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Title: Deconstructing Harold Hill by Scott Miller ISBN: 0-325-00166-9 Publisher: Heinemann Publishing Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.73 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A must for musical theatre lovers
Comment: Unlike many recent books on musicals, the reader doesn't have to sift through mounds of errors to get information. Mr. Miller has done a stunning job of breaking apart the musicals he's chosen as examples. His chapters on Camelot and Music Man alone could provide a semester's work for any college course on musical theatre. One of the most useful parts of his deconstructions is his explaining how the music--whether underscoring or song--supports the story and aids the audience's understanding of what they're seeing. As someone who has performed in or directed musicals for over 30 years, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating, Playful, and Occasionally Brilliant
Comment: I loved this author's first book, From Assassins to West Side Story, but I wasn't prepared for the further depth and greater brilliance of his second book, Deconstructing Harold Hill. This is a man who knows his theatre, who understands human nature, and who cares enough about great art to treat it seriously and respectfully without being afraid to criticize it or demand fresh approaches. This is a work of great intellect that is still accessible to readers with no theatre or music background (a rarity), and yet, I would guess, in depth and surprising enough to aid the most experienced professional.
In his introduction, Mr. Miller complains that American directors don't come at older American musicals with fresh enough perspectives, and the rest of the book does what those directors can't -- it looks, as if for the first time, at a collection of wonderful, important musicals, looking at them fresh, taking the time to think about and question the things nobody else will.
His discussin of the use of musical themes in The Music Man is incredble -- there's so much there I hadn't noticed before -- and his writing makes it all accessible for someone with no music background. His discussions of the character of Harold Hill -- basically a villain who acts like a hero -- is fascinating. He sees glorious little details in this show I've never seen before.
His chapter on Camelot opened my eyes like never before to the depth and possibilities of this show that usually falls into the shadow of My Fair Lady. Mr. Miller sees complexity and nuance in these characters that I've never seen explored before. How amazing it would be to see a production of Camelot that used Mr. Miller's ideas. The show would be transformed instantly from a pretty musical into a soaring, searing piece of tragic theatre.
His chapter on Chicago makes a compelling case for why the revival doesn't do the show justice. And his chapters on Sondheim musicals (Passion and Sunday in the Park) confirm for me that Mr. Miller is the preeminent American interpreter of Sondheim's works. Though I live in Seattle, I may just venture down to St. Louis to see Mr. Miller's ideas at work on his own stage. How lucky the people of St. Louis must be to have an artist this intelligent, this passionate, and this emotional working in their city.
Rating: 5
Summary: a must-read for ANY theatre enthusiast
Comment: Every analysis that Miller wrote in this book just blew me away. It completely opened my eyes to all the subtext behind musicals that prior to this just seemed...well, dull. However, I suddenly acquired new views on musicals like "The Music Man" and "Camelot" and I now appreciate them not only as classics but engaging pieces of theatre. His ideas on all the other musicals, especially the Sondheim pieces are simply enlightening. What are you waiting for? Buy it!
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Title: From Assassins to West Side Story : The Director's Guide to Musical Theatre by Scott Miller ISBN: 0435086995 Publisher: Heinemann Pub. Date: 20 May, 1996 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Rebels with Applause: Broadway's Groundbreaking Musicals by Scott Miller ISBN: 0325003572 Publisher: Heinemann Pub. Date: 31 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theatre by Tom Jones ISBN: 0879100958 Publisher: Limelight Editions Pub. Date: 01 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Writing the Broadway Musical by Aaron Frankel ISBN: 0306809435 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title:Broadway's Lost Treasures ASIN: B0000BZNDK Publisher: Acorn Media Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $18.71 |
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