1 comments about Human Communication: The Basic Course (10th Edition) (MySpeechLab Series).

1. althought this book gives off important info, it leaves us w/ a desire to want and know more. our minds are expanded and challenged we discover a new way of thinking and comunicating with others.

5 comments about Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent.

1. This book really moved me with Rapp's emotional honesty, and I echo the praises from previous reviewers. I rate it as 4 stars because, like a previous reviewer suggested, I feel it tended to drag a bit at the end and could have ended a chapter earlier. I strongly suggest the audio recording, especially for fans of Rent and of Anthony. Hearing him read the story himself (particularly for the small and poignant personal moments, like the frequent "Hi, Mama"--"Hi, Tonio" exchanges with his mother--it broke my heart every time) was an intimate and powerful experience, and when I finished I felt I had just had a long and passionate conversation with a friend--which i was very sorry to end.



2. Anthony Rapp tells an emotional story about personal life, love, and loss as he describes the years surrounding the phenomenon that is Rent. This is a book no Renthead should be without. Afer reading this book, I feel like I have gotten to know Anthony as a person, and gotten a rare glimpse through Anthony's eyes of the man that was Jonathan Larson.



3. Anthony Rapp was in on the creation of the masterpiece which became the Broadway sensation "Rent," almost from the beginning. He has written his memoir of that experience with great sensitivity and insight.
   
   This book is a riveting tale about the creative process, how a play goes through its evolution to get to Broadway, and how every once in awhile a theatrical miracle can happen which changes everyone's lives. "Rent" is such a miracle. I just saw the play once again on Broadway this past weekend. I took my teenaged daughters to see it. After eleven years, it is finally closing down some time this year. If you cannot get to New York to see the play, rent the movie. It's not as good, but almost.
   
   I loved this book, and recommend it to anyone who has ever overcome adversity to pursue a dream.



4. This book is amazing. It's a great read, easy to follow and really hits at your heart. I would reccommend it to everyone.



5. I am a fan of Anthony Rapp's and a major fan of Rent, so I felt the need to pick up this book. It gives you such great insight into Anthony as a person and there was a lot in here to which I could relate. Plus, you get to follow along with the backstory behind Rent, which I also found very informative and entertaining. But above all, Anthony pleasantly surprised me with his writing talent. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I hope he continues to write in the future.

5 comments about Broadway Musicals - Show by Show.

1. Let me begin this review by stating, that of all of the text books I have had after a six year stint in college, I have used this book the most. I have used this book to not only research shows for synopsis', but I've helped a local high school pick their yearly musical from this show for the past three years. I am sad that it only goes up the 1996 year, and have been awaiting a new version for a while now. But if you need a time frame, this book helps with giving you the year, directors, original cast, and a brief synopsis of the show itself. This helpful for any music director/show director, I highly recommend this book for anyone persuing musical theatre history.



2. I purchased this book for my father. He is a music professor and teaches a course in Broadway Musicals. He just raved about how helpful it is to he and his students.



3. This was the required text book for a class in musical theater in college. I found it informative but lacked many details that I would have like to have known.



4. overall a nice book covering the Bway Musicals. I happened to purchase one for a friend who attends the theater (both Broadway and off-Broadway) religiously and she was very happy with the gift.



5. This book has proven and indispensable part of my theatre library, and if you get it, it will become one for you as well. Want to know what date the original production of Show Boat opened on Broadway? This book will tell you. Who the original stars of Mexican Hayride were? That's in here, too. You will be able to find the answer to just about any question you could ever ask of Broadway's hit musicals. A perfect companion piece to Ken Mandelbaum's Not Since Carrie (which chronicles the flop musicals this book mostly excludes), and a wonderful way of tracking the history of the Broadway musical, Broadway Musicals: Show by Show is as comprehensive, helpful, and essential as reference books on Broadway come.

No comments about Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times.

5 comments about Urinetown: The Musical.

1. Absolutely fantastic is really all I can say about this. Each line is more clever than the next and the music is absolutely genius. Each song is unique and each lyric has value. The show has a great message and is hilarious. I've read the script and listened to the music at least 50 times and I still laugh out loud every time. I can't even pick my favorite song or scene or say anything bad about it.



2. I used this book in our amateur production of the musical and I recommend this script. The pictures and story behind the musical was interesting.



3. I always thought "Forum" was the best musical written but that is now in second place to Urinetown. This one also has a lot to think about as a commentary on our times. Shouldn't be missed.



4. Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) in Reno is performing this play in March 2006. I should add that it is one of the first community theaters to get the rights to producing this still-running show. Having the book in this format has been very helpful while blocking the show instead of lugging around the bulkier copies provided to us; however, as the Music Director pointed out, the lyrics written in the book don't exactly match what is in the score. But if you are an aficionado of Broadway Musicals, this is a fun book to have!



5. UrineTown was, i believe, the most unique musical ever been created! The Concept of this play was just fall-to-the-floor funny and has gone beyond what we see in broadway throughout the years. but what this show has is great characters and some witty dialogue and lyrics. It's unique concept gave the script strength and power and was a fame for all viewers who went out and saw it.
   
