's earliest works and are uneven in quality, but are still interesting reads, particularly for an Ayn Rand completist.
   
   "Night of January 16th" is a court-room thriller with a twist. Rand wrote two endings to this play, one where the defendant is found guilty, and one where the defendant is found not guilty, and a jury made up of audience members decides which is used. The court case itself centers around Karen Andre, a woman who may have murdered her married lover or who may have merely been trying to stop him from committing suicide, when she was seen fighting with him on a 50th storey balcony. According to the play's introduction, written by Rand, the evidence for and against Andre is meant to be balanced, so that the verdict of the jurors is based on the juror's values rather than any solid evidence. After reading the play, I can't see how anyone could possibly have found Andre guilty and this has nothing to do with my values at all. Andre is clearly meant to embody Rand's philosophy and in my opinion, all of the evidence is stacked in her favour. However, according to Rand, when this play was performed only about 60% of juries voted for Andre's acquittal. Go figure.
   
   "Ideal" is the weakest of the three plays in this edition. When the play commences, it appears that Hollywood goddess Kay Gonda has just murdered a man and is on the run from the law. During the course of the play she visits six of her fans, who superficially share her high (Objectivist) values with her, seeking assistance and instead discovers that each of these people is more than willing to betray these ideals. I am not surprised that this play was never produced. For starters, it has far too many speaking roles in it to make it financially viable (over 23 roles in total), but also, it's repetitive and boring. The same thing essentially happens six times (Kay Gonda visits a fan, finds them to be a disappointment and leaves) and after the second or third time, I just lost interest.
   
   "Think Twice" is described on the back cover as "philosophical murder mystery" and is the best of the three plays. It was written several years after the first two plays and by the time Rand got around to this, her writing had improved considerably. In this play Rand manages to both outline her philosophy (it is this philosophy that is the motive for the crime) and to write a pretty good murder mystery that kept me guessing right up until the end. I am surprised that this play was never produced because it is much better that "Night of January 16th", which actually was produced.
   
   Overall, these are not Rand's greatest work. If you are new to Ayn Rand, I recommend starting with either "The Fountainhead" or "Atlas Shrugged". However, if you have already read all of Rand's other fiction, these play are well worth reading.



3. Any Rand has been overlooked the past few years - she no longer appears on reading lists and I dont think her philosophy is covered in college courses. That is too bad - she is a great writer and her philosophies are worth exploring. I did not know she wrote plays, so I was surprised to find this book. I read the first of three, entitled Night of January 16th. It is a great play with an interesting twist. She wrote it so when it is performed, 12 people from the audience become the jury - their desicion affects the outcome of the play. I think that is a great idea and I wish someone would produce her work. I recommend this to anyone who has read anythig by Rand and is looking for some new material to study. Her writing is, as always, on point and her ablility to make a play needs to be explored more often. I hope more people read it and take a liking to her novels.

5 comments about Random Acts of Badness: My Story.

1. I love Danny Bonaduce's radio program, and he is hilarious. This book is very honest about his life and former years of substance abuse. I would recomend this book to anyone who enjoys Breaking Bonaduce, or any of Danny Bonaduce's radio shows. You won't find much in here about the Partridge Family, if that's what you expect to read. Mr. Bonaduce describes his various legal scrapes, he is witty and his stories are funny, I cannot help but laugh the comedy and the irony of it all. Unlike other celebrity biographies, Danny Bonaduce does not blame others for his issues, takes full accountability for his actions. "Random Acts of Badness" is light-hearted, funny, and upbeat.
   A note to any perspective readers, the book is out of print, and I looked extensively for an affordable copy on Ebay, but that was hard to come by,and those sellers were charging outrageous amounts for the book. The only other site I was able to find copies of this book was on Mr. Bonaduce's website, and he was not charging as much as the sellers on Ebay were! I recommend buying a copy here on Amazon. com because this book was hard to come by.



2. Someone decided to let Bonduce rant about his life and it ain't pretty. This overly-long book is filled with page after page of gross stories, from his doing drugs age 12 to his terrible treatment of co-stars to his demeaning opinions about his family.
   
   Danny tries to make you believe that he is not the typical Hollywood egotistical star, yet most of the stories he tells slam other people and attempt to make himself look good even though he knows he is doing terrible, terrible things. It's all here in gory detail.
   
   He writes in an ADHD style, which is too hyper and hard to follow. The book needs MAJOR editing and research--it's probably twice as long as need be and admittedly contains possible misinformation. He even admits at one point that he refused to find out if his remembrances were accurate and that this was just his recollections of what happened to him, even if they weren't all true!
   
   Those looking for Partridge Family dirt aren't going to find much--he only spends a couple dozen pages on the TV show and most of that has to do with losing girls to his male co-stars. He claims he doesn't want to rehash what others have told in books, but it comes across as just lazy writing from a guy who can't recall those years.
   
   I want to like this book because I enjoy Danny on TV--but I ended up disgusted after reading the non-strop profanity-filled exploits. His redemption supposedly came when he married a "Christan" woman (who marries a guy on the first date?) and at the time the book was written (Hardcover in 2001) they were still together--but many things have changed since then (including his divorce and shocking reality TV show about his marital counseling) and the tragedy that his life has become today has the seeds planted in his childhood as described in this book. Why didn't his parents care enough to discipline this kid? He is still looking for someone who loves him enough to say "no" and put up with a guy who is going to continue to push boundaries to check to see if he is really loved.
   
   In the end it's a sad story, one that he maybe should not have told in so much detail. Or maybe someone else should have told it more objectively. You come away not feeling sorry for him but feeling bad for the many people he has hurt.



3. This book was incredible! Very candid and funny and hard to put down. I will be lending it to many others to enjoy!



4. Loved this book. Very well written and worth reading even though it was published 5 years ago. Could not put it down!



5. I am a great fan of Danny Bonaduce, and I love him and Gretchen on their show Breaking Bonaduce. As for this book, it was really good, and held my interest, but it seemed unfinished somehow. I'm not sure what it was, but when I got done reading it something was missing. All in all it was very entertaining. He has had a crazy life. Gotta commend Gretchen for staying through it all.

5 comments about Cold Reading and How to Be Good at It: An Authoritative Book Vital to the Career of Every Actor.

1. This fast read (54 page `booklet') amounts to what you would expect to hear from a seasoned pro from an extended interview.
   
   Basil presents his brief insights in a question and answer format jumping form topic to topic without getting all boggled down in any one of them.
   
   Six of the 54 pages are BW stills from his previous work, that really do not add anything to the subject outside of reminding you of who this guys is / was in films you might or might not have remembered him from.
   
   While there is some to be gained in terms of a "cold script reading primer," the book is a bit over priced at 12.95 which is to say that the material is probably worth half that much if not much less.
   
   Having said that, it is well written and I do find myself re-reading it haphazardly from time to time because he does manage to walk you through what auditions feel like.



2. I was looking for a book about cold reading as is done by fortune tellers, etc. and bought this book about auditioning, as in cold reading of a part in a play, by mistake. It should be understood that this book is not about mentalism, magic, psychology or any related art.



3. This book has been grouped in with psychic titles in the "people who bought this also bought". It is not a psychic book but an acting book.



4. I think this book would have been really helpful if I had read it when I first moved to LA to pursue acting. The entire first section is almost a glossary of words and phrases that are helpful to know when starting out and the cold reading info is great if you're new to auditioning. Overall, if you've been in LA for a bit and have done casting workshops or have gone on auditions, this book will be too basic for you.



5. This book is a good book for actors who want to fill in some of the industry information. However, I do not recommend this book above personal experience gained by going to auditions and casting director workshops in Los Angeles -- because there are a number of details that are now dated in the book, and only your experience "by getting out there" will help you identify those dated details. I read this book after being in Los Angeles for a year and a half. By then, I was able to identify which information from the book would help me and which would not. The helpful information really filled in some jargon, technical, and business gaps for me. So, under the conditions I have noted, this is a great business book for actors.

1 comments about Dance Composition Basics: Capturing the Choreographer's Craft.

1. This book is awsome for those who start dance composition, it gives good explanation and the samples on the video are worth watching several times. I highly recommend this book.

3 comments about Pat Green's Dance Halls & Dreamers.

1. Outstanding photography is half the fun of reading this book; the other half comes from the words of the musicians who have played in these ten legendary Texas dance halls, and the owners who tend them. There is something unforgettable about each of these places.
   
   The Cabaret in Bandera has a hump in the dance floor. According to the owner, the hump is "kind of like a speed bump at the Indy 500." The dancers use it to turn themselves around, and newcomers trip over it. At the Coupland Inn and Dancehall it's the upstairs Bed & Breakfast, dressed like an old-time bordello, that makes the place unique.
   
