Book Description

Lighting is a blend of the aesthetic and the technical that can create an infinite number of dramatic effects. Good lighting design completes the emotional and literal portrayals of any performance piece, accenting words, music, and movement. Stage Lighting Revealed explains what designers need to know when creating or executing an effective lighting design, including: understanding the basic functions of lighting and the qualities of light used to carry out these functions; understanding the equipment that will be used, including its mechanics and functions; deciding what they want to create, or say, with lighting; laying out the visual messages they wish to convey; creating original interpretations with light; determining how the design can be executed. Cunningham s reader-friendly introduction to stage lighting and design is ideal for getting prospective lighting designers started on their own journey. Readers are encouraged to experiment and tap their creativity by selecting from the processes and techniques detailed throughout the book. Many diagrams, charts, and photographs complement and enhance the concepts presented in the text. Among the topics discussed are: using color to play to the audience s emotions; what to consider when you place instruments in the five basic lighting positions; breaking a performance into lighting moments, laying the lighting design, and bringing that design to life; using and maintaining the many types of stage lighting fixtures; commonsense troubleshooting; stretching your lighting budget; pulling off a successful load-in, production, and postproduction. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

The only lighting foundations book you need!
Stage Lighting Revealed: A Design and Execuation Handbook is absolutely perfect for both the novice or the experienced lighting technician/designer. Because the book covers all three aspects of stage lighting, it is absolutely perfect as a book of foundations for theatrical lighting. All sections are explained clearly and in great detail, assisted by the use of comprehensive photographs, diagrams and illustrations. As well, it is not outdated like many other lighting books on the market. For anyone interested in theatrical lighting, YOU NEED THIS BOOK!

WOW! Amazing Introduction
Recommended to both beginner and intermediate users in stage lighting, this book is what got me started! After reading tons of other books and finding myself nowhere, this book revealed everything. A++

A most helpful introduction to the basics of Stage Lighting
I knew pretty nothing about stage lighting beyond making sure you were in the lights when acting on stage, so when I was suddenly teaching a Drama class and putting on one-acts for the entire school, I knew I needed big time help. Glen Gunningham's handbook was exactly what I needed, a clear and concise primer. Part I deals with Lighting Design, covering the basics of design layout, color and positions. Part II details the Equipment of the trade, from Lamps to Par Lights to Followspots, Ellipsoidal and Fresnel Spotlights, Scoops and Striplights, as well as basics on electricity, wiring and special effects. Part III focuses on Lighting the Show going through all the stages of production. Above all, Cunningham explains the basics so that even beginners like me can get the job done and not embarrass ourselves in public. "Stage Lighting Revealed" helped me big time.

Almost Perfect
I'm still searching for the perfect lighting design book, but Stage Lighting Revealed is as close as I have seen. It's small and lightweight, (and inexpensive) and packed with practical information. It covers everything from the fundamentals of electricity to state-of-the-art equipment. It would be nice if it had a bit more information on specific lighting techniques, but with the amount of clear, practical information in this book, I can't complain. A perfect book for beginners and intermediate designers alike.

Explains the basics well, lots of great easy-to-find info
Stage Lighting Reavealed ,by Glen Cunningham, is the most comprehensive, well-written Stage Lighting Book I've seen. It was easy to bury myself in a large chair for a couple hours and read this book. I recommend it to anyone who is at all interested or involved in stage lighting, especially young people and beginners who want to learn about the subject. ... Read more

Book Description

This extraordinary play, which swept Europe before coming to America, is based on two historical truths: the infamous Marquis de Sade was confined in the lunatic asylum of Charenton, where he staged plays; and the revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat was stabbed in a bathtub by Charlotte Corday at the height of the Terror during the French Revolution. But this play-within-a-play is not historical drama. Its thought is as modern as today's police states and The Bomb; its theatrical impact has everywhere been called a major innovation. It is total theatre: philosophically problematic, visually terrifying. It engages the eye, the ear, and the mind with every imaginable dramatic device, technique, and stage picture, even including song and dance. All the forces and elements possible to the stage are fused in one overwhelming experience. This is theatre such as has rarely been seen before. The play is basically concerned with the problem of revolution. Are the same things true for the masses and for their leaders? And where, in modern times, lie the borderlines of sanity? ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Revolution
WOW. I read this play for an english class and irght now we are watching a production of it. As an activist I have to say this play captures many of the tensions in all schools of the left. Performed in the early 60s, it reveals the debate that raged between the 'old' and 'new' left. All I can say is unbeleivable.

One of the most haunting plays of all time.
Written in the early sixties, the play frequently abbreviated as Marat/Sade is set in 1808, yet many of the comments are distinctly directed toward current events, notably the upheavals in Eastern Europe. Now, with the fall of the Soviet Union behind us, the play takes on even greater significance. Despite the reassurances of the asylum director, whether a mere fifteen years or well over two hundred years have passed, the nature of revolutions, and the fanatics who cause them, has not changed. Combining historical events with modern theatrics, Weiss has produced what has been and will continue to be one of the most disturbing, as well as one of the most important works ever to be performed on stage. ... Read more

Book Description

The year is 1963, the setting is small-town Michigan. At age fifteen, Peter Fenton is a gawky math whiz schoolboy with a dissatisfied mother, a father who drinks himself to foolishness, and no chance whatsoever with girls. That's when he meets Jackie Barron.

Jackie is the unlikely progeny of Double-O and Vera, professional grifters running a third-rate traveling carnival, and he's been part of the family business since he started earning his keep as the World's Youngest Elephant Trainer. Jackie is a smooth-talking teenage carnie with his own Thunderbird, and with wisdom beyond his years.

Jackie shares Pete's way with numbers, and he has a proposition. They'll start a rigged casino in Jackie's basement and take their classmates for thousands of dollars. Pete hesitates, but not for very long. Two years later, he's working joints for the Barrons' Party Time Shows, wearing sharkskin suits and alligator shoes, and relieving the public of its hard-earned cash. He learns to hold his own with veteran con men who have nicknames like the Ghost, Horserace Harry, and Talking Tony, and colorful personalities to match. This is the world of the Alibi and the Hanky Pank, of Flatties and the mark. Amazingly, Pete Fenton has never been more at home.

But in this strange new world with its topsy-turvy code of ethics, where leaving a mark without a dollar for gas is outlawed while cheating a best friend is par for the course, the tension between teacher and student grows until Pete finds himself attempting the ultimate challenge: to out-con his mentor.

Eyeing the Flash is a fascinating insider's view of the carnival underworld -- the cons, the double-dealing, the quick banter, and, of course, the easy money. The story of a shy middle-class kid turned first-class huckster, Peter Fenton's coming-of-age memoir is highly unorthodox, and utterly compelling. ... Read more

Book Description

Winner of the 2003 Pulitizer Prize for Drama

. . . there are many kinds of light.
The light of fires. The light of stars.
The light that reflects off rivers.
Light that penetrates through cracks.
Then there_s the type of light that reflects off the skin.
_Nilo Cruz, Anna in the Tropics

This lush romantic drama depicts a family of cigar makers whose loves and lives are played out against the backdrop of America in the midst of the Depression. Set in Ybor City (Tampa) in 1930, Cruz imagines the catalytic effect the arrival of a new "lector" (who reads Tolstoy_s Anna Karenina to the workers as they toil in the cigar factory) has on a Cuban-American family. Cruz celebrates the search for identity in a new land.

"The words of Nilo Cruz waft from the stage like a scented breeze. They sparkle and prickle and swirl, enveloping those who listen in both specific place and time . . . and in timeless passions that touch us all. In Anna in the Tropics, the world premiere work he created for Coral Gables_ intimate New Theatre, Cruz claims his place as a storyteller of intricate craftsmanship and poetic power."_Miami Herald

Nilo Cruz is a young Cuban-American playwright whose work has been produced widely around the United States including the Public Theater (New York, NY), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), Magic Theatre (San Francisco, CA), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theater (Princeton, NJ) and New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL). His other plays include Night Train to Bolina, Two Sisters and a Piano, Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, among others. Anna in the Tropics also won the Steinberg Award for Best New Play. Mr. Cruz teaches playwriting at Yale University and lives in New York City.

Reviews (7)

All plays are meant to be seen, not read.
There is a review here about this play being better to see than to read. This should be true of all plays, since that's their purpose. In fact, if you really enjoy reading a play, in the same exact way you enjoy reading a novel- it very likely may not be a good play & should in fact be a novel instead.

Having said that, I believe Anna in the Tropics is a great and beautiful play. Reading it I can see how wonderful it would be to see on the stage; watching these very real characters go through their vulnerable journeys; I enjoyed my copy thoroughly.

Escape to a Different World
Take a break of a few minutes from your life and venture into the colorful world of this Florida cigar factory. The story is hardly new. It is a story about love, family, and change. A warm and inviting play that will make you wish that you worked in an old fashioned cigar factory.

A well-made play with a Chekovian atmosphere
I saw this play on Broadway and later directed a staged reading of it in a University setting... it's really a lovely piece and grows on you the more you work with it. There are no weak parts -- seven strong characters all have significant roles (Eliades is a cameo, but can be doubled by Palomo). The setting (a cigar factory in 1929 Tampa) is unusual, as is the situation (the lector reads classic literature to the workers as they hand-roll cigars). While some of the script uses phrases that suggest classic Latino "magical realism", the real magic is in the experience of a group of people becoming lost in a piece of literature, as the Russia of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" lives again in Florida. There is an abundance of romance along with social realism, as the cigar-rolling machines threaten a traditional way of life.
This play is best performed in an intimate space -- I recommend Spanish guitar music for the scene changes and comfortable seats for the audience to relax and soak up the language and Caribbean atmosphere of this poetic drama. It works on a lot of different levels and would be great to read in a classroom or use as the basis of a term paper. (I'm writing one now.)

A nice read, better to be seen
I was quite excited to read this play after hearing the playwright speak and read excerpts from it. However, I found out that this is a play better suited to be seen than read. Reading it cannot possibly capture the rhythm of the Cuban characters speech that Cruz has aptly recreated. [I should know, as I live in Miami] Cruz had done a lot of research on Ybor City, but it seemed to not come through as vividly as one might think. [I've been to the charming little city] Sure, one could easily find historical data that points to the lectors and Cuban cigar makers: but that is information easily found and known. Still, there are lines that are just plain beautiful and make the reader stop and say "Hmmm..." But in this writer's opinion, Cruz' "Beauty of the Father" is much more poetic, deeper, and beautiful. Maybe the Pulitzer should have gone to that one.

For this, a Pulitzer?
I have lived in Tampa most of my thirty eight years on this planet so I am instantly attracted to anything in The Tampa genre.
However, this play will put you to sleep. Its a pity because the Ybor City district of Tampa is ideally suited for a play especially one dealing with the history of cigars. Buy Nitol instead! ... Read more

Book Description

A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology elucidates the nature of dramatic action and the actor's craft by examining the dramatic event cross-culturally. More than just a dictionary, this is a handbook for theatre practitioners and a guide for students and scholars of transcultural performance. Delving into the underlying principles of technique in both Occidental and Oriental traditions, A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology aims to expand our knowledge of the possibilities of the scenic body, and of the spectator's response to the dynamics of performance. The result of ten years' research, the dictionary is lvishly illustrated with photographic essays as well as drawings and diagrams. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Easy to understand
The book of Barba is an essential help for acting students, because it explains in easy ways difficult topics. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A Must Read For Those Entering the Theatre
I found this book to be extremely helpful when teaching churches how to adapt theatrical techniques to the church setting. It is also a unique handbook that breaks down the lingo and explains the need for a stage manager in a show. As a professional, I find it valuable to recommend to those who have never been in theatre or those learning to become a stage manager. Everything is concise and to the point without talking down to people. I highly recommend this book.

Introductory book on stage management
If you're thinking of becoming a stage manager-- "totally responsible for totally everything" as a trainee under Daniel A. Ionazzi put it--then I would strongly recommend THE STAGE MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK. This practical book is divided into four parts: pre-production, rehearsals, performance, and human behavior in organizations. At the end of each chapter within these sections are full-page reproductions of associated paperwork. For example, at the end of "Auditions" you will find a completed audition fact sheet, a completed audition selections form, and a sample audition information card. Blank forms can be found in the appendix. An examination of the paperwork alone lead me to a better appreciation of what a stage manager does.

The text is highly readable and gives the reader the feeling Ionazzi is peering over one's shoulder anticipating questions and making sure the reader does not overlook important details.

