5 comments about The Perfect Monologue: How to Find and Perform the Monologue That Will Get You the Part.

1. This book attempts to teach actors how to properely do a monologue when they audition for a role. Friedman has long experience in the field as actor herself and also as a person involved in the casting of roles. She explains in her introduction why most monologues are performed amateurishly by prospective actors. She tries to give a sense of how the actor when auditioning for a role should be engaged in dialogue with another. She warns against certain kinds of extreme, dramatic , attention- getting practices which turn off those assessing the audition. She makes it seem as if the whole process of giving a monologue and especially listening and assessing them is a tormenting and unsatisfactory process. And she provides her suggestions on how to do the monologue in a way which will highlight the talent of the actor in question.
   She then provides a number of texts( which are in fact the bulk of the volume) which she has constructed as monologues for auditions.
   I am not an actor, and do not have real knowledge of the whole process of auditioning. I simply had curiosity about it , and this is why I read the introductory and explanatory parts of this book. My sense is it can probably be of help to auditioners. But I am not at at all certain that this will be in a 'perfect' way.



2. One of the things that handicaps actors in auditions is that the best contemporary monologues are so often used by actors that directors are tired of them and are not able to get a fresh look at new talent.
   
   Friedman fixes this problem by showing actors how to take scenes between two or more characteres and condense them into monologues. Friedman condenses numerous scenes into monologues, which is itself a service to actors, but it is her comments that attend each monologue that I find most interesting. Why? Because Friedman does something that is not always taught by acting teachers: in example after example, she shows you how to find what drives the character. Such drives are not the same as goals: they are central, even universal drives that are shared by all people, but that are, in the specific monologue (or scene) at hand, literally what drives the character to do what he or she does at that moment.
   
   This skill -- identifying universal drives -- is so important to acting (and to writing, as well), that Friedman's repeated drumming of it into the actor/reader's head makes her book a true gift. You can spend all day speculating about what really drives people and get no further than theory. Friedman, however, nails it every time, in her own inimitable way.
   
   I've heard that Friedman is not a very nice person. I don't care. I once heard Sande Shurin -- also a great, great teacher -- tell a student: "I'm not a nice person. If you're going to be tough on yourself, don't take my class -- study with one of the other teachers at my studio." Niceness is not what characterization is about. Characterization is about seeing the truth inside another human being. I use Friedman's work in my "Archetypes for Writers: Using the Power of Your Subconscious" course and book. Both actors and writers can benefit from her courage and insight.



3. I think what other reviewers missed about this book is that its intention is to teach the reader to *create* their own monologue from the dialogue of a scene. Most monologues are boring diatribes on some story (I remember the time I...) and they don't work well in an audition. Ginger worked with Michael Shurtleff (author of "Audition") for several years as a casting director...she knows her stuff. This book shows you how to create an *active* monologue using dialogue between two characters. The examples from "old plays" are classics that are still performed regularly. They are not intended for use...they are examples of how to pull dialogue from a play to use as an audition. An excellent book, and highly recommended from a working professional actor. See also "Callback" by Ginger Friedman.



4. I expected more from this book. I don't know who all of Mrs. Friedman's students have been but I do know that Willem Dafoe trained with her. I didn't feel that I needed 200 pages or so to show me how to lift a monologue from a scene. The way she composed most of the monologues was pretty bad also.

   I do, however, think that it is important to show beginning actors how to compose a monologue from existing material. Also, her personalization exercises(i.e. words and pictures) were fairly weak. I think that The Monologue Workshop by Jack Poggi is a bit of a better book. The bad thing about books like this is that they try to cram imformation about monologue work and an entire course on acting into one book. That just doesn't work. Another book that's pretty good is Larry Silverburg's book Loving to Audition.




5. This book covers some basic info on the "monologue" and has many interesting pages about monologues and the audition process. The monologues aren't that great and it's not worth the effort to study them. I hope this helps...

4 comments about Kiss and Tango: Diary of a Dancehall Seductress.

1. This book is a waste of time unless you want to spend time reading about the sex and sleaze of tango dancing from the perspective of a trust funded wannabe writer. Are there no normal tango dancers in Buenos Aires - dancers who have class, ambition, intelligence - and are nice? I am sure there are some, but you would not know it from reading this book.



2. A real piece of trash planned from the beginning to be a shameful rip off of SEX AND THE CITY with nymphomaniac man-eater SAMANTHA JONES taking on fourth rate tango dancers in the fringes of Buenos Aires tango halls.
   