   At Luckenbach, it's the song, of course, and the laid-back attitude of the people who frequent the matchstick buildings that comprise the town. Gruene Hall, Texas' Oldest Dancehall, was a hay barn in the middle of a ghost town when it's owner found it and restored it in the 1970s. The roll call of acts that have played there reads like the Country Music Hall of Fame. Just a piece up the road from Gruene is lesser-known Saengerhalle, which lays claim to being haunted. Holes in the dance floor there are covered by old hammered-down Texas license plates.
   
   Stubbs Bar-B-Q in Austin attracts a little bit different crowd, a little louder, a little more rocking. The barbecue is pretty good, too. And then there's Billy Bob's Texas, the World's Largest Honky Tonk, with it's wall of shellacked autographed burger buns, and its hallway of hand prints, like an upright version of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
   
   John T. Floore's Country Store in Helotes is where Willie Nelson got his start, and continues to return for his July 4th Picnics. The 6,000-square-foot, puke green building "has all the ambiance of a bomb shelter." A collage of oddball signs adorn the exterior entrance. Inside, hats and boots left by customers, ropes and saddles and anything else that can dangle, hang from the ceiling over the dance floor.
   
   The Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas is remembered for having the "load-in from hell," a steep stairway outside the building up which roadies and musicians must carry their equipment to the second floor stage. An amplifier or two has taken a fatal tumble down the near-vertical flight of metal stairs. But so far nobody has died.
   
   And then there's Schroeder Hall -- it's the Second Oldest Dance Hall in Texas, built in 1890. "To get there, drive to the middle of nowhere ... and take a left." Pat Green says, "You have got to want to get to Schroeder Hall." Everybody from Merle Haggard to the Marshall Tucker Band to Willie has played here. The trademark gold and silver tassels are on display in one of the photographs, the strings of lights in another, as is the after-dance, bottle-littered floor.
   
   As I read this book and lingered over the pictures, I realized that I had personally been to all but three of the ten featured dance halls. And when I closed the last page, I had the urge to pull on my boots, jump in my car and make the drive to visit those last three.



2. This book is a great look into the life of Texas country music. The book is very pleasing to eye with great photos and the stories are entertaining. I've loved Texas country music for years and was glad to add this book to my collection. It makes a great coffee table book and is very high quality. Worth every penny!



3. I loved the pictures and the stories that the musicians told. I am a huge Texas Country music fan and this was a very good book depicting those artists.

1 comments about Musical Theater: An Appreciation.

1. I just had musical theatre with Dr. McLamore and used her book as a textbook for the class. I joked with all my friends that this is the type of book I would by in stores for "fun" reading.
   
   It really is a great look at the history of musical theatre going back to the early Operas. It's nice to see a book back up that far and show where the roots of musical theatre are found. I have never found that in another book on musical theatre so this ones definetely a wonderful book to have.
   
   The book explores many musicals in detail complete with a plot synopsis of many of them and a deeper examination of some of the songs within them.
   
   It is really an amazing book. Any musical theatre fan would benefit from reading it:)

1 comments about The Prestige - Screenplay.

1. A page turner with great visuals. Captivating from page one. One can only hope it transfers to the screen with the same brilliance.

5 comments about Acting for Film.

1. If you want some concrete tips on how to act for the camera, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. It is 100% schlock, pure form -- and bad form, at that -- over content. The pompous Ms. Haase is so (obviously) mesmerized by her own turns of phrase that she forgets to give ANY meaningful instruction re: acting before the camera. Frankly, I doubt that she has any, if the Cathy Haase filmography is any indicator. If you want/need some actual/meaningful tips on what it's like to act with a camera pointed at you, and how to communicate through that camera to an audience, GET MICHAEL CAINE'S BOOK. It's a great read and full of information. Sorry, Ms. Haase.



2. This is one of the most comprehensive and thorough guides to Acting out there. It covers all the bases from inner voice, to auditions, to the making of a film and the performers role. By following the essentials in this guidebook, any aspiring craftsman in the performing arts will excel in their field. They will thoroughly understand how their body is the instrument of the performance and develop the skills to step into each characters skin. Highly recommended.



3. "Acting for Film" is a very good book for actors who want to know how to act in front of the camera. It covers alot of practical knowledge such as the audition process, reading a script and creating your character. Also covered is what is expected during the film shoot both for big-budget and low-budget films. This book will teach you what acting in front of a camera is all about. A "must have" book for all aspiring film actors.



4. Cathy Haase's ACTING FOR FILM provides a survey of technique, craft, and artistic requirements for actors. Chapters cover the specifics of converting drama lessons to film; from maintaining proper eye focus on front of the camera to preparing for auditions and sets. There's a big difference between acting on stage and acting for the camera: Haase covers all the finer points of the latter.



