Books for/about - Broadway

Wicked : The Grimmerie, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical

Publisher: Hyperion
Authors: David Cote Joan Marcus

ISBN: 1401308201
List Price: $40.00
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Summary: Totally Wicked!
In July 2005 I was on an unexpected and whirlwind visit to New York City and happened to buy a copy of the Original Broadway Cast recording of "Wicked". I came home to Oz (Australia, that is), listened to it a couple of times and fell in love with musical theatre again.
Today I received my copy of "The Grimmerie" in the post and I'm not sure who was more excited - myself or my two small children who have also fallen in love with "Wicked". The book is amazing for anyone who, like me, may never get to see it on stage (although my fingers are crossed that my time will come). I have read some complaints about what the book does and doesn't include, but I have none. Glancing through it simply makes me want to jump on the next plane to NYC and finally see it for myself. A great souvenir; if you're a Wicked fan you must own it!!!!

Summary: Wickedly pleasing!
If you are a fan young or old of the Wizard of Oz you always have a feeling that the movie doesn't tell the whole story. The Broadway Musical "Wicked" has been a runaway success because it fills in so many gaps in this timeless classic. The Grimmerie is a beautiful reminder and keepsake that you can share with the family and friends when you want to relive the experience of seeing the show. This book packs alot of information in a very small amount of space including but not limited too, how the show is produced, how sets are constructed, how the actors/actress's prepare for each night and the true joy that they take in preforming this Musical night after night. You will come away from reading the Grimmerie wanting more and I highly recommend not only the original book "Wicked" on which this Musical is based, but also the Original Broadway Cast Recording. It will leave you with the feeling that you are not just listening to the recording but truly experiencing a "Wicked" performance.

Summary: The Grimmerie lacks of magic...
Though it is a beautiful book, it's content is somehow disapointing. First, Idina Menzel is missing in too many pages, just as Kristin Chenoweth. Okay, they're not in the show anymore, but if "you don't loose sight of who you are", you'll remember they're a big part of the success the show is encountering today. Then, pictures are very disapointing. Most of them were in the program or on internet (actually some are better on internet!). Quality is not amazing and again, opening cast is missing. On the good side, some illustrations are simply beautiful. And again the overall look of the book is great, too bad the content isn't following. That's why I only give it 2 stars. I didn't find in there 20% of the magic that show brings to people. But it still is a great add to your library and if you like or love Wicked, you have to have it.

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Rent

Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Authors: Jonathan Larson

ISBN: 0688154379
List Price: $38.00
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Summary: Theres No Day But Today To Buy This Book!
Wow! I saw Rent and fell in love with it! The music was beautiful, the script was a work of art, and the story was breath taking! It helped me to discover the beauty that is Broadway! I bought this book because of my love of the musical and let me tell you, it is perfect. Not only does it contain everything you will ever need to know about Rent, but it also contains the entire liberatto of the show with lots of colorful pictures of the Original Broadway Cast. This book allows you to relive the show that changes everyones life forever. VIVA LA VIE BOHEME and buy this book! You won't be sorry you did!

Summary: Pretty good...
This book really is nice, and the pictures are great, except there are WAY too many pictures of Angel and hardly not even enough of Mimi, the main focus in Rent. Other than that, this book conatins a libretto, which is good if you cant understand what they say on the soundtrack, and things like behind the scenes. I have to say its nice to have, but could do wtihout.

Summary: RENT RENT RENT RENT RENT/ WE'RE NOT GONNA PAY RENT!!!
Fans of Rent, this "IS" a must-have book. You have the script, the lyrics and behind the scenes story. I loved the musical. I have enjoyed seeing RENT "six" times, three times in Seattle and three times in NYC. This story is so alive with life, passions, feelings, relationships, communications, and our society. In short, Rent is about love and loyalty. The musical score is awesome; No Day But Today.

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	Wicked - Piano/Vocal Arrangement Publisher: Hal Leonard Authors: Stephen Schwartz
ISBN: 063407881X List Price: $17.95 Amazon Price: $12.21 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: Wicked is Wicked I bought this for my girls, because they are currently obsessed with Wicked. My oldest is taking piano lessons and is going to sing one of the songs for a talent show. She says this is the best book in our collection. Summary: Good Arrangement Its a good arrangement and extremely challenging. I'm enjoying learning the music immensely BECAUSE it is so very difficult. I highly reccommend this piano book to those that know what they're about musicall, but don't mess with this if you're just a beginner. Summary: Wicked Wicked is my favorite musical. The music is inspiring. And although at times the music can be dificult to master, it's nothing that a little practice can't solve. Summary:

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The Light in the Piazza

Publisher: Hal Leonard
Authors: Adam Guettel

ISBN: 142340386X
List Price: $17.95
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Summary: Perfect for solo piano players
As the other reviewers correctly point out, the vocal line is included in the arrangement, which is a problem for those looking to accompany a singer. However, for those who just want to play this stunning music on the piano, this is a terrific book that deserves 5 stars. Guettel's music is enormously complex, both rythmically and harmonically, and the transcriptions capture most of this. It's certainly not a breeze to play, but the effort is worth the reward.

Summary: Glorious Light
Adam Guettel's latest masterwork, The Light in the Piazza, has graced the Broadway stage since April 2005. Now, we can all enjoy the love songs that have made audiences swoon in our homes and our local stages. These vocal selections were wonderfully chosen from a gorgeous score. Ten of the best pieces from the Tony Winning Best Original Score made the cut including:

The Beauty Is
Fable
Love to Me
The Light in the Piazza

As a very balanced selection, this book includes challenging songs for both experienced men and women to perform. The songs remain in their original difficult keys, like the composer intended. Not only is the score vocally taxing, the music will not be easy for beginning pianists. However, many subtle nuances including the beautiful harp-like arpeggios are maintained for a very full sound on the piano.

Songs like Fable benefited from this fleshed-out adaptation because of its many intricate harmonic under workings. Like most Hal Leonard publications, the music is very clean and easy to read, but it also moves the vocal line into the accompaniment. This is both a pro and con. For singers who wanted only an accompaniment, this is not it. Yet, for pianists who yearned for a solo performance piece or singers who don't mind a light vocal line, this book is fantastic.

The book finishes with a Performance Edition of the title song. With these added flourishes, this song sounds as enchanting as it does at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. It would have been nice, though, if all the songs in this book received the same treatment as this song.

Even with that minor quibble, these Vocal Selections are an absolute joy to have and perform. From The Beauty Is's bouncing vitality to the simple harmonies of Love to Me, this book includes the best of Guettel's award winning work. The book also includes Notes on the show, Guettel's biography, and several pages of full-color pictures that detail the talented Original Broadway Cast. Go see it on Broadway, buy the Cast Recording, and then purchase this book. Adam Guettel in the Light for American musical theatre and he shines in The Light in the Piazza.

Summary: Disappointing
When I received The Light in the Piazza songbook in the mail today I was very excited. However, when I opened the book at the piano I was disappointed to view the watered down transcriptions with the melody written into the accompaniment. As compared to Adam Guettel's other two musicals, Floyd Collins and Myths and Hymns, (which are transcribed beautifully) The Light in the Piazza songbook is inferior.

If you plan on playing through the songbook without a singer you may be content with the arrangements, but if you're trying to accompany someone the songs lose their effect due to the lousy transcriptions.

There ARE a few redeeming qualities: The PERFORMANCE EDITION of The Light in the Piazza (the title song)in the back of the songbook is a great transcription, and is the only song that is arranged well. If the entire book was preserved in its original form (as this piece was) the book would be great. There are also some nice pictures from the show as well as a well-written summary of the show and Guettel's bio.

For such a great musical, the songbook is a horrible disappointment.

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A Fine Romance: Hollywood/Broadway (The Magic. The Mahem. The Musicals.)

Publisher: Billboard Books
Authors: Darcie Denkert

ISBN: 0823077748
List Price: $45.00
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Summary: Moving a Musical to the Big Screen
Being an observer of plays and movies with a particular interest in musicals I've long been puzzled by the difficulty there seems to be with moving a musical from Broadway to Hollywood. Why does a smash hit like Gypsy, sometimes called 'The best damn musical ever,' basically flop on screen?

Darcie Denkert is an expert on both Broadway and Hollywood. In this book she has carefully researched a series of the most famous musicals that were made into movies. Sometimes, like with Gypsy, the play simply doesn't translate into the big screen. The scene at the train station, for instance when Rose is shifting her attentions to Louise after June left in the play works well. The train station doesn't look like a train station, it looks like a set. The orchestra is visible, the song works. In the movie, at a real train station, you don't just burst into song. And the stars, great movie stars, just didn't fit.

This is the kind of information that only an insider with a foot into each camp could get and then put into a book. Referring to Gypsy again, the author also tells us how the stories got written, who did what, how did the music get written, what did they do in the screenplay to adapt it?

The book covers 6 big plays: My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Gypsy, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, and Chicago, and 8 smaller ones. This format gives all the space that is needed to completely tell the story. Gypsy, for instance gets 38 pages, and they're big pages. To we outsiders, not plugged into either Broadway or Hollywood, this is an absolutely fascinatin book.

