No comments about Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus (Focus on Performance).

3 comments about Rebels with Applause: Broadway's Groundbreaking Musicals.

1. His other books, Deconstructing Harold Hill and From Assassins to West Side Story are wonderful books, but this one does more than the others, it focuses on shows that broke rules, and it relates them all to each other, talks about how The Cradle Will Rock led to Hair and Rent, how little known shows like The Ballad of Little Mikey moved the art form forward. It also covers two shows by future writing stars of musical theatre, Adam Guettel and Jason Robert Brown, giving us sort of a preview of what's ahead for the art form. And it also contains two major classics, Pal Joey and Oklahoma. The back cover says it's a tour of ground-breaking musicals and that's really what it is, you get to see how the art form changed over time, and it's arranged chronologically to make that even more clear. This is a great read, as much fun and as conversational as the other books, but even more insightful about the art form of musical theatre. Also, the author apparently expanded the chapter on Hair into a full-length book which I have not read but I intend to.



2. Scott Miller's latest book is once again a very good reference for musical theatre professionals and enthusiasts. However, his previous books, "Deconstructing Harold Hill" and "From Assassins To West Side Story" were much better reads and provided much more insight on their topics.

   The reason seems to be that Miller, this time around, has chosen some rather odd choices to include in his list of musicals to review. Why something as odd as THE BALLAD OF LITTLE MIKEY and not a classic like FOLLIES? (which he has yet to tackle) Why SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD and JACQUES BREL? (two musical reviews with little or no book)

   While I understand his need to address different kinds of musicals, from the review-sicals to the full book shows, I really wish he'd stick to examining the most produced and more classic shows of the genre.

   That being said, his analysises of RENT and OKLAHOMA are first rate.




3. I just got my copy of this remarkable book yesterday and have already read it cover to cover. I keep thinking I know it all, as a New York theatre professional, and Miller keeps proving me wrong. Like the other books in Miller's series, this one is a highly valuable tool for theatre professionals like me but also, I'd guess, a great gift to theatre fans who'd just like to know more about their favorite shows. And what a great list of shows, from classics like Pal Joey and Oklahoma to modern gems like Songs for a New World and Floyd Collins. This guy sure knows his musicals. No theatre library is complete without this book and Miller's other two, Assassins to West Side Story and Deconstructing Harold Hill.

No comments about Inclusive Creative Movement And Dance.

3 comments about Akira Kurosawa: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers).

1. This title is part of a series edited by the University Press of Mississippi, and as I've already reviewed one of the other titles, I'll just say this one is good as usual, but it still lacks the depth of Kurosawa's own "Something Like An Autobiography". The good thing is, his autobiography stops right when he becomes an international director, because he considers unnecessary to tell what people might already know. This book covers a longer span, up until Kurosawa's last "Madadayo". There's nothing wrong with this book, but if you really want to know about Kurosawa, and not just about the way he made films, you'd better start by the autobiography. Then, read this one.



2. The interviews collected by Bert Cardullo in "Akira Kurosawa Interviews" give us various lenses and filters through which the great director's works were seen, over a fairly decent period of time. We have Japanese filmmaker interviewers, American critics, A Latin American novelist interviewer, and Bert Cardullo himself. We have the very respectful, the respectful but inquisitive, the annoyingly self-absorbed (you'll know it when you read it...a tipoff is that, after the most pompously convoluted question Kurosawa laughs...)and the one mind that provokes a real emotional response from Kurosawa.
   
   That's a nice survey! You will hear many stories repeated (I begin to think that Kurosawa relied heavily on some basic themes drawn from his experience, and reiterated in his work with Audie Bock:"Something Like an Autobiography" and nearly word-for-word in Cardullo's final interview in the book) but, despite the repetition, new stuff is intermixed, and quite fascinating for Kurosawa fans and scholars.
   
   Goes on the Kurosawa bookshelf.