   A clever idea that obviously is paying off as the publishers boast of translations to many languages, and Hollywood is rewriting it to dumb it down to the acting skills of Sandra Bullock.
   
   After facing the reality of her alter ego lacking talent, good manners and moral virtues, the author returns to her habitat and conveniently marries well outside the tango.
   
   It is a brilliant marketing plot, a disgusting fictitious chronicle of a world the author never cares to learn about and respect, and a sure flop at the box office, destined to the discounted DVD shelves of WalMarts all over.



3. This book is virtually unreadable. Insofar as plot and characters: vapid, pointless, doesn't go anywhere unless you consider trekking to Buenos Aires with no clear plot point "getting somewhere." Insofar as writing: it is as if someone made notes in a spiral bound journal about her vacation and its aftermath, intended to write a book from them, forgot to write the book, and only published the scribblings.



4. I've never made it a secret that I am a fan of Argentine Tango, so it was a fairly good bet that I would pick up this book on a recent foray into my local MegaBookstore. The title is certainly intriguing enough: Kiss & Tango: Diary of a Dancehall Seductress, chronicling the author's introduction and freefall into the world of tango.
   
   We meet Marina Palmer on her way to a vacation in Buenos Aires, seeking a break from her fast track job in adverstising. She's not exactly certain what she is going to find in Argentina, but when her friends take her to a milonga -- both a rhythm and a term for an informal dance -- Marina finds something that she's been looking for all of her life. Watching a couple dancing together, she's mesmerized and struck by the hightened aura of passion that seems to link them together. Soon enough, she's seeking out lessons in tango and on her return to the States, she flings herself into the nightlife of tango lessons and clubs.
   
   Soon, she's finding out that what had started out as an interest has crossed over into an obsession. She's not getting nearly enough sleep, spends her free time hitting tango clubs and getting lessons, and figuring out the smouldering sensuality that lays beneath the stylized figures. She's also discovering that men generally dance the tango for one reason -- sex -- but when it comes to the actual shift from being vertical to horizontal, many men chicken out, or just can't seem to rise to the occansion. Even her job is suffering and Palmer decides on a drastic change in her life:
   
   She's going to go off and study tango in Buenos Aires for a year or two. Her friends and family are shocked and perplexed by her decision. She doesn't know anyone there, she doesn't speak much Spanish, and the state of Argentine politics doesn't make it a very safe place. But Marina is determined, and soon she's dancing and meeting people in Buenos Aires, soaking up the lifestyle, the culture, and a collection of men that run the gamut from hot and sexy, to macho and silly, and a few that she gets a very unusual surprise from.
   
   Palmer's writing style is certainly barbed, in between the laughing I was wincing at her very candid remarks about men and the fact that they adore the chase, but when it comes to commitment, they never quite measure up. Even trying to make it on the professional standard it's not easy, and she finds out just how much jealousy and slights do matter in this world. Written as her entries in her journal, it has an immediate, intimate feel that makes you feel as though you are right beside her.
   
   Most of all, it takes a look at just what tango is, lifting it out of the hackneyed stereotypes and showing it as a dance of unspoken communications, where just for a few minutes, if you dare, the fantasy of being sought and desired can be fulfilled along with the romance of being swept away.
   
   The paperback edition of this book does have a few additional extras that the hardbound does not. Palmer includes a collection of questions and answers about tango etiquette and manners, along with a glossary of terms and Argentine slang. Funniest of all is a table where she rates all of her dance partners, both male and female, her own nickname for them, and their strengths and weaknesses.
   
   This book was a definate pick-me-up to read. I found myself giggling over the predictaments that Palmer found herself in, and the at times crazy, drunk world of tango dancing. It's also an interesting introspective into the modern Gender Wars, going far beyond stereotypes and giving an insight into the minds of both men and women, and a very interesting look at romance and dance as metaphor.

2 comments about Dick Smith's Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-Up Handbook.

1. The VHS tape and book I bought 18 years ago and my life changed forever. I moved away from makeup fx soon after, but if it weren't for this and Tom Savini's excellent Grande Illusions book and VHS tape, I wouldn't be a filmmaker today. If you want to learn how to do affordable makeup FX, this is the book for you!