5. Acting is hard work, one of the most emotionally and mentally demanding professions in the world. This book clearly and honestly delves into all the nitty-gritty details of the actors process when acting in front of a camera (and the crew behind it).

   From the private moments of preparation, through collaborative efforts of production, and even the difficulties and pleasures of viewing the results, Cathy Hasse misses nothing in this informative and helpful guide. She clearly explains all of the hard "work" that goes into making acting look so easy and natural.

   As a filmmaker, I was really amazed at her presentation of the entire filmmaking process from the Actor's perspective. It was unique, accurate and illuminating.

5 comments about Joe Turner's Come and Gone (August Wilson Century Cycle).

1. Herald Loomis says this to his estranged wife in the final scene of this play, set in a 1911 Pittsburgh boarding house.
   
   The play was first performed in 1986, and it is part of August Wilson's ten-play tetracycle about African-Americans in Pittsburgh during each decade of the 20th century.
   
   Charles S. Dutton and Delroy Lindo played the role of Herald Loomis in the early productions of this play. Loomis is a 32 year old man who is looking for his wife, whom he lost touch with after he was put on Joe Turner's chain gain in Memphis for seven years.
   
   Seth Holly is the 50 year old owner of the boarding house in which Loomis and his daughter stay (along with Holly's wife and a number of other residents). Seth is both practical and skeptical (of people, banks and society): "Anybody liable to do anything far as I'm concerned." (2.1)
   
   It's a story about identity and relationships. Bynum, the 60 year old mystic who lives in the house, sums it up well: "Seem like everybody looking for something."
   
   Herald Loomis is looking for himself.



2. We lost a great playwright when August Wilson died a few years ago. And the greatest contribution to theatre was the chronology of 10 socially critical plays. August Wilson's plays contained a lot of dialogue, with great monologues, that drove the plight of African Americans.
   
   As Joe Turner is from the second decade of storytelling, you can begin with "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" which takes you to the world of black musicians in the 20s. Explore the chronology of August Wilson.
   
   Joe Turner's Come and Gone is about the disconnect from slavery and the search for their identity and place in America.
   
   The setting for "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" takes place in a boarding house where owners Seth and his wife operate with strict rules for the many transients. Joe Turner is NOT a character in the play, but a man who enslaved Harold Loomis, the main character, for years. Now Loomis tries to find his wife. This is a wonderful story with folklore, blues, spirituality, search and identity, which is metaphorically referred to as a "song". ......Rizzo



3. "Joe Turner's Come & Gone" is the first play of Wilson's that I've read. I finished the play the week before his death. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, many have obviously already recognized the quality of Wilson's work. "Joe Turner's Come & Gone" won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1988 with L. Scott Campbell winning the Tony as Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Bertha Holly. Set in a Pittsburgh boardinghouse in 1911, the play is part of Wilson's cycle of plays. Seth Holly is a no-nonsense man who does not allow any shenanigans. His wife Bertha cooks and tries to soften Seth's hard edges. Seth makes dustpans and coffeepots out of metal for travelling salesman Rutherford Selig, who is the lone Caucasian in the show. The show is populated by a series of characters including Jeremy Farlow who is a young guitar player who longs for a girl. Molly Cunningham and Mattie Campbell fill the bill. Herald Loomis is an ex-convict who was incarcerated because of Joe Turner. He got out of prison and found his daughter Zonia. (I think I remember the character was named after Wilson's mother.) Herald, as his name might imply, has a spiritual mission to locate his wife. Loomis employs the peddler Selig who makes extra money by finding people whose names he records as he makes his rounds selling his wares. Angela Bassett played Martha Pentecost who has changed her name from Martha Loomis and is eventually reunited with Zonia. Bynum Walker is also a mystical character who has stories of the shiny man. The play's action flows together organically with great tension and humor. The otherworldly mystical elements imply both spirituality and superstition. The play is an interesting reading experience that makes you wish you'd been able to attend one of the 105 Broadway performances! Enjoy!



4. The title "Joe turner's Come & Gone symbolizes the American socialized system of oppression. Joe Turner is "the Man", Joe Turner is jail, and oppression. In this play, Herald Loomis has been detained by Joe Tuerner for seven years. Upon his release he searches to find his daughter and his wife while all along he has been searching for his inner self.
   Bynum Walker is a "Rootworker", one who practices unconventional spiritual worship. He lives in the boarding house an tells a story of a shiny man who has the secrete of life. This secret that he refers to, the secret of life, symbliizes the meaning of all in existance and most impoprtantly the knowledge of self. Joe Turner, "the Man", "the system", and American society have stripped, robbed,and raped the African American of self. It is this quest for idenity that Herald Loomis searches for within himself. This same quest is also found in all of the other characters in the play as well. Those that come to the boarding house are unstable and have not found their true selves. Even Seth and Bertha, the owners of the house also quest for their idenity. They have a better financial system than the others, but they are stil timid when they encounter white America. Seth constantly states the rules of the boarding house. He proclaims to operate a clean, safe, and respectful house. He feels that any other behavior would call too much attention to him and his home. Resulting in white American society to take oppresive actions against his achievements.
   Joe Turner's Come & Gone is an excellent concept that spiritually looks at the concept of knowing ones-self. August Willson's use of quest for idenity among all his characters allows the reader to unmistakenly find a connection with their own secret song to sing.



5. August Wilson, a Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright captures the essence of the African-American experience of slavery, migration, and the quest for an identity. These themes are part of the written slave narrative, from which the African-American literary tradition was born. In "Joe Turner's Come and Gone", Wilson brings the struggle of migration from the agricultural South to the Industrial North to light; set in the early 1900's when this great migration had just begun. The quest for self/an identity is one of the many scarring ramifications of slavery, and the result of namelessness. Wilson, is able to capture this central theme through religion, allegory, and music-Jazz/Blues. The quest for ones identity is rooted in the metaphorical use of the quest for a song. Songs mean different things for different people; they touch people in different ways. Why? Because each individual is unique, each individual has a song, an identity. With the historical culture of the African-American, and its connection to Music, this collaboration of rhythms and imagery proliferate the importance of this quest to life. Wilson, like Toni Morrison, offers his work as an illustration of the Blues Theory of Art-the idea that music has the ability to reach deep into the soul, and pull from it the raw feelings that may otherwise be unreachable. Music goes to the core of ones being, and helps the healing process. With Loomis, this was evident in the search for his song, his identity, it was all part of the restorative process, yet a consequence of America's greatest shame-Slavery. I must say that "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" in a wonderful way, using symbolism, folklore, and like Jazz, a non-written form of art, serves as an anchor and captures the heart of the African-American experience.

2 comments about Sleuth: A Play (Playscript, 46).

1. The middle aged Andrew Wyke, a successful author of English country house murder mysteries, is an obsessive player of games, games of deductive logic, inductive logic, semantics, mathematics, hypnosis, and prestidigitation. Milo Tindle, the young lover of Andrew's wife Marguerite, has cautiously accepted an invitation by Andrew to his house.

   Anthony Shaffer's play Sleuth opened to rave reviews in London in February, 1970, with Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter in the lead roles. In the film production by Palomar Pictures Production and Twentieth Century Fox the roles of Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle were played by Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

   Sleuth makes fascinating reading on several levels. The setting, an English country home, initially suggests a predictable English mystery. However, despite some elements of humor, the disguised rivalry between Wyke and Tindle gradually develops overtones of a psychological thriller. Like Tindle, the reader is uncertain whether Wyke is simply playing a game, or whether he has more serious intentions. Obsessive game playing and make believe appear to be metamorphosing into a dangerous reality, but who is the victim? The plot is highly unpredictable and it would be inappropriate to say more.

   The dialogue is fast paced and witty. Sleuth is entertaining, suspenseful, and great fun.




2. The one extremely odd thing about this play was the fact that it was more of an entertainment than anything else, which is something that the old, stodgy theater would highly frown upon. Actually, though, it comes across as more of a breath of fresh air in a profession which is breathing its last in the public eye. The story twists and weaves almost too much to keep track of, but ostensibly this is the story of a young foreign gentleman in England who is visiting an older native. The older man has called him over to talk about a concern. The younger man (Milo)is getting married, and it turns out that the woman in question is the older man's ex-fiancee. What starts out as a polite inquiry into the Milo's finances suddenly turns ugly, as his elder intends to scare him. The two become embroiled in a psychological battle of scares and pranks up until the unexpected ending of the play. The key words here are Reversal of Expectation, taken almost to ludicrous extremes but always clear and understandable. The dialogue is quick, clever, and entertaining, and the characters are memorable. Best of all, this play can be performed easily on a budget and with a limited cast and crew; the script is that undemanding. The only thing you should consider bringing to the table here is an experienced director and two very talented actors.