The layout of the book is conducive to notetaking. There is a three-inch margin on the left-hand side of each page where gray-boxed definitions of theater terms like "ghost light" and "cyclorama" pop up. The space in between the boxes can be used for notes.

Additionally, THE STAGE MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK includes a bibliography organized by subject area (Acting, Costumes, Directing, Lighting, etc.) and lists addresses and phone numbers for journals, directories, and unions. Ionazzi is employed as director of productions in UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and TV.

Highly recommended
I found this book to be full of wonderful ideas (too bad I had already learned most of them the hard way :-). This is a wonderful reference for the professional stage manager but can also be easily adapted for community or college theatre as well.

Good Starter Book
The Stage Managment Handbook is a great book for those who are new to the stage managment scene. However, those experienced in stage managment will probably not find this book very informative. So... if you're new and looking for a place to start, I wholeheartedly reccomend this book. If you are a backstage vet, then spend your money on something more advanced.

A great reference book!
I keep buying this book for friends who want to make Stage Management their career. It has great pointers,forms,glossaries and a complete look at what you are getting yourself into when you agree to stage manage even a community theatre production. It is cheaper than the Lawrence Stern book, which is also an EXCELLENT book. ... Read more

Book Description

HBO Films will present Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols from Tony Kushner_s own adaptation of his Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. The remarkable cast features Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Mary Louise Parker, Jeffrey Wright, Justin Kirk, Ben Shenkman, Patrick Wilson, James Cromwell, Michael Gambon and Simon Callow.

Angels in America is one of the most remarkable and celebrated plays of our time. Over 350,000 copies have been sold in paperback since their original publication in 1993.

Praise for the play:

"Angels in America is the broadest, deepest, most searching American play of our time."_Jack Kroll, Newsweek

"A vast, miraculous play . . . provocative, witty and deeply upsetting . . . a searching and radical rethinking of Ameri-can political drama."_Frank Rich, The New York Times

"Something rare, dangerous and harrowing_a roman candle hurled into a drawing room . . . "_Nicholas de Jongh, London Evening Standard

"Playful and profound, extravagantly theatrical and deeply spiritual, witty, and compassionate, furious and incredibly smart . . . It_s impossible to imagine anyone captivated by the beginning not wanting_needing_to go back for the end."_Linda Winer, Newsday

"An enormously impressive work of the imagination and intellect, a towering example of what theatre stretched to its full potential can achieve."_Clifford A. Ridley, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Perestroika is a masterpiece."_John Lahr, New Yorker

Reviews (35)

A College Student's Interpretation......
I began reading Tony Kushner's play, "Angels In America" a few days ago and I haven't been able to stop talking about it. At first, it seemed to be a typical emotionally draining type of play where I would become depressed just thinking that I needed to finish reading it. I have never been so wrong in my short lived life. This play kept me awake to all hours of the night because it captured my attention like no other piece of literature. It discusses almost every contraversial topic associated with the 1980's. Covering such "taboos" as homosexuality, AIDS, politics, racism, and religion. Not only did it cover all these topics in sufficient and extremely intellectual context it had other qualities that aided to its jaw-dropping dialogues. Almost every scene seemed to relate to the theme of the play in an abstract or symbolic way. Personally, I intend on seeing the play live and I recommend that everyone read both "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika". They each opened my eyes to the reality and pain behind the medical information that is always given about the disease. By reading and thinking about the play anyone can find a scene, character, or topic that relates to his or her life. This play is absolutely the best contemporary piece of literature that I ever had the pleasure to read.

I could not stop reading for a second! I loved the book.
Angels In America, Tony Kushner's two part play was an intriguing play to read. I could not put this book down. The graphic detail kept me turning page after page. This is one of the only authors who kept me intrested throughout the whole play. Tony's attention to detail gave incite to someone like me, who has no real idea of the trials that homosexuals, may incur, in dealing with day to day life. The characters, wether homosexual or hetrosexual, all struggled with the American way of life. Each and every character seems to be content in their own way of life, their dream if you will; however, once they come to terms with their sexuality, religion, or mental state, they realize that their perfect dream world has become a nightmare. Kushner does an amazing job keeping the reader enthralled with the lives of these characters. However, the choppy scenes and constant referal to the beginnning of the book began to confuse me. Overall, I believe that this book should be read by all because it is very informative about current issues in today's world such as AIDS, death, religion, and sexuality. Kushner's main issue that he is trying to portray to the reader is that everyone, at some point in time has a rise and a fall. The life lesson is learning how to pull yourself up again.

Important Read
I read this over the past few weeks--remembering the 1980's when the AIDS crises hit. This is an important book in that it chronicles the effects this disease has had and its impact on challanging, cultural questions. I also recommend the memoir by Barbara Rose Brooker: "God Doesn't Make Trash" and Shilts' "The Band Played On'. Both moving, both worth reading.

Well written, but...
This isn't a fair representation of the Reagan years. First off, it's a fact that Ethel Rosenberg was a communist. Like it or not, she, along with her husband, was a spy! They lied to the American public and they were a detrimant. Reviving Ethel Rosenberg like that was done quite tastelessly. Furthermore, it's a fact that Ronald Reagan has spent 5.7 billion dollars to help research AIDS! It isn't Reagan who helped spread the disease of AIDS it was unprotected sex. Ronald Reagan being a Republican-Conservative was used as a scapegoat in this play. I don't mind if this play is trying to spread a liberal agenda (the more power to you!), but I do mind that they do it in spite of a great President with lies.

Bound by the beauty
In this epic play, subtitled a Gay Fantasia on National Themes, we follow the lives of a small group of people struggling with AIDS, love, and the meaning of forgiveness. Prior Walter has AIDS, and his lover Louis leaves him because he cannot handle it. Prior is later visited by the Angel, who deems him a prophet, but of what? Louis meets Joe whose marriage is collapsing, and the two find solace in each other. Roy Cohn is one of the most powerful men in America, so he cannot have AIDS because that would be a sign of weakness. Instead, he has cancer. "Angels in America" is a fantastic meditation on love and politics in the beginning years of the AIDS crisis that still has relevance today with its message of greater love and acceptance. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (9)

Priceless.
If you are in any way associated with the works of Shakespeare - on stage, in the classroom, for fun, whatever - you have to have these two books. Let's face it, there are just some terms that defy all logic and explanation. The lexicons will solve it.

The layout is a bit grueling, but worth the payoff, especially for those in theatre without the benefit of extensive Shakespeare training.