2. Dick Smith's book is an excellent primer for amateur, aspiring f/x make-up artists and a handy guide for those who are experienced. His techniques are simple, inexpensive and timeless yet with the knowledge Mr. Smith provides you can achieve excellent results. This book really needs to come back into print! From simple highlighting and shading to making your own stage blood, this is a must-have guide to keep with your f/x makeup case. I would recommend anyone interested in learning f/x makeup to try to locate a copy of this excellent manual.

No comments about Cast of One: One-0 Shows from the Chautauqua Platform to the Broadway Stage.

3 comments about The World of Jekyll and Hyde.

1. This is a vocal selections book which contains all of the missing songs for which I've been looking. I love the music from Jekyll and Hyde's original production in London and since coming to the States, it has undergone several changes with songs being added, deleted, or changed. This one has several of the deleted songs and is a great companion to the Jekyll & Hyde vocal selections from the Broadway show.



2. I definately enjoy having this book, it has several classic songs that the Broadway book just doesnt have, like the chilling prologue "I Need To know", and for the ladies, that spunky ditty: "Bring on the Men". Now if only it had "Dangerous Game" I'd be in absolute fan-boy bliss.
   ~T.S.



3. I have this as I love this musical, and I also have the "Original Broadway Cast" Vocal Selections version of this fantastic show... One reason I had to get this in addition to the "OBC" Vocal Selections is that this has one of my Most Favorite Songs in the "Complete Gothic Musical" (the 2 CD set) which is Linda Eder's song "BRING ON THE MEN." This is the song that really introduces Lucy to the audience, and it is such a fun, rowdy, exciting song, I wish that it had been included on Broadway... You will not regret purchasing this if you are a fan of this amazing show!

No comments about Shakespeare's Double Helix (Shakespeare Now!).

No comments about Tooth of Crime: Second Dance.

No comments about Friedrich Durrenmatt: Selected Writings, Volume 2, Fictions.

5 comments about Secrets of the Sideshows.

1. Well, what I have recently purchased is a very interesting book. It unveils a rather dark and unknown world that for centuries has been with us. The pictures are fine but scarce, and the prose has wit and many secrets of the trade are rather amusing. In fact a very fine book



2. Joe Nickell's latest is quite different to other books published by him during the last few years. It's not really an investigative book and it doesn't discuss anything paranormal or unexplainable, and also, the entire books feels more like a pursuit of a personal hobby than the critical examination usually delivered by Nickell's sharp pen. However, in no way does this mean it's not worth reading, just because it happens to be more personal and relaxed than his other works. Quite the opposite, actually. Secrets of the Sideshows is an exciting experience of the mostly American phenomenon of carnys, sideshows, freaks, and carnivals.
   
   It's not easy to find fitting translations to the above terms, and no American-style sideshows have ever made it big in Sweden. But it's still very possible to enjoy the book, even though one happens to be Swedish.
   
   History is filled with numerous examples of strange people having displayed strange abilities, exotic animals from far-away countries have always fascinated the audience, and the grotesque, different, and sometimes flat out revolting have always been sure to make people curious. During the latter half of the 19th century traveling sideshows and carnivals started gaining more and more popularity, and the circuses of today can be considered to be the descendants of these productions. Nickell - who himself used to be a carny - paints a fascinating portrait of these pioneers of an odd business concept, and he makes it very clear to the reader that people throughout all of history, including contemporary man of course, have been exploited by shrewd entrepreneurs who have been quick to realize how to make big money from letting people witness what they have a problem comprehending.
   
   However, the main focus of the book is on the people, animals, or objects that were exhibited. Giants, midgets, fat people, snake women, Guerilla Girl, "human skeletons", Frog Boy, fire eaters, bearded ladies, normal-looking people with not-so normal abilities, and many, many more are discussed, often accompanied by photographs from Nickell's personal collection. Cows with five legs, infants with two heads, alleged mermaids, Bigfoot and other weird are mentioned also. Nickell isn't afraid to expose how many of the magical acts were done, and he's also not afraid to expose how many of the faked oddities were manufactured (for instance, it was possible to make a "mermaid" using the upper body of an ape and the lower half of a fish). But still Nickell is keen not to neither romanticize nor ridicule anything. It's a fascinating study - or rather exploration - of both human behavior and strange individuals, and these days when the days of glory for the sideshows are all but gone the book becomes an important documentation of the strangest of all creatures: the human being.
   
   (But on page 201, Nickell makes a major blunder when he refers to Anton LaVey, the founder of the first openly satanic movement, Church of Satan, as a "Satanist" in quotation marks. I've never encountered this spelling before, and I honestly would never have thought a learned man such as Joe Nickell would make such a strange mistake.)



3. Joe Nickell's Secrets of the Sideshows (2005) presents its audience with an adequate but lackluster overview of its subject. The volume suffers from two problems. The first, and more significant, is that most of the material included has long been available elsewhere, as Nickell's numerous references to a variety of other works makes clear. The second is that, despite the author's long employment history as a carnival hand in an apparent variety of capacities, his writing style is so perfunctory that he manages to make what should be a fascinating subject seem quite dull. Therefore, the best audience for the book will be readers with a budding interest in the subject; those already conversant on the topic are unlikely to learn anything new.
   
   Nickell, who is also a "senior research fellow" of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is honest, upfront, and unapologetic about the tone and moral tenor of most sideshow and midway personnel, who routinely, though not exclusively, defraud their thrill-seeking public in any number of ways. The author quotes a "carnival owner" as saying, "You have all the ingredients necessary to rise in your profession-a deceptively honest face, a genius for legitimate fraud, no conscience, a golden tongue, and a feeling that a quarter in somebody else's pocket is a personal rebuke." Interestingly, Nickell seems to find this sociopathic approach to life, commerce, and human relationships fully acceptable, and perhaps even inevitable. As a result, readers may come away with the impression that all or most people associated with carnival work are con men and passive aggressive bottom-feeders who would rather attempt to trick another man out of his money than work honestly to earn their own. Nickell quotes another showman, whom he believes he has caught "in a particularly cynical moment": "On my tombstone, you know what they're going to write? 'Screw you. I got your dollar.'"
   
   Needless to say, few of the 'secrets of the sideshow,' outside of the authentic 'human oddities' and performers with a genuine skill are very fascinating: the rubber aliens, faked two-headed geese, 'giant rats,' 'jackelopes,' false 'psychics,' 'headless girls,' and enormous 'spiders' with human heads are as absurd, tawdry, and patently obvious as one would expect.
   
   It's worth speculating whether Nickell, who has become a ubiquitous debunking presence on the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel, believes all "claims of the paranormal" are either honest mistakes of perception or outright hoaxes, however subtly accomplished, because he himself has been, via his carnival work, so experienced in promoting, selling, and by default, perpetrating hoaxes himself.



4. Joe Nickell's latest book, Secrets of the Sideshow is a thoroughly researched tome that is worth the cover price for the pictures alone.
   The cover effectively uses a 'banner art' style with 'Frog Boy' charmingly gracing the spine. The title is a little misleading, it is not a revelatory guide or 'masked magician' type of book at all. More of a scholarly attempt to document a lost part of American theatre. Mr. Nickell's previous works were largely concerned with his role as editor of the Skeptical Enquirer. So deal with the Shroud of Turin, Bigfoot etc. Not having read any of those I cannot comment, but suffice to say that this history of bringing a scientific mind to apparent miracles may have impacted the choice of title. What is apparent is that he has a real love of this subject. He has worked the midway at various fairs as a magician and obviously the carnival world got into his blood. Relying heavily on interviews with carnival legends Ward Hall, Chris Christ and Bobby Reynolds the author details the history of this unique piece of Americana. Bobby Reynold's contributions are fairly ascerbic with a certain bitterness when compared to Ward Hall's more agreeable approach. No attempt appears to have been made to edit any of these contributions. There are copious references to other works, Ricky Jay, Daniel Mannix and Al Stencell are quoted liberally and these authors works would make excellent companion reads.
   As one goes through the book the reader does learn how effects are achieved, the use of gaffs, fakery and general deception are discussed. However, this remains a secondary facet of this work. It is much more of a historical encyclopedia and includes a thorough list of references and detailed index. Overshadowing the mechanical 'How To' aspects of the book are the wonderful characters that one meets within its pages. Poobah the fire eating dwarf, Percilla the monkey girl, Doug Higley phantom of the midway and purveyor of Area 51 artifacts. [Of course they are real]. And numerous other fascinating people who often show more grace and dignity than the so called 'normal' specimens of the human family.
   The writing style is a mixture of academic investigation and whimsical fan. Despite his natural instincts for scientific rigor the author's joy in the subject and obvious sadness at the demise of the sideshow shine through.
   It ends on a positive and up to date note with a piece on the sideshow school at Coney Island, one of the last bastions of the traditional arts.
   I reccomend this book to anyone whoever thought about running away to the circus and I enjoyed reading it tremendously.
   PS. One small piece of pedantry. On page 214, Joe Nickell decribes the turn of the century magician Chung Ling Soo as an 'Englishman pretending to be a Chinaman'. In his excellent biography of Chung Ling Soo, The Glorious Deception, Jim Steinmeyer details Soo's life as an American who often pretended to be an Englishman, or more commonly a Scotsman pretending to be a Chinaman. Which goes to show that even a skeptical investigator can be confounded by a fellow conjurer, from beyond the grave to boot! My sense is that Mr. Nickell would be delighted.