3. Akira Kurosawa: Interviews.
   
   I recommend this book unreservedly to anybody interested in film. In conversation with knowledgeable and distinguished interviewers Kurosawa gives detailed insights into how he works: how every stage of a film is exhaustively discussed beforehand by all its participants and the Director himself; how unplanned factors such as the weather can contribute to episodes of unforgettable beauty and mystery in the finished film; his refusal to be regarded as a philosopher, let alone a preacher ('I look at life as an ordinary man. I simply put my feelings into the film'); his passionate interest in, and extraordinary knowledge of Japanese history, of the social and military life of the given period; of how his early training as a painter has informed his perceptions and his methods.
   Apart from all that we learn about Kurosawa's work, the book is full of insights into recent Japanese history and contemporary society, including, of course, Japanese cinema.
   Kurosawa's speech is engagingly fresh and energetic, and despite his great fame he seems to be utterly without self-importance.

3 comments about Timberlake Wertenbaker: Plays One : New Anatomies, the Grace of Mary Traverse, Our Country's Good, the Love of the Nightingale, Three Birds Alighting on a Field (Faber Contemporary Classics).

1. My high school did Love of the Nightingale my freshman year, and it's the most amazing play. I read it the first time and liked it, but when I read it again the play struck me as brilliant because I got lots of foreshadowing. Several years before they did Our Country's good, but I was littile (I went to see my sister), so I don't remember it. Amazing playwright alert here, people!



2. I also have never read this book but my college is staging love of a nightingale i think that timberlake wertenbaker writes with such poise this book cant be missed.
   The play love of a nightingale is in a greek style but the plot is so intriging that anyone who previously thought greek tragedies boring will be proved wrong this one keeps you reading. i should know as a college production being forced to pick a greek play we werent pleased we must have got the best one possible brilliant to stage brilliant to read this book is a must if u are considering staging a greek production dont send ur audience to sleep liven them up with philomele's urging desire to know about sex and when she wishes she didnt. If the rest of this book is as good as love of a nightingale its worth it.



3. This book of plays is one of the best and most interesting I have read. Wertenbaker tackles many subjects including female cross-dressing, female sexuality, and the plight of the criminal first sent to Australia. Very different topics and all well written.

No comments about Testimonies: Four Plays.

5 comments about Exploring Space 1999: An Episode Guide and Complete History of the Mid-1970s Science Fiction Television Series.

1. I really enjoyed reading this book on the short-lived show, "Space:1999!" I have read the book,"Making of Space:1999," by another author. That book mostly covered season two and made it sound that the producer, Fred something, from the original Star Trek series did a great job - not! This book, "Exploring Space:1999," covers both season one and two wonderfully! I highly reccomend this for anyone that really is a big fan like myself. I would love to see a updated show called,"Alpha Beyond," where they settle on a planet and continue to survive with new characters that are "offspring" from the original characters. You could still have Nick Tate, and any surviving characters, as back up roles for the show as well. Perhaps even bring back "Kano", "Paul", and "Victor", as well. With "Space:1999" anything is possible.



2. Clearly, John Kenneth Muir has written a definitive account of the popular series created by Gerry Anderson, whose largest body of work consisted of fantasy-adventure programming aimed for children filmed in "supermarination"--highly sophisticated puppets on miniature sets.
   
   "Space 1999" was Anderson's second venture using live actors, save for the brief two season run of "UFO" produced approximately 6 years earlier. To the author's credit, Muir methodically analyzes each individual episode of Space 1999: the ones that are exemplary and the ones that are better left forgotten; the changes made in the second season under producer Fred Freiberger to add some fire to the principal characters, Koenig and Russell and the addition of Maya (Moonbase's resident alien--not the wisest of moves)and the series' constant, albeit irritating, comparison to its more universally respected rival, "Star Trek." (See my DVD review of Space 1999's Megaset)
   
   Where the book falls short, is in the author's lack of critical distance as both a writer and commentator. Too often, Muir comes across as a fan rather than maintaining a sense of detachment from the subject he is examining. (Historians do this all the time--when you love your subject so much, you can't really see the forest from the trees-For example, how many "critical biographies" have we read on George Washington that have tried not to examine their subject with a sense of reverence and awe for our first President?)
   