Remains an excellent tool
I assign a higher rating to Schmidt's lexicon than to C.T. Onions's *Shakespeare Glossary* (which I have also reviewed) for the reason that, although both compendiums by now do show their age, Schmidt's two volumes (one of course needs N-Z with this one) are all in all in many ways more comprehensive and informative than Onions's single-volume work (even after its updating by Eagleson).

Readers of Shakespeare should NOT assume that if they use an unannotated edition (e.g. the Oxford Complete Works) they will understand everything they read if only they consult Schmidt or Onions or both. For one thing, many words in Shakespeare look intelligible from a modern viewpoint, but in fact had a different meaning in Shakespeare's day: an uninitiated reader will miss many such instances if s/he does not use good annotated editions by expert scholars, who provide glosses for well-considered and essential reasons. And I do not even dwell on the need to be aware of bawdy puns (see my review of Onions), or of other specific usages (e.g. legal terms), on which a good deal of new work has been done in recent years. Therefore, purchase of valuable volumes like these should be seen as SUPPLEMENTARY to the use of good, carefully annotated editions. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University, South Australia

The Next best thing to having the Bard next to you . . .
This is, simply, the essential, definitive guide to the Bards language. Almost every word in every Shakespearean play is here, and instead of having to guess what the meaning is in relation to the play, each word is listed by play and meaning in each heading. It can even be used for other lexiconic purposes is you're having trouble trying to figure out what Shaw means in one of his passages from "Saint Joan", or Ibsen in "when We Dead Awaken". Unless they suddenly discover a new play by shakespeare, this reference will never go out of date.

And hey, it's not called the "Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary (Vol. 2 N-Z)" for nothing, people. You're going to have to get the other one, but there's no real problem, because this is simply just the greatest lexicon ever for Shakespeare. Your search ends here if you ever need to understand the Bard words.

The Best, most useful guide to the language of the Bard ...
This is, simply, the essential, definitive guide to the Bards language. Almost every word in every Shakespearean play is here, and instead of having to guess what the meaning is in relation to the play, each word is listed by play and meaning in each heading. It can even be used for other lexiconic purposes is you're having trouble trying to figure out what Shaw means in one of his passages from "Saint Joan", or Ibsen in "when We Dead Awaken". Unless they suddenly discover a new play by shakespeare, this reference will never go out of date.

And hey, it's not called the "Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary (Vol. 1 A-M)" for nothing, people. You're going to have to get the other one, but there's no real problem, because this is simply just the greatest lexicon ever for Shakespeare. Your search ends here if you ever need to understand the Bard words.

Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary
I am a classical actress, English teacher, and Shakespeare scholar. This is the best text to use as an adjunct to whatever version of the play I'm working on (Arden's best.) It lists every word Shakespeare used; it's a must for actors who want to be very clear on what they're saying. ... Read more

Book Description

What steps are involved in making the jump from a script's text to an engaging imaginative stage? From Page to Stage explores the relationships between text analysis, imagination, and creation. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An excellent book for all designers
Rosemary Ingham really captured the fundamentals of what it takes in creating and collaberating a design. Her book is full of examples of sources of inspiration, forms of play analysis, commentary on the NEA, and transcripts of directors and designers communicating ideals. This is a wonderful book and it belongs on every designers shelf.

great for beginners
This book is a great help for me since this is my 1st year at theater stage design ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Four Ibsen plays constituting a marvelous case study
Henrik Ibsen's creation of "modern theater" makes him one of the most influential playwrights, along with William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett, in the history of drama. This unique collection of the four plays he wrote between 1879 and 1884 provides teachers of drama/literature with an opportunity to look at a major writer trying to develop his craft. Ibsen is concerned with social criticism and each of these plays reflects his change in perspective as he tries to write a drama that will be both socially relevant and commercially successful. You have to remember the time and place that considered it shocking for Nora to leave her husband or for Mrs. Alving to consider euthenasia for her son. By turning to "comedy" (of a sort) in "An Enemy of the People," Ibsen found a way of making his point in a manner more acceptable to his audiences. By looking at not only the plays but how each was received by the public, teachers/students can better appreciate what Ibsen was trying to do with each successive play.

For all four of these plays the notion of responsibility is primary. In "A Doll's House" Nora Helmer decides to leave her husband because he is unworthy of her love. In "Ghosts," Mrs. Alving has to decide whether she should give her diseased son poison as a mercy killing. In "An Enemy of the People," Dr. Stockmann decides to stay and fight to have the infected baths repaired even after the town ostracizes him. Finally, in "The Wild Duck" the idealist Gregers Werle comes home and destroys a family by insisting the truth be told. A classroom set of this particular volume is relatively inexpensive and provides an excellent case study of the growth of a major writer. Students do not often get the opportunity to read several works by the same writer. Shakespeare is the exception to this rule, but usually students are exposed to different types of plays (comedy, tragedy, history) rather than to a series of consecutively written plays.

realism in dramatic literature
henrik ibsen has perfected the realist movement in theatre. he has accomplished what so few have: to maintain the realistic effect, without succumbing to the tediousness of every day life. his plays ring true for the common man, yet not in a pedestrian manner that becomes boring. in my opinion, he far surpasses any other playwright in the realist movement, including chekhov.

Realism
So much in reading Ibsen depends upon the translation of these great works. These four plays of Ibsen's so-called "realistic period" revolve around social issues of his day which plague us 100 years later. Do we ever learn from such literary wake-up calls? Although the dramatic tensions here, which could have easily have been 20th Century tensions, rumble through these plays, the translations here are wordy and dated, thus making the plays sound overly melodramatic and at times downright silly. Still, everyone should read -- and discuss -- Ibsen's plays for their uneasy questions regarding universal social problems: money, privacy, freedom to act, government corruption, unchecked journalism, and the moral and physical diseases which only seem to wear a new face each year. ... Read more

Book Description

The classic novel--and hit Broadway show--about escaped convict Jean Valjean

has been adapted with easy-to-read text, large type, and short chapters. This

engaging adaptation of the timeless tale is ideal for reluctant readers and

kids not yet ready to tackle the original.

--This text refers to the paperback edition of this title ... Read more

Reviews (351)

A Definite Must Read
Les Miserables is one of the greatest novels of all time. It doesn't just have an intriguing story-it has a dozen intriguing stories! That's one of the great things about Les Miz--it has something for everyone. It starts out with the reformation of the saintly convict Valjean and his moral battle with the fanatical policeman, Inspector Javert, but the books picks up many more characters along the way. First comes Fantine, a down-on-her-luck single mother, and her sweet young daughter Cosette, later adopted by Valjean. There's the godlike young revolutionary leader Enjolras, and his quirky band of followers, Les Amis de l'ABC. The villain (contrary to popular belief) is not Inspector Javert, but a greedy con artist named Thenardier. Two other main characters are Thenardier's children, (thankfully nothing like himself) the snarky, golden-hearted street urchin Gavroche, and the lovelorn waif Eponine. And my personal favorite, "Baron" Marius Pontmercy, Cosette's brave-but-confused young suitor/stalker.

The novel is packed with everything a reader could ask for--suspense, drama, romance, action, and plenty of crazy twists and turns to keep you on your toes. In addition to being a moving work of fiction, it teaches a good lesson (well, several good lessons, actually). For example, Les Miz does a great job of showing how some "bad guys" are victims of society (Javert) and some are just natural scum-buckets (Thenardier). It also shows how people can get past the circumstances they were born into and become wonderful people (Gavroche). I could go on for hours, but you probably don't want that...

It teaches a lot of history as well. A lot of readers have complained about the long tangents, and I tend to agree on some points. I recommmend skipping "The Intestine of the Levithan" and just skimming the Waterloo section for first-time readers. However, there is a lot of info on nineteenth century France mixed right in with the plot. You get to learn about the severity of the justice system (Valjean), and how politics could divide families (Marius), and how tough life was for Gypsies (Javert). Not only that, but the Paris Uprising of 1832 was a real event, and most of the characters were based on real people. Valjean and Javert were both based on Inspector Vidocq, Marius was based on Victor Hugo himself, and Enjolras was based on the real leader of the uprising. Hugo really manages to bring the time alive for you.

In short, this is a great book all around. And I'm not just saying that because it's my Bible (hehe). The book isn't nearly as difficult to read as it looks. If you're like me, you'll get so into it that you won't even notice the length. I strongly recommend Les Miserables to every literate person out there.

Terrific Novel, Length of Book is Worth it!
Les Miserables introduces Jean Valjean a famous character in literature. This story takes you into Paris after the French Revolution and Lafayette's death, to the barricades of the uprising of 1832. It is the story of Jean Valjean who stole a loaf of bread which made him a convict. He escapes from prison to start a new life. Javert, the police inspector, who will never let Valjean go free. Fantine the prostitute who touched Valjean's heart and defined the word desperation. The Thenadiers, the amoral villians who with the other characters bring this book to its excellency. This story brings out the desire to escape the prisons of our own minds. This novel is best summed up in its title, Les Miserables, translated is "The Miserables".

Victor Hugo takes us into the Parisian underworld. He shows us the battle between good and evil. Hugo uses Les Miserables as a platform to criticize the French political and judicial systems. He probably did not expect this story to become an epic that has touched the heart for more than a hundred years.

Reading this novel gives a clearer picture of how the French government reacted to the common people. It inspires the hope of an age of rebirth and revolution. There are also many themes played out in this novel that capture your thoughts and emotions. The story battles between good and evil. Morality is also a theme that is used many times in this novel. This book is definitely an extravagant spectacle that dazzles the senses and touches the heart. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone with an interest in the French Revolutionary times or someone who just wants a story that displays human emotions like you have never read before.

The human race
This is a fabulous book. It's a tale about the human race that applies to all people, places, and time-periods that really touches your heart and makes you think. It's an incredible peice of literature. Read it!

the best
Skip the musical and the movies and read the real thing. Victor Hugo is my new literary hero. Yes, the book looks imposing and thick but it is well worth the effort. After reading many great novels, this one will always rank at the top. The Bishop has done for me in many ways what he did for Valjean. Follow this novel with one each from Balzac, Dumas and Flaubert to hang on to that French Romanticism. Hugo remains a philosophical genius.
This particular translation seemed a little flawed but it was very easy to read. The Wordsworth Classics edition is preferable due to superior translation and annotations. However, my copy only contained half the novel.

A Book that makes you think
Les Miserables is truly a fantastic book set in the Napoleon era in France. Ex-convict, Jean Valjean, goes through poverty, wealth, love, sadness, and happiness. He tried to forget his past and change himself for a new life while encountering a little girl, Cosette, who becomes like a daughter to him. This book relives the French setting of a person's life, whether it was a rich man or a poor man. It tells the story of many people's lives and how they all relate to every other character in the book. Les Miserables entangled me into the scenes through the sewers of Paris and the Battle of Waterloo because it sounded so real I felt as if I were there, running and fighting alongside of the men. This book also made me stop and think about what just happened because the people and events were all very conflicting. They match up at one point of the story. Victor Hugo really kept me into the book, except when some of the paragraphs went into so much detail it was tempting to just skip over it. But most of the time it was so exciting it made me want to skip the next few paragraphs to see what would happen. Though it took me awhile to read it, I couldn't stop reading and wondering what would happen next. ... Read more

Book Description

"A thoughtful, in places chilling, account of the way entertainment values have hollowed out American life." --The New York Times Book Review

From one of America's most original cultural critics and the author of Winchell, the story of how our bottomless appetite for novelty, gossip, glamour, and melodrama has turned everything of importance-from news and politics to religion and high culture-into one vast public entertainment.

Neal Gabler calls them "lifies," those blockbusters written in the medium of life that dominate the media and the national conversation for weeks, months, even years: the death of Princess Diana, the trial of O.J. Simpson, Kenneth Starr vs. William Jefferson Clinton.Real Life as Entertainment is hardly a new phenomenon, but the movies, and now the new information technologies, have so accelerated it that it is now the reigning popular art form.How this came to pass, and just what it means for our culture and our personal lives, is the subject of this witty, concerned, and sometimes eye-opening book. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Scratches the Surface
Neal Gabler merely scratches the surface as he describes the integration of media and entertainment into 20th Century culture, particularly 20th Century American culture. Gabler concedes at the outset that the book is diagnostic rather than prescriptive and he leaves few suggestions and little hope for a cure. The most disturbing part of the book is the final chapter, entitled The Mediated Self, in which he illustrates the degree to which many people have come to define their lives in terms of entertainment value.

Parts of the book are priceless. One should read it with a highlighter or a pencil and capture the more descriptive gems for future attribution. As an example, describing the propensity of '80's and '90's middle class Americans to videotape family events:

"Weddings, baby showers, bar mitzvahs . . . even surgeries, all of which had traditionally been undramatic, if occasionally unruly, affairs, were now frequently reconfigured as shows for the video camera complete with narratives and entertaining set pieces throughout. Sometimes a hastily edited version of the tape, complete with musical soundtrack and effects added to boost its entertainment value higher still, would be shown at the climax of the occasion as if the entire purpose of the celebration had really been to tape it."

One senses that Gabler, taking leads from Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Richard Schickel . . . even Andy Warhol, is on to something very big, if not overarching. Gabler deals with the subject in a mere 244 easily read pages, but I was left wanting more and feeling that the subject had been dealt with somewhat superficially. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who can stand to add to their level of cynicism.

Read it and you'll never see things the same way again!
This book is simply incredible. A more stimulating book I couldn't imagine! It's not that it told me so much I didn't know intuitively, but seeing it written so distinctly in black and white really hit home. This is one to read if you really want to get a sense of just how dramatically the world has changed. Neal Gabler, tells it like he sees it and has a lot of research to back up his views. I love that he doesn't make judgements or try to press an opinion on the reader. It's left up to you to decide how you feel about it all. I find myself thinking of points he brought up throught the day and seeing just what he meant by experiencing it in "real" life. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because I wish it was a bit MORE in-depth. It's so engaging that I can imagine an entire college course being made from this book. It is a book that's as entertaining as it is informative, and that's the whole point.

"When I Crashed the Car It Was Just Like a Movie!"
A good, often acid analysis of "entertainment state," Gabler's main thesis is that under the influence of the movies and the concomitant rise of the consumptionism, we have created an entertainment state where everyone is constantly considering how their performance is going -- which amounts to a new kind of discipline as Foucauldians might say. Further, these "roles" require props (material goods), which in turn supports the consumer society and the entertainment state at the expense of nearly everything else. To lay the basis for his theorectical claim, he cites the early 1960s thinking on the phenomenon of celebrity and the changes it has wrought in the American psyche. Here cites Boorstin's "The Image," and Riesman's "The Lonely Crowd." But he's not averse to cites postmodernists to serve his thesis, Umberto Eco, and Baudrillard come in for brief insights, too.

Some might say Gabler overstates his case. Have we really become so infused with "lifies" projected at us on a billion screens that we no longer know where we begin and where we end? Compared to the post-mods who can't resist hyperbole and grand gestures, though, he grounds his case historically, culturally and economically. Moving from a quick periodization of the rise of mass entertainment in the U.S. in conjunction with Jacksonian era during which elitist amusements were challanged and overthrown -- in 1849 29 b'hoys in NYC were killed during a riot where protested the English actor MacCready's reading of Shakepeare as a disparagement of the American style of Edwin Forrest -- he shows how entertainment has always been contested terrain. He also suggests that popular entertainment and diversion are as American as apple pie with supporting examples of the popularity of the political speech, the Great Awakenings, the Lyceum and Chatauqua.

Most chilling is his description of the two Americas: those who live behind the glass (TV) and those who don't, and how those who don't know that because they don't live behind the glass are lesser citizens. That people fight to obtain some type of stardom, or at the minor forms of celebrity, that CEOs now bestride the world like Hollywood stars of old, that brands now have personalities, are cited as evidence of celebritization of the world. The section of the dark side of celebrity-seeking -- e.g. Mark David Chapman, the Unabomber, and Arthur Bremer -- is effective in showing how these individuals' quest for celebrity was rewarded by the media in wall to wall coverage. The slippage of mainstream media into the gutter once occupied by the tabliods is also of related interest, though it cites the usual examples: e.g. Gary Hart, Monica, O.J.

Gabler's larger point is that all these "lifies" take up space in our collective consciousness, that they distract us, circumscribe our lives by setting norms, casting us in roles, and both limit and expand whom we might be and how we might behave: the affable talk show host, the news anchor, the family man, etc. These norms and role models now live behind the screen, he says. There is no "backstage" where we think our private thoughts and a "frontstage" where we interact with the world. It's all "frontstage." Observe an average Californian for awhile, he suggests. Steeped in movie and entertainment culture, they have no "backstage."

Gabler cites evidence that those who have ability to positively delude themselves, to "act" as if they are the center of our own postively scripted, headed- toward-a-happy-ending movie, do better in their lives and occupations. He notes that Prozac's popularity may be connected with this phenomenon. All in all a good, solid, and dare it be said, "entertaining" book.

Another flop of a Life
Remarkable and lamentable by what it manages to ignore this work
is more an example of what it tries to describe than an implement
for its understanting! That Gabler manages to write a book about
the spectacular engulfing of the everyday without engaging the
views of Guy Debord, Herbert Marcuse, Goddfrey Reggio, Georges Perec, Vince Packard or David Riesman is in itself a testemonial of how entertainment effectively compresses the depth of any analysis of its effects to a waffer thin prespective! What is advertised as revelatory soon is revealed as the author's emphatuation with his own subject. Wwept by the uncontainable wave of superficiality that he purports to denounce, Gabler is already a stand-in in the movie called Life, the delusion he
fully welcomes in his naive reconning...

Pillar to understanding society
Along with Paul Fussel's Class, these books are provocative views of modern society. Like "Class", Gabler doesn't really tell you anything that you don't really know but he does lay it out in a manner that I, at least, had never considered deeply. In doing so, he revealed a weakness that I recognize in myself and in much of the people in this society. Weakness? Gabler doesn't judge. He presents the case and steps back but there is some amount of consternation. How else can you view it? When a person's life becomes nothing more than fulfilling a part in the play? Is that good? Or is it the natural outcome of a society that finds itself more and more removed from the constraints of Mother Nature? ... Read more

Book Description

This new full color edition is significantly up-dated to new interviews with "old masters" and successful "divas" of the industry, up-dated safety tips, and additional insights into the business of scenic design. Expanded to include a new chapter dedicated to painting techniques, the book will now feature detailed step-by-step descriptions of common two-dimensional painting techniques. Wood graining, marble and stone, and brick painting are few examples of the new techniques to be covered.

