781 posts
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Post by latefortheoverture on Apr 5, 2020 23:07:53 GMT
Hope everyone and their families are safe, and taking extra care.
This is my first time back on the boards since the 'lockdown'/shutdown of the west end. It's a strange one. I am getting through it, but won't lie I am finding it quite challenging. I have been really down. I think a big part of it is just interacting with friends and people. Yes I can call them, but theres hardly much to talk about, and I find I get a bit more down when I realise I can't see them, only via phones and FaceTime. I'm trying to stay positive for my family, but it's taking it's toll on everyone. Hopefully come mid-summer a little bit of normality is returned.
I have found that I am spending less time on my phone and computer, favouring to read instead. I don't know why, but I haven't read this much in years, and I am really loving it.
I have *no* stagey related books. I would love to read some stagey books to try and satisfy a tiny part of my craving for theatre!
I'd love to know if you have read, and could recommend any stagey related novels or non-fiction. Would be great to read about something I love!
Stay safe, stay home. Each day is one day closer to the end of all this mess, and before too long we'll be back in them amazing places we love and be feeling so much joy, a theatre.
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362 posts
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Post by JJShaw on Apr 5, 2020 23:50:06 GMT
The Untold Stories of Broadway are really good and I believe the first volume is for free on e-readers right now, along with the author doing "live read a longs" to the chapters! It anecdotes in chronological order about every single Broadway theatre, from ushers to actors to house managers, there's three volumes out so far and they're quite hefty so you won't run out of material in a hurry. If hearing about the history of Broadway is interesting to you (and of course they dip into shows that are universal, I have just finished The Gershwin Theatre and there were stories about the original productions of Sweeney Todd, Wicked, and Starlight Express) I would highly recommend looking into them.
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Post by bordeaux on Apr 6, 2020 8:28:42 GMT
My favourite stage reads are all National Theatre-related. The diaries of Richard Eyre (under whose regime I saw loads) and Peter Hall (whose time I came in at the end of) are both fascinating and juicy. Nick Hytner's account of his time there is also a great read, full of brilliant anecdotes and observations. For something bigger try The National Theatre Story by Daniel Rosenthal (900 pages or so, but gripping) and his Dramatic Exchanges: Letters of the National Theatre.
I'd love Trevor Nunn to be using his lockdown to write his autobiography.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2020 8:47:40 GMT
My favourite is the classic Anthony Sher Year of the King. I never saw that famous production of Richard iii, but feels like I did because I loved the book.
If you like ballet, there's a fabulous autobiography I'd forgotten about by Richard Collins, who went off to Moscow for a while in the... 70s? - it's called Behind the Bolshoi Curtain and is a really good read.
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Post by crowblack on Apr 6, 2020 8:56:43 GMT
The Orton Diaries, published very posthumously in the 80s, are a great read, though with the warning that he is 'problematic' (he'd be in prison now for what he does in Tangiers, and he acknowledges that himself). The Alan Bennett-scripted film 'Pr**k Up Your Ears' was adapted from them. I'm currently reading Simon Callow's biography of Charles Laughton, and found that some of the screen tests and clips he mentions are now up on Youtube, while the Dirk Bogarde-presented documentary on the unfinished 1930s I, Claudius is included as an extra in the BBC box set of the 1970s I, Claudius.
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Post by TallPaul on Apr 6, 2020 9:05:48 GMT
I've been spending some of my extra free time by reading Unmasked, Andrew Lloyd Webber's memoir, which I have no hesitation in recommending.
It's a weighty tome, at 500 pages, but it's written in bite-size chunks, so is very easy to read.
Although long out of print, I'm going to order a second-hand copy of Tim Rice's autobiography, Oh What a Circus, to get the other side of that part of the story.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2020 9:31:00 GMT
A few years ago when I was going through a stressful period and couldn't really concentrate I found Alan Bennett's diaries really helpful - they are self-contained and there is no plot to try to follow, but at the same time well-written, interesting and witty. The older ones are also fascinating to see what events that are now history looked like at the time.
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Post by BoOverall on Apr 6, 2020 10:24:34 GMT
I’ve just re-read the marvellous “A Year with the Producers” by Jeffrey Denman: one of the original cast of The Producers and Leo Bloom/Frank Leibkind understudy.
It charts his account from being in the final cast of Cats to auditions for The Producers, the pre-Broadway tryout, rehearsals, perspective as an understudy, Broadway opening night etc...A very readable style of writing, fascinating insights and a real joy of a book.
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Post by itsemily on Apr 6, 2020 12:15:21 GMT
My favourite stagey book is 'Skating the Starlight Express' by Michal Fraley - read it several times now! Really interesting insight into the skating of Starlight Express as well as the musical itself!
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Post by xanady on Apr 6, 2020 13:42:49 GMT
My favourite is Olivier’s Confessions Of An Actor
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Post by justfran on Apr 6, 2020 14:00:49 GMT
West End Producer has a couple of books - one about acting and one about going to the theatre, both very funny lighthearted books.
Unmasked by ALW as mentioned above is a really interesting read.
One of my favourite novels is The Understudy by David Nicholls and I’ve just read today that this is going to be adapted into a radio play. It’s well worth a read, humorous and well written, definitely a recommendation for anyone interested in theatre.
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848 posts
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Post by duncan on Apr 6, 2020 20:04:38 GMT
Not Since Carrie is an entertaining look at Broadway musicals that flopped badly.
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2,859 posts
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Post by couldileaveyou on Apr 6, 2020 20:16:21 GMT
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Post by bingomatic on Apr 6, 2020 21:31:30 GMT
For some reason I find myself looking for humour in my reading.
Toast on Toast.
An actor not quite reaching the dizzy heights he deserves.....
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848 posts
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Post by duncan on Apr 7, 2020 11:42:05 GMT
For some reason I find myself looking for humour in my reading. Toast on Toast. An actor not quite reaching the dizzy heights he deserves..... Michael Ball contains a lot of blood. |
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1,127 posts
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Apr 7, 2020 15:35:23 GMT
‘Covering McKellan’ is delightfully bitchy.
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Post by paplazaroo on Apr 7, 2020 17:06:00 GMT
I'd definitely recommend Song of Spiderman, a brilliant look into what went wrong with that doomed project
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240 posts
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Post by wicked on Apr 7, 2020 22:53:30 GMT
Felicia Ricci's 'Unnaturally Green' is a great read for any Wicked fans- she talks about her auditions, rehearsal process and life as the Elphaba standby.
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Post by Forrest on Apr 9, 2020 8:27:01 GMT
I'm not sure if this is the kind of thing you are after latefortheoverture, but I am currently reading Katie Mitchell's 'The Director's Craft', and that is one absolutely fantastic piece of stagey read! (For me, it's a completely magical glimpse into the world of theatre making, although I do believe it's very Mitchell-specific. I'm not sure all directors are quite as meticulous to the same degree that she is.) |
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Post by theatreliker on Apr 13, 2020 15:46:57 GMT
I'm reading Moss Hart's Act One at the moment and enjoying it hugely.
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529 posts
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Post by ruby on Apr 13, 2020 15:51:07 GMT
One of my favourite novels is The Understudy by David Nicholls and I’ve just read today that this is going to be adapted into a radio play. It’s well worth a read, humorous and well written, definitely a recommendation for anyone interested in theatre. