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offbalance80's review against another edition
5.0
This is a completely exhaustive self-reflection on Sondheim's pre-James-Lapine era, and a valuable teaching tool for anyone wanting to learn the craft of musicals.
reeeeedmg_123's review
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Gore, Death, Cultural appropriation, Rape, and Suicide
katieadaniel's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
neekelf's review against another edition
4.0
Incredible to get into the mind of Stephen Sondheim. There were spots where I wished he'd covered more, but the things he did cover opened my eyes, so I an't complain. But every musical theatre lover should get this.
asphodelic's review against another edition
4.0
"The plot logic may not have made much sense, but the show flowed better. That was when I learned that there is a significant difference between logical truth and theatrical truth." - page 47
"Finding a language for the Kets was one of Arthur's larger problems. He knew that yesterday's slang ages quicker than you can say Jack Robinson and that the average span of a musical from writing to production was, even then, two years, so that whatever shards of contemporary argot he could use would be hopelessly out of date bu the time the show opened." - page 33
"Labels make the labeler feel comfortable and simplify the complications which might blur any image, reducing the personalities to familiar packages which shorten the distance between the dreamer and the dream." - page 129
"...Mary Rodgers calls a "Why?" musical: a perfectly respectable show, based on a perfectly respectable source, that has no reason for being..."Why?" musicals usually come from successful novels, movies and plays. Their authors are blinded by the attractiveness of the source material, how easily it could sing...they never question the need to musicalize the piece. They never ask themselves what music will do for the story that hasn't already been accomplished by the original author.
"Why?" musicals can be good only if they're truly transformed or of they're the result of genuine passion for the original material, as in the case of "My Fair Lady..."
The compelling reason to write a theater musical cannot be convenience or the desire to turn a quick buck." - page 143
"In the best rapid patter songs, the faster you sing, the easier it is-you need less breath and the words flow trippingly off the tongue. Another point worth making: I mentioned earlier that there were sometimes reasons not to rhyme. This is one of them. If I had rhymed the lines int he patter, it would have implied an organized control of Amy's thought processes, when in fact disorder is the essence of hysteria. Simply avoiding rhymes, however, would not have been a satisfying solution; to give unrhymed lines full value (that is, to make them interesting and funny) you have to keep the sounds of the accented words as different from each other as possible. Also, a completely unrhymed song would have been monotonous and shapeless, which is why Amy suddenly starts to rhyme with a vengeance in short, sharp, machine-gun rapidity, bespeaking another kind of dementia." - pages 184-185
"Alexis calmly and modestly explained that she wasn't much of a singer or even a dancer but that she had great legs and would like to show them off. She went on to emphasize that Dorothy Collins, who played Sally and was a real singer, would be better off with "Losing My Mind" as a solo, and if I could write a number that would allow her (Alexis) to sing a bit and dance a bit and strut a lot, everybody, especially she, would be the better for it. She was so reasonable that I immediately acceded and batted out "Uptown/Downtown." But Michael Bennett wanted something up-tempo and rhythmically charged. Thus, eventually, "The Story of Lucy and Jessie," and everyone went home happy." - page 238
"The sad truth is that musicals are the only public art form reviewed mostly by ignoramuses. Books are reviewed by writers, the visual arts by disappointed, if knowledgeable, painters and art students, concert music by composers and would be composers...[Otis Guernsey Jr.] once said to me that music was the one field where a reviewer needed no knowledge. Music, he claimed, was everybody's province and musical knowledge was unnecessary for a critic. His attitude prevails. Musicals continue to be the only art form, popular or otherwise, that is publicly criticized by illiterates." page 253
I have witnessed a number of memorable auditions in my time, some of them so stunning that we hired the performer virtually on the spot...others so grotesque that we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Hermione Gingold's audition for Madame Armfeldt covered both bases..."I notice that in the script Madame Armfeldt is seventy-four years old. Coincidentally, gentlemen, so am I. I also noticed that when she dies at the end, the stage direction indicates that her wig slips a bit off of her head. Well-" And with that, she lifted off her wig, revealing herself to be completely bald. As the clang of three jaws hitting the floor died away, she thanked us once again and left the stage. We decided to give her the part before she left the theater. Incidentally, she was actually seventy-five." - page 263
"...["The Frogs"] was also something of a mess, due partly to the hyperreverberant qualities of the gymnasium, but its imperfections were thankfully drowned out by the happy splashing of the Yale swimming team. In the 2004 production, which took place on terra firma, the Frogs additionally tried to change Dionysus into one of their own. And the song sounded a lot better." - page 295
"Finding a language for the Kets was one of Arthur's larger problems. He knew that yesterday's slang ages quicker than you can say Jack Robinson and that the average span of a musical from writing to production was, even then, two years, so that whatever shards of contemporary argot he could use would be hopelessly out of date bu the time the show opened." - page 33
"Labels make the labeler feel comfortable and simplify the complications which might blur any image, reducing the personalities to familiar packages which shorten the distance between the dreamer and the dream." - page 129
"...Mary Rodgers calls a "Why?" musical: a perfectly respectable show, based on a perfectly respectable source, that has no reason for being..."Why?" musicals usually come from successful novels, movies and plays. Their authors are blinded by the attractiveness of the source material, how easily it could sing...they never question the need to musicalize the piece. They never ask themselves what music will do for the story that hasn't already been accomplished by the original author.
