Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Music    3. Music/Songbooks    4. Seasonal    5. Songbooks - General    6. Songbooks - Popular    7. Music / Songbooks   

Reviews (1)

Definately a good find
I think if you play the panio then this is a great find. Disney's songs are always excellent and Phcohantus is no exception. They are songs youwill fall in love with and you will want to practice over and over again. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children: Grades 3-4    2. Juvenile Nonfiction    3. Music    4. Music - Songbooks    5. Music/Songbooks    6. Musical Instruments - General    7. Popular Culture - General    8. Songbooks - Popular    9. Films, cinema    10. Light orchestral, dance & big band music    11. Music / Songbooks    12. Musical scores, lyrics & libretti    13. Vocal music   

Reviews (2)

suskin does it again!
for fans of the broadway musical, steven suskin's books are indispensable.this time around he manages to explore the full bodies of work of some 36 broadway composers, as well as the work of various "lesser" lights.if you are any kind of fan beyond the most basic, there will be few reference books on the subject you will turn to more often.mine is beside my cd player, as i constantly am cross-referencing.if i can have a complaint, its that the book is too short -- but im sure thats the fault of suskin's publisher, who cant be making a fortune on this book as is. A most valuable reference tool
Anyone interested in Broadway lore must own at least three books, all by Steven Suskin. The firstis Read more

Subjects:  1. Bibliography    2. Genres & Styles - Musicals    3. Genres & Styles - Pop Vocal    4. Music    5. Music/Songbooks    6. Musicals    7. Popular music    8. Theater - General    9. Theater Music    10. United States    11. 20th century    12. Composers & musicians    13. Music / Musicals    14. Music | Popular Music | Music Theatre, Popular Song, & Film Music    15. Musical theatre    16. Reference works    17. USA   

Reviews (1)

What's Up with the Binding
I love the collection of songs in this book and it is an improvement from Volume 2 since most songs in Volume 2 do not show the chords by name, whereas most songs in this volume do.Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Genres & Styles - Musicals    3. Instruction & Study - Voice    4. Music    5. Music/Songbooks    6. Songbooks - General    7. Music / Voice   

Reviews (1)

Good, But Slightly Dated Book of Musical Theatre Selections.
The first volume for tenors, this book strives to find great musical theatre pieces. It mostly succeeds, but sometimes fails. Unfortunately, since the book came out in 1987, it is lacking any recent songs. Some standout songs include- Being Alive (Company), Many Moons Ago (Once Upon a Mattress), On The Street Where You Live (My Fair Lady), Someone is Waiting (Company), and Younger Than Springtime (South Pacific). If you are interested in a moderately useful book of Broadway favorites before 1987, buy this book. Otherwise, check out later volumes of the same series... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Instruction & Study - Voice    3. Music/Songbooks    4. Songbooks - General    5. Music / Voice   

Reviews (1)

An excellent introduction to a vast subject
Although my shelves are loaded with histories of the Broadway musical, there is always room for one more. So I really looked forward to reading "The Cambridge Companion to The Musical" (Cambridge University Press, 2002). When I saw there were only 265 pages of text (not counting bibliography and index), I doubted that they could adequately cover the field. Soon I began to realize that the "field" included American and British musicals, film musicals and film versions of stage musicals, and even recordings; and I just settled down to enjoy what amounts to a series of essays covering all these fields, none of them adequately but all of them interestingly.Read more

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. History    3. History & Criticism - General    4. History and criticism    5. Music    6. Music/Songbooks    7. Musical theater    8. Musicals    9. Reference    10. Music / General    11. Musical theatre   

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Music    3. Music/Songbooks    4. Songbooks - General    5. Songbooks - Showtunes    6. Theater - Broadway & Musical Revue    7. Music / Voice   

Reviews (1)

A must have for any Sondheim Fanatic!
At first glance, the price for this selection may seem a trifle hefty.It is worth every penny to be able to own the score to the most emotional musical written by Sondheim.The music is amazing to listen to, but theexperience is heightened when one is able to study the score in conjunctionwith an excellent recording.This score serves as a resource for anyoneneeding audition music, and it is great as a teaching tool in an advancedBroadway piano class.Incredible buy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Instruction & Study - Composition    3. Instruction & Study - Voice    4. Music    5. Music/Songbooks    6. Songbooks - General   

Reviews (1)