   Muir's defense for Space 1999, even in the wake of some critical and erudite comments from Isaac Asimov who thought the show's premise was scientifically preposterous, manages to fall flat. Muir too, takes to task celebrated author, Gary Gerani, of the popular sci-fi historical/pictorial book, "Fantastic Television" (c. 1977) finding his analysis rather hostile and insubstantial (And I thought Gerani's commentary was on-the-mark!)
   
   An interesting note: had it not been for Gerani's coveted tome and episode guides to some of sci-fi television's most respected programs many Gen Xers like myself would never had heard of classic shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits." Before the debut "Star Wars" in late in 1977 when science fiction finally received its due, his book was the first of its kind to examine science fiction on television in a critical manner.
   
   Muir reminds me of David Gerrold, the well-respected and opinionated writer and commentator (re: the bestselling "The World of Star Trek" reprinted and revised multiple times) but lacks the latter's wit and engaging style. This is not to say that Muir's book is not without merit--it is, by all means exhaustive and, I would dare say the best resource we have on this series which sadly never lived up to its potential.



3. Are you unafraid to express your honest opinion? Can you make up your OWN MIND? Or are you swayed by peer pressure and the sneering cultural quasi-monotheism of "cool"? Either way, this engaging book by John Kenneth Muir, the (if you will) Lester Bangs of Science Fiction, is a must-read.
   
   The book contains very detailed episode guides and behind-the-scenes information, a gazetteer of collectibles and much more. However, the books real value, in my opinion, is in its answers to so many commonly-levelled criticisms of the show, and it answers them very well.
   
   Space: 1999 has been endlessly derided as "bleak" and "cheesy" and much fun is poked at its production values, to paraphrase a UK TV special: "charting the beige adventures of the gloom-a-nauts of Moonbase Alpha as they battled foes dressed only in their pyjamas". Many of those airing such opinions are just clip-show talking-heads reading from a script, for a fee, and probably haven't even watched the show (many are far too young), yet they form the prevailing view of a neglected gem of SF TV. Before jumping on that bandwagon like an unthinking drone, read this fantastic book, and decide for YOURSELF.
   
   Ask yourself, when did "rival" shows REALLY get good, really become COMPELLING? That's right, when they became as dark as Space: 1999 was from the start. The show portrayed a ceaseless struggle for survival in an uncaring cosmos filled with aliens that weren't just 2D, cartoon character baddies, but more sophisticated, self-interested entities, to whom the Alphans were simply in the way, or worse, completely irrelevant. Sound familiar? It should. (Hints: Borg, Cylons, Dominion etc etc etc...)
   
   For the real story of Space: 1999, free from post-modern reappraisal and the cynicism of self-appointed icons of "cool", this book is the one to read.



4. Overall a good book that gives the background and insight in the tv-series "space 1999". But the book should not have included the long discription of the "fight" between space 1999 and Star Trak fans. In the end they are both fiction - and none of them better and the other.



5. Muir does a comprehansive episode by episode review of the 2 seasons of the show. I very much enjoyed his analyses of each episode though I found the comparisons with shows such as STAR TREK a little distracting. There were also errors of fact carried over from the original hardback version of this book; I would like to have seen the publishers give Muir the opportunity to revise the text before publishing this paperback version.
   
   I don't agree with all of Muir's comments by any means and I also think he short-changed Year 2. Granted in many ways it did not match the first season but it had a look and feel all of its own and I think Muir did not emphasise this enough.
   
   Overall a good read. Perhaps not the definitive analysis of Space 1999 but a good attempt. But be prepared to disagree with the author on some of his opinions!

4 comments about Out from Under: Texts by Women Performance Artists.

1. I first encountered "Out From Under" in a feminist theatre theory class. Since then I have read these performance texts at least a dozen times and love them more with every reading. Lenora Champagne has compiled an exceptional collection of performance texts by women from many different origins and political agendas. She includes in this compilation Karen Finley's "The Constant State of Desire," Holly Hughes' "World without End," Lenny Sack's "The Survivor and the Translator," and Beatrice Roth's "The Father." Every piece works together to illustrate the work from a highly marginalized group that must be brought to the surface for the political theatre to continue. Moreover, many of the women in this book have other books of essays, stories, and poems. After reading Karen Finley's "The Constant State of Desire," I have become obsessed with her work and respect her for her incredible achievements to the theatre and feminist world. While I read this book in a special topics class, it should be an imperative part of any introductory theatre class and a must-read for all theatre practitioners.



