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"Musicals Anecdotes."
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Show and tell : the new book of Broadway anecdotes
Broadway aficionado-in-chief Ken Bloom takes us on a spirited spin through some of the most intriguing factoids in show business, offering up an unconventional history of the theatre in all its idiosyncratic glory. From the cantankerous retorts of George Abbott to the literally show-stopping antics of Katherine Hepburn, you'll learn about the adventures and star turns of some of Broadway's biggest personalities, and discover little-known tidbits about beloved plays and musicals from the Black Crook to Beautiful. -- Adapted from Page [4] cover.
Book
“I’m on My Own Path”: Musical Development of the Musical in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015–2019)
Many stage and film musicals have a limited ability to develop characters, due in part to the narrative and music genres to which many musicals cleave, which also has the effect of limiting female singers to either “head voice” or “belt.” Writing songs in a particular tessitura—defined by The Handbook of Musical Terms as the register within which most of the tones will be found—is linked then to women’s role in society, as ingénue, wife, mother, diva, and so forth. The tessellated, multi-episode form of TV allows Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to have its characters sing in a range of musical styles and genres and, by extension, its female characters sing in a range of timbres, genres, and tessituras. Through a combination of music video aesthetics, generic musical numbers, and a variety of popular music genres, the show extends character narratives past the conventional romance that ostensibly anchors the show into issues such as mental health, sexism, depression, and sex. Crazy Ex thereby confronts the sexism inherent in the Broadway musicals from which it draws its inspiration, and of which protagonist Rebecca Bunch is an avid fan. This paper analyzes how, through a combination of genre and vocal range, Crazy Ex parodies and interrogates the musical but also expands it.
Journal Article
The Spamalot diaries
\"On March 17, 2005, Spamalot debuted on Broadway to rapturous reviews for its star-studded creative team, including creator Eric Idle, director Mike Nichols, and stars Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, Sara Ramirez, John Cleese, and more. But long before show was the toast of Broadway and the winner of three Tony Awards, it was an idea threatening to fizzle before it could find its way into existence. Now, in The Spamalot Diaries, Eric Idle shares authentic journal entries and raw email exchanges-all featuring his whip-smart wit-revealing the sometimes bumpy but always fascinating path to the show's unforgettable run. In the months leading up to that opening night, financial anxieties were high with a low-ceiling budget and expectations that it would take two years to break even. Collaborative disputes put decades-long friendships to the test. And the endless process of rewriting was a task as passionate as it was painstaking. Still, there's nothing Idle would change about that year. Except for the broken ankle. He could do without the broken ankle. Chronicling every minor mishap and triumph along the way, as well as the creative tension that drove the show to new heights, The Spamalot Diaries is an unforgettable look behind the curtain of a beloved musical and inside the wickedly entertaining mind of one of our most treasured comic performers\"-- Provided by publisher.
BOOK
Teaching the 2016 Campaign through the Art of Parody
Kelley discusses the classroom exercise that offers strategies for introducing students in introductory-level college courses to campaign-themed music parodies. Here's the lesson objectives, define parody and investigate how it operates within campaign contexts, analyze the text and images (where applicable) in parodies and compare the original tune (and its target audience) to its parodied version (and its target audience) in order to consider questions of meaning and context. Also noted the selected list of parodies available on Youtube and questions which can be used to guide a classroom discussion on campaign parodies.
Journal Article
The street where I live : a memoir
\"The Street Where I Live is at once an intimate biography of three great shows-My Fair Lady, Gigi, and Camelot-and a candid account of the life and times of Alan Jay Lerner, one of America's most acclaimed and popular lyricists. Large-hearted, humorous, and often poignant in its reverence for a celebrated era in the American theater, it is the story of what Lerner calls the sundown of wit, eccentricity, and glamour. Try as he might to keep himself out of these pages, Lerner reveals himself to be a man of great talent, laughter, and love. Along the way, we meet a sensational supporting cast: Moss Hart, Fritz Loewe, Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Cecil Beaton, Louis Jourdan, and Maurice Chevalier, to name a few. They are seen in moments of triumph and disaster, but all are professionals at the creation of theater. And the creation of theater is the matrix of this wonderful book. Including the complete lyrics to My Fair Lady, Gigi, and Camelot.\"--Publisher description.
Book
Traveling Toward Distance
Human beings are wanderers, although in another way we are more like trees, rooted in place, both physical and psychological. We cross borders, both internal and external, between the familiar and the unfamiliar, but often find ourselves seeing the new only in terms of the old or, more dangerously, not seeing the new at all. This article will explore through concrete instances pivotal philosophical and existential implications and lessons of the “fusion of horizons” exemplified in Montaigne's, Goethe's, Stendhal's, and James's reflections on their often contradictory experiences of Italy. Maybe Émile Zola's remark that a work of art is a corner of nature seen through a temperament applies to more than works of art.
Journal Article
Life is like a musical : how to live, love, and lead like a star /
Tim Federle shares 50 tips for getting ahead in life that he learned backstage, onstage, and in between gigs working as a back-up dancer at the Super Bowl, a polar bear at Radio City, and a card-carrying chorus boy on Broadway.
Book
HOW DID ZHONG ZIQI UNDERSTAND BO YA'S HEART-MIND? HETERO-REFERENTIAL ASPECTS OF EARLY CHINESE MUSIC THEORY
This article focuses on the enigmatic musical anecdote of zither player Bo Ya and his friend and expert listener Zhong Ziqi in considering early Chinese perspectives on music's hetero-referential and descriptive potential. Using some recent Western scholarship on description in a number of different media, the article considers whether these accounts are sufficient to explain the phenomenon of Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi. Concluding that this scholarship is helpful but insufficient to explain the early Chinese situation, it suggests that selections from the Xun Zi and Zhuang Zi demonstrate that connections between the senses and phenomena were not necessarily expected to differ intersubjectively as broadly as they have been in the West and that Zhong Ziqi was able to achieve particular listening prowess by transcending conventional understandings of music. It is hoped that this may help scholars in framing discussions of music from the classical literature and inform our understanding of a range of early philosophies related to aural phenomena, especially music and language.
Journal Article
Hired gun
They are the First Call, A-list musicians, just 20 feet from stardom, yet rarely receive credit for their work. The hired gun community lives and breathes music, and for the first time, share their incredible stories detailing the highs and lows of touring life, the demands of session schedules, and the dedication required to play next to some of the world's most iconic musicians.
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