Great Resource for Singers
This is a great resource for anyone looking for baritone/bass selections. When I was looking for a book with good Broadway musical vocal selections I often ran into a myriad of books with bad arrangements; however, this bookhas provided me with a great number of pieces that I use for auditions ormy vocal lessons. It includes great bass songs such as 'Ol' Man River' from"Showboat", and some other songs in the baritone range such as'Johanna' from "Sweeney Todd" or 'Mack the Knife' from"Threepenny Opera". It features works by Sondheim, Rogers &Hammerstein, Hammerstein and Kern, Rogers and Hart, Loesser, etc. The bestthing is that it includes the original arrangements for each of these songswith the original lyrics (all of the songs are the full-length versions).Another great feature is that it also has some really good scores from somelesser known but still good musicals. This book (together with Volume IIand the duets book)is a must for any vocal student, singer,or just aboutanyone mildly interested in musicals. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Instruction & Study - Voice    3. Music/Songbooks    4. Songbooks - General    5. Music / Voice   

Reviews (3)

a truly singular sensation
This is a really touching tribute to what some feel was the most powerful moment in Broadway history. The shared thoughts from cast members and others involved in this glorious production are really heartfelt and are a joy to read. I enjoyed all the trivia throughout the book and also was pleased with the awesome pictures posted. This is the perfect book for any Chorus Line fan. I would really recommend it.

What they did for love...
This book is a wonderful, moving chronicle of one of Broadway's most famous long-running musicals.With a wealth of information about the show and the people who helped make it so successful, told in their own words,The Longest Line is something everyone who loves A Chorus Line should read.

I gave it two standing ovations and wept
Such a beautiful coffee table book, I love it slightly more than the show it's about!The pictures are unbelievable: Ann Reinking as Cassie!When she could still dance!And talk!The only down-side is its immense cost: I actually had to prostitute for a week and sell my roomate , but I guess that's cause I'm an actor.Even if you're not an ACL fan, this is a really great tribute to the men and women of "the Line."(that sounds so military! MMM!) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Chorus line    2. Genres & Styles - Musicals    3. Hamlisch, Marvin    4. Hamlisch, Marvin.    5. Performing Arts    6. Performing Arts/Dance    7. Songbooks - General    8. Theater    9. Theater - Broadway & Musical Revue    10. Musical theatre    11. Performing Arts / Theater / General   

Reviews (3)

The Stars Shone ON Broadway With Songs.
The American musical on Broadway is invented in the 1920s, suffers an artistic setback in the financially oppressed and conservative 1930s, but at last reflowers for good in the 1940s.This is called the Golden Age of drama and music bonded together.Before, it was fit but primitive; it has become rich and sophisticated and has status, a powerful economic base, and became known globally important, like Coca Cola.The musical is American: democratic, fast-moving, and innovative.
A lot of air but little substance
Ethan Mordden's theater-related writing has been on a steady decline, especially in this verbose and increasingly obtuse decade by decade series on 20th century Broadway musicals.It has reached a point where once canlearn more about musicals from Mordden's fiction. Come on Mr. Mordden -- wecame to expect much more from you than this kind of tired rehash.

Another masterpiece, even when walking the edge
Ethan Mordden is my favorite author of all time -- his breadth and depth of knowledge and critical acumen are utterly unsurpassed among writers on vintage American popular culture. In this book as in all of his others, theway he can, in a few quick, masterful strokes, make you feel like you areat an obscure, unrecorded musical which now exists only as yellowing filesin a few libraries is nothing less than astounding. His combination oferudtion, wit and insight never fail to take my breath away. Thedecade-by-decade series of which this book is the third helps make lifeworth living, this one helping make sense of a particularly challenging tenyears in musicals' history. Near the end, Mordden does indulge in somenervy speculations that could use some more backup, though. Was homophobiareally the reason WHERE'S CHARLEY didn't get a cast album? IfPorter'smusic for KISS ME, KATE was so good because he knew the score would bepreserved on a record, then why didn't he keep writing at this levelafterwards? Since SOUTH PACIFIC came at the end of the decade, we'd like itto be an apotheosis of the developments over that time, but would we reallysay that of this fine but chunky piece of work if it had come along in1945? If the invention of the cast album was really why shows startedrunning longer, then why have runs continued getting even longer since? YetMordden is such a treasure that one simply takes these as questions youwish you could take up with the master. Overall, no one writing in hisbailiwick even approaches him; this book, like all of his work, is anational treasure. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1941-1950    2. Broadway (New York, N.Y.)    3. Genres & Styles - Musicals    4. History & Criticism - General    5. History and criticism    6. Music    7. Musicals    8. New York    9. New York (State)    10. Performing Arts    11. Popular music    12. Theater    13. Theater - Broadway & Musical Revue    14. Theater - General    15. Theater Music    16. Music / Musicals    17. Music | Music History, American    18. Musical theatre   

Reviews (1)

Falsettos- What's not to Love?
William Finn is a genius. He is the composer and lyricist of all 3 musicals in the 'Falsettos Trilogy'. This vocal selections book has highlights from the first and second musicals in the trilogy, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland. There are 17 songs in all, which is a rather large amount. In this book are: The Baseball Game, A Day In Falsettoland, Everyone Hates His Parents, What More Can I Say, What Would I Do?, Something Bad Is Happening, Holding To The Ground, Unlikely Lovers, You Gotta Die Sometime, Father To Son, I'm Breaking Down, March Of The Falsettos, 4 Jews In A Room Bitching, Marriage Proposal, Making A Home, The Games I Play, and I Never Wanted To Love You. The lyrics are both touching and hysterical. The songs both develop the characters and show the genius of the composer. 'Four Jews Bitching' is a fantastic musical theatre piece for four males. I can't reccomend this book enough!!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Music   

Reviews (40)

A very good book!!!
This a must have for any phans of the A.L.W. musical!!

Clearly, my dears, this IS the book for you.
This book... I have no words on how amazing it is.
An absolute MUST to buy!!
I recently purchased both 'The Complete Phantom of the Opera'and the novel, and I am soo impressed! After I saw the movie and bought the soundtrack, I knew that I had to have these books. My interst in the Phantom of the Opera was first sparked when I saw the silent version with Lon Cheney. Then I heard about the movie coming out, so I saw it and I was more than impressed. I still have yet to see the Broadway version however. So, I highly recommend the movie, the soundtrack and the books. In my opinion each is well worth the cost!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1948-    2. Fiction    3. Genres & Styles - Musicals    4. Instruction & Study - Voice    5. Librettos    6. Lloyd Webber, Andrew,    7. Music    8. Music/Songbooks    9. Musical revues, comedies, etc    10. Musicals    11. Phantom of the Opera    12. Modern fiction    13. Performing Arts / Broadway & Musical Revue   

Reviews (4)

La...but PRAYER?!
I recently played the musical accomaniment for this entire show in a local production. I fell absolutely in love with the music and have been singing along with the original and encore recordings since...Sir Percy's "Prayer" is always going to be my favorite. One may imagine my disappointment when I discovered Prayer was missing from the book! And "Madame Guillotine" is practically the equivalent to Jekyll and Hyde's thunderous "Facade" and should have definitely been included. Even the relatively short reprises of "When I Look at You" and "Where's the Girl?" would have been awesome additions! I love Pimpernel too much to rate this book anything less than a '4' but I'm crossing my fingers to soon see a new edition that includes EVERYTHING from the show. Even the new material from the Encore version!!

A great modern musical gets a great Vocal Selection book
Complete with color photos and information from the Director, Lyricist and Composer of The Scarlet Pimpernel.This is one of the most informative vocal selection books I have bought in a while. This is cool!
This score of the amazing musical was the BEST!I loved the arrangements and certain harmonizings that the arranger added.I have many of these "play" books, and this was one of the best!"The ScarletPimpernel" rocks! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Instruction & Study - Voice    3. Music    4. Music/Songbooks    5. Songbooks - General   

Subjects:  1. Instruction & Study - Voice    2. Music    3. Music/Songbooks    4. Songbooks - General    5. Music / Voice   

Reviews (2)

A GREAT book!
This book was a real treat going through. Loaded with photographs, it tells the story as a script, shows the design of the characters, and then shows the special effects, sets, and other cool stuff. It's a greatsoveneir of the musical, and if you haven't it's a great book to read toexperience the musical if you can't experience it on Broadway

This book is wondefully elaborate and ornate.
This book is excellent.It is filled with gorgeous pictures from theBroadway musical.It also contains the complete lyrics and a story line ofhow the actual musical was produced.This is a definite for any musicaltheatre fan! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Beauty and the beast    2. Cinema/Film: Book    3. General    4. Genres & Styles - Musicals    5. Juvenile Fiction    6. Librettos    7. Menken, Alan    8. Musicals    9. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    10. Production and direction    11. Stage guides    12. Theater    13. Theater Music    14. Dance    15. Juvenile Fiction / General   

Reviews (5)

Captures the Essence of Forum, and then some!
"Forum" is one of those rare musical comedies...one of those we hardly ever stuble across. "Forum" is actually funny. And I don't just mean "haha" funny. I mean roll in the aisles and laugh until it hurts funny. The jokes just never stop coming-even during the musical numbers! A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
This book was very enjoyable.I would recomend it to anyone looking for a light hearted book to read that is not to difficult.This book makes you think of what could happen in your everyday life.I think everyone shouldread this book.

