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The reason I picked this book up: because apparently a new tv show comes from it. Loosely. I mean that in the broadest way.
But it's also one of the few things that I like in my non-fiction, even though theater is not my wheelhouse by any means. It's people rising above where they are to get where they're going. People who end up being inspirations to others.
Was this book what I thought I was getting? Not exactly, no. And it did tend to go off on tangents in order to provide historical background. And I honestly did think that there would be more about how the program ended up as it did, not just launching off towards the end of Volpe's career.
However, it was still wonderful. And includes one of my new favorite lines from a book.
Read it if you wish to be somewhat inspired.
I'm just going to go on a hunt for the two main plays/ musicals followed in this book.
But it's also one of the few things that I like in my non-fiction, even though theater is not my wheelhouse by any means. It's people rising above where they are to get where they're going. People who end up being inspirations to others.
Was this book what I thought I was getting? Not exactly, no. And it did tend to go off on tangents in order to provide historical background. And I honestly did think that there would be more about how the program ended up as it did, not just launching off towards the end of Volpe's career.
However, it was still wonderful. And includes one of my new favorite lines from a book.
Read it if you wish to be somewhat inspired.
I'm just going to go on a hunt for the two main plays/ musicals followed in this book.
Interesting Book
Wish I could have the impact of Lou Ville on my students. Enjoyed learning about the teacher, but I disliked the language.
Wish I could have the impact of Lou Ville on my students. Enjoyed learning about the teacher, but I disliked the language.
I grew up in Lower Bucks and lived right down the street from the school through most of my time at Truman (I graduated in 2001- just before they did Les Mis). I wasn't involved in theater, but I had friends who were and I always saw the plays. The writer did a great job of portraying the high school and the area as well as the general respect for Volpe.
This book made me cry towards the end. It got me. I loved it.
This book centers around a high school drama teacher who worked for forty plus years at Truman high school in a lower-class suburb in Philadelphia. During his tenure there, he brought a love for theater to a school of students who didn't have many prospects ahead of them due to limitations in their education (the school admittedly lacking in a lot of areas) and their own family's wealth status. He inspired these kids with thought-provoking and sometimes risque material that made their drama department known throughout the nation. The Truman drama department became so popular in fact, that they had the privilege of piloting a lot of broadway musicals, such as Les Miserables and Rent. Due to their success at Truman high, these musicals would find their way to high school stages across America.
This book is a love letter to theater. It's told with passion and finesse. The writing is beautiful and clever, it reads like a long editorial you would read in the New York times. I did have to take away one star because there are some chapters where the book kind of lags and loses focus. It tries to cover a variety of topics, like the state of education in America and the predicament of lower class families, which were interesting but tended to drag on a bit too long and make the book lose it's center and purpose. But the theater sections are really well done and it will feed a love of theater even if you have no real experience with theater. The passion and drive about that subject is just so contagious.
I really enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it. Especially if you love theater.
On a side note, I found out they are making this book in a television series starring Josh Radnor. Auli'i Cravalho (Moana) is also supposed to appear in it.
This book centers around a high school drama teacher who worked for forty plus years at Truman high school in a lower-class suburb in Philadelphia. During his tenure there, he brought a love for theater to a school of students who didn't have many prospects ahead of them due to limitations in their education (the school admittedly lacking in a lot of areas) and their own family's wealth status. He inspired these kids with thought-provoking and sometimes risque material that made their drama department known throughout the nation. The Truman drama department became so popular in fact, that they had the privilege of piloting a lot of broadway musicals, such as Les Miserables and Rent. Due to their success at Truman high, these musicals would find their way to high school stages across America.
This book is a love letter to theater. It's told with passion and finesse. The writing is beautiful and clever, it reads like a long editorial you would read in the New York times. I did have to take away one star because there are some chapters where the book kind of lags and loses focus. It tries to cover a variety of topics, like the state of education in America and the predicament of lower class families, which were interesting but tended to drag on a bit too long and make the book lose it's center and purpose. But the theater sections are really well done and it will feed a love of theater even if you have no real experience with theater. The passion and drive about that subject is just so contagious.
I really enjoyed this book and I would highly recommend it. Especially if you love theater.
On a side note, I found out they are making this book in a television series starring Josh Radnor. Auli'i Cravalho (Moana) is also supposed to appear in it.
Amazing, uplifting bk. about a fantastic theater teacher, his students & his community. Just great.
As a former theater kid, this book really moved me. Sokolove creates such a clear and honest profile of the notable high school theater director, Lou Volpe. I most appreciated his detailed and complex descriptions of his teenaged students, about whom he wrote with as much care as he did Volpe. This book is inspiring and well-written and has been a joy for me to read.
This is not Glee or Smash, it is the real deal. Go behind the scenes at Harry S Truman High School and meet Lou Volpe. Lou has taught high school drama and theater for over 40 years and his productions have put the school on the map. For anyone who has ever acted on a high school or college stage or for those who have ever done community theater, this is a great read. Volpe guides his students through rehearsals with tough love, never pulling punches, delivering the truth but receiving total respect and attention in return. Reading about the students striving toward excellence on the stage when they have it nowhere else in their lives is heartwarming and even occasionally thrilling. Follow Volpe and his troup through nerves, disappointments, thrills, struggles and successes. You'll be cheering them on and just like Volpe asking a little bit more than they think they can deliver--but they never disappoint.
It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. Every other chapter goes into the hardships of the town and school. Okay we get it, they're not the town or school that would have such a great theatre program. But you know what thy do have a great theatre program and somehow pull off some of the best shows. I wish I had gone to school that had a theatre program that Truman does.
Side note, Rent won best musical in 1996, not 2006. The author and editor missed a pretty important detail especially when the author just said a paragraph or two the show was coming off a 12 year run on Broadway.
Side note, Rent won best musical in 1996, not 2006. The author and editor missed a pretty important detail especially when the author just said a paragraph or two the show was coming off a 12 year run on Broadway.
I received this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.
This book caught my eye because I was a theater kid in high school. The head of our drama department had a very particular idea of what shows were worthwhile and appropriate for high schoolers to perform. Partway through my own high school career, she finally started to open up about which shows to put on. I was fascinated by the idea of a teacher so eager to bring the best of Broadway to his students. I would have loved to be in a program like this in high school. The fact that this one takes place where it does makes it even more interesting. My main complaint about the book is that it all feels a bit incomplete. It's a biography of the teacher, a history and sociological look at the town, and a memoir of the drama department all in one, but I don't feel like we ever get the full picture on any of these things.
This book caught my eye because I was a theater kid in high school. The head of our drama department had a very particular idea of what shows were worthwhile and appropriate for high schoolers to perform. Partway through my own high school career, she finally started to open up about which shows to put on. I was fascinated by the idea of a teacher so eager to bring the best of Broadway to his students. I would have loved to be in a program like this in high school. The fact that this one takes place where it does makes it even more interesting. My main complaint about the book is that it all feels a bit incomplete. It's a biography of the teacher, a history and sociological look at the town, and a memoir of the drama department all in one, but I don't feel like we ever get the full picture on any of these things.
As a one-time high school theatre geek, this book was right up my alley. I found it inspiring and fascinating. It was at its strongest when it followed the lives and happenings of the people directly involved in the theatre program. There were some frustratingly weak sections spent convincing the reader that the town was totally working class, which felt both heavy handed and long winded, or inserting the author’s own history and experiences, which felt unnecessary. Luckily these parts were skimmable and the bulk of the story was a compelling and immersive enough to make up for it.