2. I enjoyed reading the selection that Champagne has assembled, if only for the nostalgic look back at the eighties and its plethora of strong women performance artists. Having seen several of the women anthologized here perform live, it was a treat to read *some* of the pieces again.

   I say some of the pieces because not all of them have aged well, and not all of them were very strong to begin with. Karen Finley is always a pleasure to read, as is Laurie Anderson, but the Anderson piece was far too short. I also found the Hughes piece strong, and I also enjoyed the Leeny Sack-- but in the rest of the book I found the selections either not the quality I know that artist(s) can produce, or seemed to be people whose work was not to my taste from the beginning.

   I suspect that much of what's contained here isn't anthologized anywhere else, so if your interest lies in this direction, it's still a good book to buy. My rating reflects the unevenness of the selections rather than the value of the book itself.




3. As an MA candidate for a degree in English, I was assigned a thesis. I had a creative option but none of the genres were "speaking" to me until I picked this text up. Incredible plays. The playwrights speak to the audience and treat you like a friend they are sharing secrets with! Hughes's "Getting Over Tom" is wonderful. It is a woman's must have book. It also helped me write my own performance play for my MA thesis.



4. I loved this book. The pieces in this book are very powerful, moving and funny. Even though it's always rewarding to see performance pieces live, these translate well into text. My favorites are by Lenora Champagne and Holly Hughes. You must read this if you're interested in theater or performance art.

1 comments about Another Antigone..

1. I have taught Antigone often and find that too often there is simply a cliched response to it--poor Antigone vs. Creon the bad guy. What else is there to say? Quite a bit, but that's hard to elicit, especially since most students experience of the play, like their experience of serious drama generally, has been on the page. This play is in conversation with the original. Set in the "present," it involves a debate between a female student and a male professor of literature, and it works its subject up in a way that's less fatuous than what Mamet does in Oleanna which, I'm convinced, is merely a potboiler and does nothing to advance the discussion we might have about gender and, more broadly, the nature of authority. When I teach Sophpocles play, I note this one and encourage any student interested to do a longer paper on it, Anouih's play, (about the Nazi occupation) and this one. It helps complicate their responses to the original and understand why a classic is not merely deserving of mindless respect.

5 comments about Two Trains Running (August Wilson Century Cycle).

1. August Wilson is a distinguished playwright who has won numerous awards. He has chronicled the African American experience that begins with the 20s through the 90s. Two of the plays, Fences and The Piano Lesson, both written in the mid 80s, have won the Pulitzer Prize.
   
   Set in 1969, Two Trains Running takes place in a small diner in Pittsburgh. The diner regulars include Risa, a waitress who scarred her legs in an effort to keep men away, which eventually works; Sterling, an ex-prisoner who depends on luck to find work rather than the hard way; Hambone, a mentally challenged middle-age man who was cheated by the white man for work he had done. Still after 9 years, his only and constant words are "I want my ham." Wolf is a numbers runner who uses the diner for his business and Holloway has a strong belief in the supernatural. Also included are the funeral owner, West and diner owner, Memphis.
   
   Urban renewal is a recurring theme in Wilson's work. Tearing down buildings has been an ongoing project and now the city has an offer for the diner owner, Memphis. He holds out for a respectable offer from the city. Memphis is logical with values but he doesn't have much faith for equality, freedom and justice or the black-is-beautiful concept.
   
   The play opens with the restaurant regulars commenting on the townspeople lining up outside West's Funeral Home to see the dead Reverend turned Prophet Samuel. They believe some luck might pass on to them. Funeral home owner, West, is a regular at the diner and he and Prophet are looked upon as two who got rich cheating people.
   
   The play doesn't have much in stage direction as it takes place at a diner counter. Little direction is needed. As for the vernacular, Wilson uses the language of the day, however, it would seem that the African Americans in this poor community did not enunciate as well as the words were written.
   
