The Alchemy of Theatre: The Divine Science: Essays on Theatre and the Art of Collaboration (Applause Books) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1557836981 ISBN 13: 9781557836984

Publisher: Applause, 2006

Synopsis

The editor of Playbill's At This Theatre and founding editor of the new Playbill Broadway Yearbook offers a collection of 26 essays on theatre by the top professionals in their fields. Includes contributions by two recently departed leading lights: playwright Wendy Wasserstein and songwriter Cy Coleman. Also, featured are Chita Rivera and Edward Albee; costume designer William Ivey Long; set designer Robin Wagner, and director and choreographer Susan Stroman.

About this title

About the Author:

ROBERT VIAGAS is a New York theatre journalist and author. He is the editor of the new 21st-century edition of At This Theatre (1-55783-566-7'), 'founding editor of the new annual Playbill Broadway Yearbook (1-55783-682-5); and co-author of The Amazing Story of The Fantasticks. He currently serves as Program Director of Playbill Broadcast, and Editor of Playbill Books. He lives in Mamaroneck, New York.

From Publishers Weekly:

Like a typical Broadway season, this collection of essays on the various crafts of the theater trade is intermittently brilliant, self-serving and tedious. The central conceit of having directors, performers and various backstage wizards discuss the fine art of professional collaboration is a clever one that would seem to promise a generous helping of diva sagas and in-house backbiting. Instead, too many contributors take the concept as an excuse to name-check a relatively small group of favorite artists to work with, giving the proceedings the air of an extremely long Tony Awards ceremony. Thankfully, this collection is stocked with contributions from so many luminaries that there is still a bounty of excellent material, such as Edward Albee's cranky-sounding statement, "No one collaborates with me on a play." Cy Colman, the legendary late composer, provides one of the longest and most entertaining segments, waxing candidly about his sometimes volatile songwriting partnerships and the often difficult realities of bringing a show to the stage. Despite the book's choppiness, old-timers like Colman lend a poignant consistency with their elegies for a more dynamic, less focus-tested Broadway that they agree, sadly, has probably passed for good. (Nov.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Applause
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1557836981
• ISBN 13: 9781557836984
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Viagas Robert