*New interviews with "old masters" and successful "divas" of the industry
* Insights into the business of scenic design
* A new chapter dedicated to painting techniques and detailed step-by-step descriptions of common two-dimensional painting techniques ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Zurich inside Stoppard's own head
This is probably my favorite Stoppard play. Everything about it is raised to such a level of excellence that it's difficult to imagine how it can be surpassed.

Stoppard showcases his linguistic talents at their most dazzling and expects the reader to keep up intellectually. Not to sound daunting, but in order to enjoy "Travesties" properly, it helps to know some rudimentary German, French, and Russian; be well familiar with Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and James Joyce's "Ulysses"; and also to have a good factual knowledge of the Great War and the Great October Revolution. If you do not have this background knowledge, you risk missing out on most of Stoppard's witty insight and leaving the theatre/closing the book confused and disappointed.

The most important thing to remember about Travesties is that it is essentially Stoppard arguing with himself. This really shines through in his "derailed" scenes, where the characters have to abort a scene half-way through because it's obviously going in a wrong direction. Basically, it starts out with the characters being themselves, but as it progresses, one can see that they are simply two sides of Stoppard's own mind speaking to the audience through masks. And then it's as if the author remembers to keep his distance from the audience and steps back into the shadows. The effect is rather mystical; it's as if we are granted a brief glimpse beyond the fabric of what we take to be reality. What remains unclear is whether we are now looking into the "true" reality or yet another scene setting.

In short, buy the book, read it outloud, amuse yourself, alarm your neighbors.

Just plain genius!
This is one of my most favorite plays, and I was lucky enough to see it performed on stage. In 1917 Zurich, James Joyce, Tristan Tzara and VI Lenin are all converging on the movements that define their very careers later in life. The tale is narrated by Henry Carr, an actual historical figure, as an old man in 1972, who was with the three celebs as a young man, and his memory is a bit faulty! He once played Algernon in "The Importance of Being Earnest" which required him to buy some new trousers, and he insists that Joyce reimburse him. Thus starts a legal battle.

Travesties is a non-stop energetic creative retelling of history in its most fantastical setting. Read it, and if you ever get the opportunity, go see it!

Postmodern or just no historical perspective?
Zurich 1917, a marvellous subject. The meeting point of the Bolsheviks and other revolutionaries on one side, and of the new « revolutionary » artists, be they James Joyce and the stream of consciousness writers, or Tristan Tzara and the Dada movement.

The first interest of the play is to situate the dynamic of each revolutionary movement very well. Lenin is the figurehead of the revolutionary politicians, James Joyce and Tzara of the modern literature movements.

Then Stoppard makes them meet. In Zurich it is more or less an artificial meeting though they share most of their ideas (the files that are unknowingly exchanged at the beginning and exchanged back at the end show how identical their ideas are) and yet they have styles, general postures that make them unable to have a real dialogue.

Tom Stoppard goes even further by tracing along Lenin's positions on art. He shows the perfect contradiction contained - as Walt Whitman would say - by the man. On one side (Tolstoy), he understands that a work of art is a reflection (hence not a purely identical image) of social contradictions and therefore of society, and also a reflection of the contradictory artist (all artists contain contradictions) and his contradictory position in society (hence in the social contradictions of this society). On the other side, once in power, he condemns, at first, then wavers on the subject, Mayakovsky and the Futurist mocement, and definitely considers intellectuals as bourgeois individualists. But the artists of 1917 represent exactly a similar contradiction between the absolutely nihilistic approach of the Dada movement, and the mentally realistic movement represented by James Joyce. The former rejects all heritage. The latter rearranges the full heritage within a modern man's consciousness, hence within a revolutionary or disturbing consciousness.

The play is at times funny, at times realistic, at times dramatic, according to the points of view, but the essential one of these is the recollections two (minor) characters have of the period sixty years later. We are forced to accept that historical perspective : what it was then and what we can do of it now.

The conclusion of the play is typical perpetual movement, here perpetual syllogism : « Firstly, you're either a revolutionary or you're not, and if you're not you might as well be an artist as anything else. Secondly, if you can't be an artist, you might as well be a revolutionary... I forget the third thing. » Unfinished of course, like any historical achievement. History is always unfinished, in spite of Marx's dream of a contradiction-free communist society. This is the biggest sham of western philosophy ever dreamed of by a man of the amplitude and intensity of Karl Marx. You can be a genius but reality is more real than philosophy. The proof, as Marx liked to say, of the pudding is in my eating it. Full stop. Period.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Maddingly elusive comic genius
i spent over 2 months working as assistant director of this play and it took my the entire course of which to believe that i had understood all of the jokes. Of course i then went on to read more of Joyce and Wilde and the play took on whole new volumes of meaning. Its that complex. Another review advised to curl up with it for an afternoon...fun, perhaps, but not nearly as rewarding as it could be having done the background needed to get this play. "Halfway to Finland Station with V.I. Lenin" seriosly folks, how many of us would get that reference off the bat? still, diffilculty aside, this play is so amazing and funny that one can spend the entire time chuckling with only the most cursorary of readings/viewings. There is an absolutly fantastic scene done entirely in limerick form where Stoppard stretches his poetic legs (which prove to be quite well muscled). Acadamians and ignoramouses alike, READ IT! IT WILL BLOW YOU AWAY!

A clever splicing of numerous noted works
Tom Stoppard was clearly showing off when he wrote "Travasties". In his research he cleverly discovered that V.I. Lenin, James Joyce (then young and in the midst of writing Ulysses), and Tristan Tzara, one of the leaders of the dadist movement, were living in Zurich simultaneously. Teamed up with Gwendolen and Cecily, two characters from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Ernest", and Henry Carr, a former member of the British Counsular Service, Stoppard wrote a theoretical account of their interactions in 1917. The result is "Travasties", a wildly intelligent and humorous play.

The play is set in the faulty memory of Henry Carr as he reminices about his experiences in Zurich (yes, he was there too) during "The Great War". As it was, Henry Carr, a non-fictional historical figure, played the role of Algernon in "The Importance of Being Ernest" in a play company owned by James Joyce. When James Joyce refused to reimburse Carr for the few hundred pounds he spent on his trousers in his overzealous attempt to "become" Algernon, a lawsuit ensued, which Joyce ultimately won. Indeed, Joyce indeed attained total victory by writing Carr into Ulysses as a drunken soldier. So, as one might imagine, the play is full of small stabs at James Joyce, namely by the elder Carr (at present during the play it is 1972).