5. For centuries, millions of people have enjoyed looking at commercial exhibits of the odd and curious. Joe Nickell is one of those people. Growing up in Kentucky, he never missed the carnivals and circuses that had human and animal oddities on display as sideshows. Nickell is well known for investigating frauds and hoaxes for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, but it doesn't matter to him that many sideshow acts were bogus or at least grossly exaggerated on the banners outside the shows. He obviously loves the now-disappearing shows, and in _Secrets of the Sideshows_ (University Press of Kentucky), that affection is made plain. To be sure, he gives plenty of secrets away here, most of them open secrets, but the book works best as a tribute to the imagination of the performers and organizers of the exhibits which were meant to provoke and satisfy that admirable old human characteristic, curiosity. The book provokes and satisfies in the same way.
   
   Nickell notes that "sideshow" means an adjunct to the main show. The "midway" where these shows were located was midway between the entrance and the main attraction. He briefly recounts early history, and then goes into their heyday starting in the early 1900s. Sideshows featured magic performances, often with one big trick like sawing the woman in half or the escape from a chained box. The way these sorts of tricks are done is explained here, but the explanations would not ruin the fun of a good performance. Fire-eating and sword-swallowing are explained, as is how to eat glass or walk barefoot on it, or how to walk barefoot up a ladder of swords. The explanations are enough to show how the tricks are done, but few readers are going to be tempted to try them. There were performers who didn't perform, but just showed themselves. Dwarves, giants, fatties are all here, all respectively taller, shorter, or lighter than their publicity banners proclaimed. Giants of such acts, for instance, sometimes had a contract that specified that they would not be measured. A bearded lady ("The Monkey Girl") and a man with the skin disease ichthyosis ("The Alligator Man") eloped in 1938, and were a sideshow feature as "The World's Strangest Married Couple"; they were happy together for over sixty years. Not all the displays were real, but as one carny said, "Oh, it's _all_ real. Some of it's really real, some of it's really fake, but it's all really good.") Hilariously, these exhibits which used to go under names like "Mother Nature's Mistakes" are sometimes now displayed in a "Horrors of Drug Abuse!" scare show.
   
   Nickell closes with analysis of why the sideshows are fading into the past; it isn't because of any attempt to become politically correct, or any triumph of good taste; it comes down to simple economics, as fairs can make more money with, for instance, rides that take up the same space a midway does. Because it tells secrets of the sideshows, Nickell's book is a miscellany that is full of good humor and bizarre stories, like that of the bank robber who was killed by a sheriff's posse in 1916, and his mummified body passed from carnival to carnival. Somehow it became part of the "Laff-in-the-Dark" funhouse in Long Beach about forty years later, but everyone thought it was just a spray-painted mannequin until it broke and showed bones inside. He finally got laid to rest after a long postmortem career. There is a description of how to enlist fleas into a flea circus, and how to harness them to their particular tricks. There is an even more interesting description of the comic flea circus ("The Most Minuscule Show on Earth!") that has no fleas, only the colorful banter of the proprietor over the tiny apparatus ("She's blindfolded herself!... She's walking backward!"). If you want the lowdown on sideshows, step right up, ladies and gentlemen, Joe Nickell presents the best show on the midway.

2 comments about Shakespeare's As You Like It (Cliffs Notes).

1. Explain whether othello is primarily responsible for the tragedy.



2. Perhaps I am just being prudish, but it seems to me that one should be glad for the opportunity to read Shakespeare as a requirement for school. Cliifs' Notes, as widely used as they are, do not give anything close to the sense of the unique genius of classic authors, one of whom is the unparalled William Shakespeare.