"Why?" musicals can be good only if they're truly transformed or of they're the result of genuine passion for the original material, as in the case of "My Fair Lady..."
The compelling reason to write a theater musical cannot be convenience or the desire to turn a quick buck." - page 143
"In the best rapid patter songs, the faster you sing, the easier it is-you need less breath and the words flow trippingly off the tongue. Another point worth making: I mentioned earlier that there were sometimes reasons not to rhyme. This is one of them. If I had rhymed the lines int he patter, it would have implied an organized control of Amy's thought processes, when in fact disorder is the essence of hysteria. Simply avoiding rhymes, however, would not have been a satisfying solution; to give unrhymed lines full value (that is, to make them interesting and funny) you have to keep the sounds of the accented words as different from each other as possible. Also, a completely unrhymed song would have been monotonous and shapeless, which is why Amy suddenly starts to rhyme with a vengeance in short, sharp, machine-gun rapidity, bespeaking another kind of dementia." - pages 184-185
"Alexis calmly and modestly explained that she wasn't much of a singer or even a dancer but that she had great legs and would like to show them off. She went on to emphasize that Dorothy Collins, who played Sally and was a real singer, would be better off with "Losing My Mind" as a solo, and if I could write a number that would allow her (Alexis) to sing a bit and dance a bit and strut a lot, everybody, especially she, would be the better for it. She was so reasonable that I immediately acceded and batted out "Uptown/Downtown." But Michael Bennett wanted something up-tempo and rhythmically charged. Thus, eventually, "The Story of Lucy and Jessie," and everyone went home happy." - page 238
"The sad truth is that musicals are the only public art form reviewed mostly by ignoramuses. Books are reviewed by writers, the visual arts by disappointed, if knowledgeable, painters and art students, concert music by composers and would be composers...[Otis Guernsey Jr.] once said to me that music was the one field where a reviewer needed no knowledge. Music, he claimed, was everybody's province and musical knowledge was unnecessary for a critic. His attitude prevails. Musicals continue to be the only art form, popular or otherwise, that is publicly criticized by illiterates." page 253
I have witnessed a number of memorable auditions in my time, some of them so stunning that we hired the performer virtually on the spot...others so grotesque that we couldn't believe what we were seeing. Hermione Gingold's audition for Madame Armfeldt covered both bases..."I notice that in the script Madame Armfeldt is seventy-four years old. Coincidentally, gentlemen, so am I. I also noticed that when she dies at the end, the stage direction indicates that her wig slips a bit off of her head. Well-" And with that, she lifted off her wig, revealing herself to be completely bald. As the clang of three jaws hitting the floor died away, she thanked us once again and left the stage. We decided to give her the part before she left the theater. Incidentally, she was actually seventy-five." - page 263
"...["The Frogs"] was also something of a mess, due partly to the hyperreverberant qualities of the gymnasium, but its imperfections were thankfully drowned out by the happy splashing of the Yale swimming team. In the 2004 production, which took place on terra firma, the Frogs additionally tried to change Dionysus into one of their own. And the song sounded a lot better." - page 295