The integration of Lenin and his wife, as well as Cecily, Gwendolen and Tzara, is fantastic and extremely immaginative, and the experience would, no doubt, be enhanced by first reading all of the works alluded to in the play.

Despite Tom Stoppard's obvious attempt to promote his own genius in "Travasties", the outcome is so fantastic, so interesting, and so, honestly, funny, that all is forgiven. Travasties is 71 pages long, and a reasonably quick read... spend one afternoon curled up with it, see it if you can, and muse over the connections (but not too loudly with the "aha!"s) you find... and I hate to end a review so blandly, but enjoy. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Michael Chekhov, nephew to the Russian playwright and student of Stanislavski, left Russia and his mentor behind to pursue a career as an actor, director, and teacher in Europe and America. While he was an early advocate of Stanislavski, Chekhov differed from the great teacher in important respects, particularly in his insistence on the use of imagination as opposed to memory in creating a role. (In a famous anecdote, Chekhov once performed a "sense memory" exercise in which he broke down over the tragic death of his aunt. When complimented on the truthfulness of his emotion, he admitted that his "aunt" was entirely imaginary.) One of Chekhov's innovations of technique is the "psychological gesture," in which a repeated external action leads to an internal revelation. Due to his insistence on the importance of the physical rather than the simply intellectual, Chekhov's book is as focused on following its series of exercises as it is in study; acting, he would remind us, is always fundamentally a verb. For actors who feel "hemmed in" by an overinsistence on "feeling" a part or in drawing from their own experiences to feed a role, Chekhov's focus on the primal and limitless nature of imagination is tremendously liberating. --John Longenbaugh ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Imaginitive Realm
It would be interesting to read this book alongside Mamet's "True and False." Chekov's passion for creation and exploration through the imagination, set against Mamet's scorn of invention on the part of the actor. Mamet dismisses the idea that character exists and that an actor can "become" the character. Chekov meditated in order to try and commune with the spirit of the character.

Two very different approaches.

In spite of the practical application of Chekov's ideas, there is a childlike hunger here for the imaginitive and mysterious that I feel is critical for any artist. We can appreciate that Chekov defied Stanislavski in search of something of his own, and here is perhaps the most interesting point: Chekov's method was deeply personal. He created his own approaches, and took bold risks in doing so. I most enjoyed the descriptions that his book has of how Chekov would create his own characters.

That any artist could throw themselves into their work with such interest and abandon is thrilling.

Stresses the fantastic and imaginative!
Again my mantra about acting books remains . . .

Reading an acting book must be taken inside the context of personal experience of either production or an acting class.

I value Checkov for the simple reason that, although he often comes across as nebulous and abstract, he stresses the fantastic and imaginative elements of acting.

Escewing working from the emotional inside out Checkov, a veteran of the Moscow Art Theatre, stresses finding the character through imaginative excercises that first engage the external elements of the actor's instrument namely in the creation of fantasy atmospheres and communion with the audience.

Building upon Jung's theories of the Universal Archetype, I find Checkov's bit about the psychological gesture and "living statues" most helpful in teaching, acting and directing.

In a professional world where gut wrenching, self absorbed displays of therepy induced emotion passes for true acting, I find Checkov's teachings most helpful in inspiring the true reasons many find themselves drawn to the stage: the wonder and excitement of telling an imaginative story. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Reads for the stage--still hysterical
Being a huge "Talent Family" fan, I was excited to see that they had joined forces and written a play. I can understand that if you are used to reading David's books, this might be a different read for some individuals. I was asked by a local theatre producer to search for some new material for possible productions for a season, so that's why I checked it out. I found it hysterical--of course, I was looking at it from a staging point of view. The fact that it is only 50 (+/-) pages makes it "perfect" for a short play--meaning it would run right around an hour to an hour and a half. I guess if you read plays on a regular basis, you will find it enjoyable like I did. If you're used to reading novels or short stories (especially the ones that David is famous for), and play reading isn't your cup or tea, it might not be as entertaining to you. But, you could do much, much worse for your money. I rate it highly.

Laughed so hard I cried
I also saw this play performed and thought it was the funniest live theater I've ever seen. Though I agree that when reading a play you lose a lot (the energy of the performers and the audience reactions) I still think this one is worth having in your collection if you are a fan of either Sedaris.

Apparently I'm the only one who SAW the play
I have read all the luke-warm reviews this book has gotten. The only thing I can say is that if you're a fan of Amy's you'll love it. If you're more of a David fan, you might be dissapointed. I saw the play in New York during its run, and laughed so hard I cried. Sure, Amy did the buck-tooth Jerri Blank bit, but seeing as how I LOVE Jerri, I LOVED the play. Jackie Hoffman (currently in "Hairspray" on Broadway) and David Rakoff (read "Fraud" if you like David's books) were absolutely wonderful. I was lucky enough to meet Amy after the play, and buy one of her cupcakes. She was delightful. Reading plays (or screenplays for that matter) has never really interested me. Unless you've seen the play or movie, it just isn't quite the same. But I will treasure this book as a permanent reminder of the wonderful week I spent in NY, the highlight of which was "The Book of Liz." And Amy, if you ever read these things, thank you for the awesome time.

Better onstage? (potential spoiler)
From the moment you know the main character is a sweaty nun (well, sort of) who makes unique cheeseballs, well, come on! What do *YOU* think is gonna happen?

There are some Sedaresque observational turns that are worthwhile: AA members staffing an IHOP equivalent, an all-too-short interlude with a Mr. Peanut-wearing couple from Eastern Europe...

Perhaps onstage, with the aid of a talented comic to interlace these tidbits with some kind of physical running gag, well, it would all be worth it.

But I guess it really isn't.

Wacky fun!!
As with some of the other reviewers, I pre-ordered THE BOOK OF LIZ quite a long time ago and was somewhat surprised by how short and insubstantial it is (although at that price, I shouldn't have been surprised). However, I was ultimately satisfied with my purchase. The play chronicles a very sweaty and naive Squeamish sister (an obvious play on the Amish) who decides to leave her job making cheeseballs and venture out into the real world. No, I'm not kidding! It should be noted that the play lists Amy Sedaris as the first author, and it definitely reflects her humor more than David's humor. It's kind of a tame variation of her show, "Strangers With Candy." The play is different and fun, and it gave me a few chuckles. Not bad for such