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	The Ultimate Broadway Fake Book Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation Authors: Stanley Green Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation
ISBN: 0793582598 List Price: $45.00 Amazon Price: $29.70 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: About as good as you can reasonably hope for I've always been a broadway buff, and I bought this book just for casually toying with my autoharp at home; I'm not a professional musician. For my purpose, this book is wonderful: I can easily play the songs from the listed chords, and there's a huge variety. I think it has done a great job of picking out the most classic songs from the early through mid 20th century, although by necessity as it gets closer to the present it gets a little more sparse, fleshing out the more popular shows a the expense of some of the excellent but less known ones. While some reviewers have correctly complained that the book doesn't include everything... if it did, it would look like an encyclopedia, and cost as much. It has a well selected set of music given that they have to cram it into a book you can carry in your backpack. Also, keep in mind that they can't necessarily get the rights to publish everything at a price that would make the book affordable. I accepted before I bought it that I'll need to supplement it with a few more song books, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper to buy this than to buy a songbook from every musical I'd want one for. The indices are very useful: notice the plural, indices. It's indexed by song title, by show title, and by composer. I'm rating this book 4 stars instead of 5 primarily because of the binding: I hate plastic comb bindings. I know it's a big book and they want to bind it cheaply so it's affordable, but even a wire spiral would be better... marginally, anyway. I'm convinced the pages will eventually tear along the binding, so I know that I'll eventually have to figure out a way to re-bind it. My other complaint, and it's fairly minor, is that some of the songs are a bit sparse on chords: I ocasionally find myself wanting to pencil in a few extra chords... but hey, it's my book now, I can do that. If you're really helpless with music you'll have a problem with that, but then, if you're that helpless with music you probably wouldn't want a fake book, now would you? Summary: Not necessarily what you expect This book has some interesting good and bad points. First, the good: It's a fake book in the Hal Leonard style, in original keys, of a wide selection of the best known Broadway songs. Lots of good stuff. And unlike The Ultimate Fake Book (which is great for other reasons), the songs are conveniently organized by Show rather than by Title. A nice addition is a synopsis of each show and its relevance at the beginning of the book. But the bad... first, like other very large Hal Leonard books, the binding is a plastic tab that is hard to turn relative to spiral bindings and tends to come apart over time. Second, many (but not all) songs have what appear to be guitar chord charts, which are distracting to everyone else. And third, it doesn't have all the songs you expect. For example, it doesn't have songs from the movie versions (which you may not realize weren't part of the broadway version) or songs from updated broadway versions. The play "Grease" is represented, for example, but lacks the theme song (Grease), Hopelessly Devoted to You, Greased Lightning and other big hits from the show. Similarly, Starlight Express in its original incarnation was not that big a hit. "The New Starlight Express" was. Amazingly, there are only a few songs from the latter in the book; it's missing "He'll Whistle At Me" and "Next Time You Fall In Love", along with about six others. This means, of course, that after seeing the (current) broadway production, you won't be able to pick up this book and play the tunes; they're not there. However, there are a LOT of great tunes that are there, the organization is great, and as always Hal Leonard did a great job of arranging them. Summary: Worth the money I have so much fun playing Broadway songs on my violin. I really do. The nice thing about this book, especially for violin, is that it only shows the melody in treble clef so it eliminates the annoying page-turning you have to deal with when playing from a piano book. Though sometimes I get sad the book doesn't have a song I like in it, but it really has a great selection, one or two songs from any Broadway you can think of and many pages of music from greats like Les Miz and Phantom. Well worth the investment. Summary:

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How Sondheim Found His Sound

Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Authors: Steve Swayne

ISBN: 0472114972
List Price: $30.00
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Summary: Great primer on Sondheim
This is a great book on how Sondheim "found his sound." I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Sondheim's card system and it gave me greater insight into a person who knew Leonard Bernstein.

Summary: Fascinating Look at the Creative Process
Sir Isaac Newton once said: 'If I have accomplished anything, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.' Stephen Sondheim would probably say something similar.

He has acknowledged being influenced by classical music, Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, Hollywood and many more. In the end though, Sondheim's work has taken these together and produced something uniquely his own. The results speak for themselves: West Side Story, Gypsy, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Do I Hear a Waltz and the list goes on and on. In 2004 alone there was the first Broadway production of Assassins, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (London), The Frogs (Lincoln Center), Passion, Pacific Overtures.

This book though, is not a description of what he has done, it's an in depth analysis of the way his music came about. The author teaches music at Dartmouth. His analysis, aided by Sondheim himself talks not only about the origins of music, but the way Sondheim goes about developing a song. It's a fascinating look at the creative process.

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Broadway Musicals : The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time

Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
Authors: Ken Bloom Frank Vlastnik

ISBN: 1579123902
List Price: $34.95
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Avg Cusomer Rating: 5
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Summary: The Best
This is the best book on the Broadway musical to come out in a very long time. The photo selection is amazing offering rare if never before published photographs from these great shows. I particularly like the "side bars" of extra information and commentary. The layout is absolutely beautiful and the text is informative in a highly entertaining way. A fun read with plenty of eye candy for the musical buff.

Summary: Great Resource!
This book is great! I teach dance and purchased this book as a resource for my students to learn more about Broadway musicals. I have been very pleased with this book. The information is great and the pictures are magnificent. My students get excited everytime I bring it out (of course, I avoid the t&a section). I highly recommend this book.

Summary: Awsome
I purchased this book since I love musicals so much, and I must say this is a MUST HAVE book for broadway lovers. There are very nice pictures and some interesting comments on many of broadway's greatest shows. The only negaive thing I would have to say is that there are some musicals missing that I would love to see in the book. Other than that, the book is great!!

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