Before I launched Theater Shelf, my reviews appeared on the website Potomac Stages. One of my favorites of all the books I reviewed for that outlet was Steven Suskin’s “The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations.” Wanting to spread the word of this fascinating and invaluable book to my newer readership, […]
Great Moments in the Theatre
The sweep of Benedict Nightingale’s “Great Moments in Theatre” covers not decades or centuries, but millennia. As if his pen were a time machine, he takes the reader back as far as ancient Greece’s Dionysus Festival of 458 BC to imagine what it was like to witness the performance of Aeschylus’ Oresteia. Then he tackles […]
Ben Brantley’s Broadway Musicals
How did this one slip by me last year? In October, the New York Times’ Ben Brantley released a beautiful-to-look-at and rewarding-to-read volume titled “Broadway Musicals” that deserves a spot on either your theater shelf or your coffee table.
Brad’s pick for Grammy Winner – Best Musical Theater Album
Next Sunday, February 10th, is the big night for the recording industry. The Grammy’s, which are, to that industry, what the Tonys are for Broadway, Oscars for movies and Emmys for television. This year, awards will be given out in no fewer than 81 categories.
The Songs of Hollywood
Theater lovers with well stocked shelves should have a side-shelf for volumes about movies. After all, they are a form of performance art akin to theater. Those interested in musical theater might want at least one book on musical movies. Philip Furia and Laurie Patterson have produced a remarkably well constructed, comprehensive overview of the […]
Live Recordings from 54 Below
I was right! Last month, as we put together the annual Holiday Gift Guide, I included a suggestion that a fabulous gift would be one or more of the new live recordings of the cabaret shows at the new New York nightclub, 54 Below.
Early Television Musical “Spectaculars”
The good people at VAI – Video Artists International – continue mining the gold of old kinescopes of early television shows much to the delight of musical theater lovers. Four new discs featuring performances by the likes of Alfred Drake, Celeste Holm, Barbara Cook, and Jo Sullivan document the genre of the “Spectaculars” that presented […]
Performance of the Century: 100 Years of Actors’ Equity Association and the Rise of Professional American Theater
Let’s start the year off with a book you probably didn’t know you needed. It is one of those books that jump off the shelf at you when you see it, but only if you read the sub-title.
Leap of Faith
We have Ghostlight Records to thank for capturing a moment in Broadway’s history. Their release today of the original Broadway cast recording of Leap of Faith is not only a first class documentation of a first class score, it commemorates something that has never happened before.
Jerome Kern: The Land Where the Good Songs Go
Quick! Buy a copy of this recording which was released today and give it to the artistic director of your favorite local theater company that produces its own musical shows. Tell him or her that The Land Where The Good Songs Go should be their next revue, and that they should ask whichever licensing house […]
Chaplin: the Musical
It is a classic good news / bad news situation. Just as the original Broadway cast album of Chaplin: The Musical starts its entry into the music market, the show it documents begins its departure.
Company – New York Philharmonic concert presentation
It works both ways, of course. Last week I wrote about a disc that surprised me by being so much better than I had expected. (Ghostlight’s original cast recording of the musical Calvin Berger.) This week it is a disc that surprised me by being less enjoyable than I had every reason to expect it […]