   I encourage anyone who has heard little of Urinetown to go out and give it a shot. Maybe it could be a well-known musical some day.

1 comments about Bug.

1. BUG: This play is so interesting that CCSN is planning to prouduce it un about a year,I enjoyed reading the script; its going to be a challenge for the technical aspects of the play,
   Teri

5 comments about Myth & the Movies: Discovering the Myth Structure of 50 Unforgettable Films.

1. If there is a 12 or 13th Edition to this book, give me a call.
   
   As it is, it looks like an interesting work of progress that someone prematurely released when they should have still kept it on the editors desk.
   
   It needs work. It needs lots and lots of work.
   
   It is fantastic as a premise, but in its current form it needs be resubmitted for a re-edit.



2. I had to read this book for a class taught by the author. There are not really any new ideas here. A person who has never been exposed to genre, character type and a three-act structure might find it useful. I found the dissection and analyses dry and un-insightful. Serious and seasoned screenwriters may be disappointed.



3. I am a huge fan of this book. It invites you into a secret club of those special people who can read a script or watch a film and and decipher all of its great qualities and not-so-great qualities. It gives you a complete template of how to write a succesful story so that it commits the audience to the film through emotion. A superb book!



4. After reading Vogler I was interested in how an expert might wholisticly apply his structure to actual movies.
   
   Unfortunately, Voytilla's analysis of individual movies is rather shallow and nominal. i.e. He basically rehashes movie plots using keywords for Voglers book to name them. There is no introspection into how these elements provide drama, work with the theme of the movie, or highten an audience's investment in the hero.
   
   The only parts of the book that I found interesting were Voytilla's analysis of Genres. Here he writes about similar structures, themes, and purposes found within genres such as comedy, adventure, action etc.
   
   If you are at a loss to apply Vogler's works, this book will be helpful. If you are interested in breif and somewhat interesting Genre analysis and don't mind dropping a few bucks then you might pick up a couple of interesting tidbits here and there.
   
   However, if you're looking for an analysis that truly enlightens the dynamics behind the dramatic excellence of a movie, skip this book, rent a bunch of movies and apply Vogler's ideas for yourself. (Disney movies such as the Little Mermaid are a great place to start.)



5. As Advertised, this book is a guide to the story structure of 50 great movies. "Myth and the Movies" uses the Heroes Journey model which is illustrated in "The Writers Journey" but Christopher Volger." I'd recommend getting books and using them as companions to one another.

2 comments about Voice and the Actor.

1. Some years ago, I developed an interest in voice and diction. I had noticed how well-spoken many actors were, and then later I noticed that successful people in general tended to be well spoken. The opposite also held true, I noticed even college educated individuals with poor speaking habits.
   
   I took voice and diction lessons from a local teacher, and then moved on to the classic book in the field, Edith Skinner's, "Speak with Distinction". "Speak With Distinction" is a monolithic work, and many of the great actors of American theatre and movies regard it as the bible of speech training.
   
   Edith Skinner refers to "Voice and the Actor", as a suggested book for further study. In many ways, I think "Voice and the Actor" functions as the perfect companion piece to "Speak With Distinction". This is because whereas "Speak With Distinction" focuses on proper pronunciation and enuciation, "Voice and the Actor" focuses on the processes of vocal production, i.e., breathing, diaphram, and the elusive process of "setting the voice free".
   
   Also, "Voice and the Actor" goes into great detail about the need and proper use of a device called a "bone prop", which is used to prop the mouth open during voice training exercises. This isolates certain muscles, and is an old school voice training technique which is quite helpful.
   
   Highly recommended for actors and serious students of voice and diction.



2. Ciss Berry is actin

3 comments about Zoot Suit and Other Plays.

1. I enjoyed reading the play Zoot Suit. It focuses mainly on the Zoot Suit riots of the 1940's in Los Angeles and the great amount of conflict that surround the riots. The main character, Henry, goes out on a date with his girlfriend, Della. After their date they meet with friends at a club to go dancing. The Downey gang, who is their rival gang, show up at the dance and a fight breaks out. One of the members of the Downey gang is stabbed and Henry and the boys are sent to jail after an unfair trial. When Henry is sent to jail you can really feel emotion toward Henry and his family. The reader feels sympathy for Henry because of the way he is treated during the trial. The play really focuses on the treatment of the pachucos and the conflicts they go through. I was hoping for more concentration on the time period rather than the conflict. The play is very well written and is quite powerful at times. The characters seem to come alive and it feels like they are in the room with you.



2. Zoot Suit is the greatest play! I knew nothing about the Zoot Suit Riots until I took a class in Mexican-American Society and Culture and was introduced to this topic. When did it get erased from our history, and why don't we hear about it?

   There is so much symbolism involved in the play, which adds to its appeal. Read it today! Also, take some time and learn about the Sleepy Lagoon trial and the zoot suit riots.




3. Reproduced are three plays by influential Chicano director/playwright Luis Valdez. They are "Zoot Suit," "Bandido!" and "I Don't Have to Show You No Stinking Badges!" Included is a 14-pg. introduction to Valdez's creative history by Univ. of Calif. theater scholar Jorge Huerta.