   If you haven't read Wilson's work, start with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Band and Joe Turner's Come and Gone. There is wonderful insight to memorable plays. These two are the beginning of the decades of African American experience. .....MzRizz



2. August Wilson is the greatest American playwright. Not the greatest living American playwright, but the greatest, period. His best plays stand comparison with the best work of Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. No American playwright has produced such a consistent body of work, and no American playwright has attempted a cycle with the scope and ambition of his series of plays. Wilson's subject is the Great Migration, the story of the African-Americans who emigrated from the southern states to the cities of the industrial North and their slow construction of satisfactory lives in the difficult and changing world of 20th century America. Wilson has written 10 plays on this subject, one for each decade of the 20th century, amounting to a fictional history of African-Americans in the urban North. This is, however, history from below. Wilson's heroes are garbagemen, short-order cooks, day laborers, self-taught musicians, and street vendors. One of his great gifts is his ability to use common speech in a way that is consistently interesting, frequently eloquent, and often powerful. He gives poetic voice to people usually regarded as inarticulate and invests ordinary struggles with real but not exaggerated significance. The African-Americans of Wilson's plays are a doubly uprooted people. Uprooted initially by the grievous trauma of slavery that sundered their connection with their native traditions, the emigrants fleeing the Jim Crow south and its brutal racism are uprooted also from their homes, families, and the traditions developed in the aftermath of slavery.
   Wilson's overall story is the reconstruction of African-American identity and family life in the cities of the North over the course of the 20th century. Wilson's plays often feature protagonists whose sense of identity and families have been damaged greatly by the oppressions of racism and the atomizing effects of the industrial economy of the North. Over the course of the cycle, Wilson shows characters re-establishing a sense of connection with their ancestors, even back to Africa, and gradually developing the family ties to sustain them. Wilson repeatedly uses supernatural elements in his work, particularly as a device to advance his theme of the importance of developing a sense of historic connection with ancestors, including those originally abducted from Africa. This could easily be hokey, but his matter of fact use of these elements is very effective. Another recurring theme is the importance of music, particularly the Blues tradition developed by African-American musicians, which he sees as a vital and creative force in African-American life, often carrying truths across generations. Some of the most affecting parts of Wilson's work are his demonstrations of the direct and indirect destructive effects of American racism on family life. Even more powerful are those scenes in which his characters overcome these obstacles to reaffirm family connections.
   Not all of Wilson's plays are outstanding, but all are at least very good. Readers will differ on their favorites. In my opinion, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Fences, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom are outstanding. The rest vary from excellent (The Piano Lession) to the very good. Cumulatively, they are a really impressive achievement. Mention must be made of the fact that Wilson has been aided by outstanding collaborators. Wilson's plays usually go through a series of versions before the final version emerges. Wilson has had the benefit of working with unusually talented directors, notably the gifted Lloyd Richards, who was responsible in large measure for recognizing Wilson's talent. Wilson has benefited also from the existence of a whole generation of remarkably talented African-American actors. These people made it possible for Wilson to realize his vision. We have all been the beneficiaries of the work of Wilson and his collaborators.



3. I am a theatre fanatic. With that said, I am ashamed that when a date took me to see the play Two Trains Running (at the Aliance Theatre in Atlanta) in the mid 90's, I had never heard of the play or the playwright.
   
   After the lights came on after a stellar performance, I literally couldn't say anything accept how good the play was. (Maybe that is why I never heard from the guy again - haha) I have become obsessed with this play!
   
   I know that reading it will not be exactly the same ... but one owes it to themselves to at least read this very powerful piece of art.
   
   I love it! I love it!



4. It is a story that can make you feel as if you are in the story actually seeing all the characters. It is written in slang and in a play but people can later on forget about it and really get into the story. It is a good book. I am reading it because of the mandatory summer school reading. This is one of the few books that I have read/enjoyed. I recommend it to everyone.



5. I didn't see this in the official review, so I'm just going to put that it's a review in case that matters to you. I'm getting this for Summer reading and it's the shortest from the list :-p