The Back Stage Guide Broadway (Backstage Books) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are planning a trip to New York City and would like to see a Broadway show but are looking for the best way to pick a show and obtain discounted tickets to overpriced productions, I can't think of a more helpful guide to the process than The Back Stage Guide to Broadway, by Robert Viagas.
Even for the native New Yorker and longtime theatregoer, there is much useful information in this practical primer, which also includes tidbits of Broadway lore and New York trivia as well as tips for the tourist eating in, staying in and getting around Manhattan's theatre district -- a black-and-white foldout map of which is in the back of the book.
If the undue policing isn't too much of a drag on the theatre experience, the prospective visitor to the Times Square area looking to save time and money can only hope that, despite some factual, grammatical and typographical errors, this handy pocket guide will be around and revised for years to come.

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Geared toward tourists traveling to New York, but appropriate for residents as well, this book is an easy-to-use, nuts-and-bolts guide to enjoying theater in New York City. Lively and far more in-depth than a general tour book, it tells travelers how to pick a show, how to buy tickets, the best times to see shows, how to get tickets for shows that are sold out, how to get refunds in the event a trip is canceled, how to spot scalpers, and what to do if the show closes before a show date. Entire sections are devoted to discount tickets, how to use the subway and stay safe in New York City, where to eat, where to stay, and much more.• A brief history of theater in New York• A foldout map of the theater district• A glossary of theater terminology• Seating charts for all the Broadway theaters• How to meet your favorite Broadway star• Where to find discount tickets• Best times of year to see theater in NYC• Best times of the week to see theater in NYC• How to get tickets for shows that are sold out• How to get refunds in the event your trip is cancelled• What to do if the show closes before your show date• Where to eat (more than 60 restaurants reviewed)• Where to stay (more than 20 hotels reviewed)• How to use the subway• Other things to see and do in the theater district

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Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre: Expanded Edition Review

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(More customer reviews)Fans of producer/director Harold Price, who was a giant in musical theatre circles, will relish an expanded edition of the classic coverage which even includes an updated foreword by Prince himself. Prince's works are wide-ranging, from his direction of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Evita" to his productions of "Fiddler on the Roof" and "West Side Story". Various chapters cover Prince's more recent work as well, adding insights and numerous rare photos which make Harold Pricne And The American Musical Theatre a 'must' for discriminating audiences.


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Here is a complete look at the outstanding career of Harold Prince, the most honored and influential producer/director in the history of postwar American musical theatre. Prince was a producer of The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story; producer and director of Cabaret; and was involved in a series of landmark collaborations with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, including Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd. He directed Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and The Phantom of the Opera. His work has helped significantly to alter the musical, with convention-challenging subject matter, music, staging and design. It's no wonder he's won more Tony Awards than anyone else: 20 and counting. Foster Hirsch has updated the 1989 edition of this book to include Prince's more recent work on Kiss of the Spider Woman, Parade and the award-winning revival of Show Boat. He most notably gives an account of the creation and fortunes of Bounce, the 2003 musical that reunited Prince and Sondheim for the first time in 20 years. Prince gave Hirsch privileged, behind-the-scenes info during Bounce's pre-production process that makes for riveting reading. Prince's career is followed through both the victories and the disappointments. The book is illustrated with numerous rare photos of Prince's work, making it a must for any theatre fan! "Hirsch's book is marvelous, containing some of the best analysis of major musicals I've ever come across." - Ken Mandelbaum, Theater Week

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The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television (Oxford Companions) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Oxford Companion to the American Musical is a surprisingly detailed overview of the the American musicals of Broadway, film and television as witnessed/researched through author Thomas Hischak. The most exciting part of this book is its careful research of the television musical, until now all but glossed over in books on the subject of musical theatre. There was a point in time where television churned out musicals and it is nice to see them get their due. Holiday Specials by Rankin and Bass added much to our song lexicon and it is nice to see them so well represented.
Obviously, the book has its omissions, something that is inevitable when a book has this size and scope. But entries are lovingly chosen and carefully researched and those that are left out are judiciously put aside, or accounted for under other entries. For example: I am a big fan of the musical flop Nick and Nora. N&N does not have it's own entry, but it is mentioned in several other places such us under Joanna Gleason's entry.It is amazing, through cross referencing, just how much author Hischak has accounted for.
One special note: an earlier reviewer of this book makes mention of the musical Destry Rides Again as being named merely "Destry." This is false, as any student of Stanley Greene's Broadway Musicals: Show By Show will tell you. The musical was indeed called Destry Rides Again.
Any true fan of musical theatre will find minor quibbles with any book that may leave out the particular pieces of minutia that fascinate them. However, this book is one of the best of its kind and it is cram packed FULL of wonderful details and oft cast aside information. A must read.

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