   I first met Valdez and his wife in San Francisco after a preview of the revised "Badges!" in March of 1990. I was impressed by his unhurried cordiality. Valdez's son Kinan was playing Sonny Villa, a Harvard undergraduate who shocks his Hollywood-extra parents with the news that he has quit school. A 1986 production of "Badges!" inspired Josefina Lopez to write her first play "Simply Maria, or The American Dream" and to go on to create more roles for Chicana/Latina actresses.

   This past weekend I saw Kinan at the San Diego Rep as the gallant outlaw Tiburcio Vasquez in the fun and bawdy musical "Bandido!" Vasquez was a native Californian of good breeding and above-average education whose legal public execution by hanging in 1875 strained relations further between native Californians and Americans of that era. I read the script immediately before the production, but it's best to wait till later so you don't spoil the suspense of what's going to happen next.

   Valdez became the first Chicano playwright to have access to mainstream theater and Broadway stages with the production of "Zoot Suit" in the late '70s. The play was especially successful in Los Angeles, where for people of my father's generation the Sleepy Lagoon case and the Zoot Suit/Servicemen Riots became a part of family history and a bad memory of the virulent racism against Mexicans. Actor Edward James Olmos made the narrator role of El Pachuco memorable.

5 comments about Medea and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics).

1. I, too, was surprised how relevant and easily modern the issues presented in 'Medea' could be. I mean, gender, power, betrayal and revenge are universal and timeless, but Euripides' Medea is breaking all the rules: she's constantly exploding into feminist manifestos, seeking to (figuratively) neuter herself one moment and irradiating torrid womanpower the next, and spitefully slaughters her own family with impunity. In comparison to such a powerful character, the rest of the characters seem mere shades with vague wills and blurred senses of human values- except, perhaps, for Jason, who is so convinced of his own sexual superiority that he doesn't grasp what's going on until it's too late.
   
   The whole thing seemed rather mythic to me, though not immediately because it's an ancient Greek fable with Furies and sun-gods and pervertedly creative murder weapons. I feel that the sheer amount of catharsis in the plotline (which, according to the notes, Euripides practically invented) makes it almost rudimentary and sensationalized. Why does Euripides (figuratively) transform the multifaceted Medea into a demon, rather than allowing her humanity and complexity to show through, perhaps even affirm her demonic actions? It's more daring to deify Medea, which is perhaps why the play seems to smack of modernity. But (to me, anyway) this seems to carve Medea into an archetype, lessening the value of the human realities of the play. It finishes like an allegory, and I think that limits it.



2. Euripides' Medea is a story about a woman's heartbreak and the revenge she consequently seeks on her husband. After her spouse takes another wife Medea is torn apart, unable to distinguish right from wrong. She plots to kill the new wife and eventually Medea murders her own children, all in order to spite her former lover.
   Euripides expresses the power of passion without reason especially when it comes to love. Medea is willing to kill her own children out of despair, although they are the only people she really has. She has feelings of trepidation before killing the children, revealing her humanity, but appears triumphant after completing the murders. She appears at the top of a building at the end of the show which is usually reserved for divine appearances (intro), which is a metaphor for Medea's strength and even her unyielding brutality, qualities that many deities were believed to possess.
   I really enjoyed this play because of Euripides' representation of the woman. Although tragic, Medea's dramatic actions express her passion, stubbornness, power, as well as her godliness and simultaneous humanity.



3. I was pleasantly surprised when I was reading "Medea". About halfway through the play, I realized that the themes of revenge, depression, and female empowerment are still relevant. Infidelity and vengeance are things witnessed everyday: in movies, in the news, maybe even in our own lives. This string of themes proves further that human kind hasn't changed too much.
   Though I did have some problems with the plot and some of the overdramatics. Medea revealed to the audience a vulnerable, passionate woman who has a bit of a drama problem and needs just a little too much attention. I think any reader can appreciate the pain she suffered and the disgusting way people in power dealt with her. But is there a line being far over-stepped by killing one's own children just to make a man feel guilty?
   Though there is some undeniable hyperbole, it is a story a reader or audience member can empathize, and is totally plausible in a modern setting.



4. Having read a decent amount of classical poems and plays, I drew from previous experience and started "Medea" with the expectation of appreciating but not neccessarily loving it. But "Medea" pleasantly surprised me with its timeless story of a woman's revenge driven by her own selfish pride and the disgusting lengths she goes to hurt her husband. I found myself completely fascinated by Medea's manipulative antics and sociopathic tendencies. This play has definitely conquered time and remains thrilling a couple thousand years later with themes like betrayal, justice and honor which are still prevalent in modern stories. As a crime show junkie, I constantly drew parallels from recent story lines on a million shows on television to Medea's chilling story. I highly recommend this play.



5. I think this is one of the better compilations I've seen. I've really been impressed with all of the Oxford World's Classics series. The information given in the Introduction as well as the maps and reference materials mentioned are very helpful. In addition I like having the notes listed at the end of the compilation rather then interspersed, I find it less distracting that way. A must have for any Greek Literature Scholar.