I thought it was great but not perfect
I thought the music was very wonderful and original and the way the music was displayed was very good indeed.The score not only is great in itself, it was also a great accompanyment to the liberetto book witch you can also get on amazon.com. for any lovers of this play or anyone who likes broadwayat all, I would definatly recomend this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Librettos    3. Music/Songbooks    4. Musicals    5. Performing Arts    6. Performing Arts/Dance    7. Songbooks - General    8. Theater - Broadway & Musical Revue    9. Performing Arts / Theater / General   

Reviews (3)

The Making of the American Musical, by Patricia J. Brown, Esq., Fresno, CA
I loved this book. Ever since my high school English teacher chastised me for trying to put Miller's The Crucible in the context of the McCarthy era, I have been fascinated with the social context surrounding the creation of art. Jones focuses on the political as well as social context that has given birth to the great...and the mediocre...of the American musical. First, his use of terms such as "diversionary" ring so true for those of us who love mindless fluff when we go to the theatre. Second, I was shocked at how little I had appreciated the contributions of African-Americans, inter alia, to the American stage prior to reading this book. But, mostly, I liked how he articulated how a writer's gestalt accounts for the end product on the stage and his description of how copy-cat musicals come into being. The book gave me the backstory to many of the original shows I had the good fortune to see on Broadway. I, for one, would love a Volume II of this book to be Jones' next foray. I especially offer this to aspiring young actors, writers, directors and songwriters as a required read before embarking on a life in musical theater. If you want to create art, you must know from whence you came.

A Socio-Political History of the Broadway Musical
This book by a long-time professor of theatre arts at Brandeis University is a fascinating study of the social forces influencing the evolution of the Broadway music. Starting with the early part of the 20th-century and working his way slowly to the present day, John Bush Jones groups musicals according to their themes and intent, calling some simply 'diversionary' (the sort that is so often thought to be aimed at the 'tired businessman') and others 'issue-driven,' (those with a theme which somehow mirrors the society at large). Clearly his interest is primarily with the latter, although he does discuss some of the unconscious thematic issues of the former. He does sometimes tend to get a bit caught up in his own premises and oversell them, but by and large this is a scholarly, and entirely readable, history of an art form that was invented on our shores and brought to its peak here, although it has been imitated prolifically elsewhere. He makes the point that most of the creators were Jewish (as he is) but doesn't offer much of an explanation for why this might be so.He focuses repeatedly on such things as shows with African-American, Jewish, political, sociological and psychological themes. He offers a fine analysis of the so-called 'concept musical' (e.g., 'Company' or 'Chorus Line') which he prefers to call 'fragmented musicals,' a description which points out their lack of an ordinary linear plot line.

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Music/Songbooks    3. Performing Arts    4. Performing Arts/Dance    5. Theater - General    6. Musical theatre    7. Performing Arts / Theater / General    8. Social history    9. USA   

Editorial Review

The international musical sensation Read more

Reviews (13)

Les Mis Piano Book
Overall, I am glad I bought this book.The main thing I was disappointed about was that the lyrics to the songs are not included.

Awesome!!!
Being a huge fan of the Les Miserables musical, I borrowed this book at the library hoping to be able to play some of my favorite songs on the piano. I was not disapointed!
Looks nice, but a few problems
This is a great book for the singer that loves musical theater.As a musician though, I would have liked Bring Him Home to be in the correct key.It is a major 3rd below the original key, or at least from what is sung on broadway and any traveling show.I was hoping to use this piece for an audition, but now I will have to see if I can get a hold of the real score since this was published assuming that anyone buying it would be incapable of singing the piece (an insult to the singers buying it if you ask me). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Genres & Styles - Musicals    2. Instruction & Study - Voice    3. Music    4. Music/Songbooks    5. Popular Culture - General    6. Songbooks - Popular    7. Theater - Broadway & Musical Revue    8. Music / Songbooks   

Reviews (4)

Sheet Music for a delightful musical
Great piano arrangements that veery closely match the original 1967 arrangements of these charming and (in some cases) classic songs. All your favourites are there from the ubiquitous "Happiness" to the more eclectic, but VERY FUNNY "Queen Lucy", and is there a kid with homework who can't relate to any (or all) of the opinions on "A Book Report". Lovely stuff....

My mistake
Oops! I meant to order not just the music, but the screenplay, which my son's drama teacher wanted me to get for him. Well, we will make good use of it anyway! Arrived in perfect condition.

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Vocal Selections)
Ordered it as a gift and it was in great shape. Thanks. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction - General    2. General    3. Music    4. Songbooks - General    5. Music / Songbooks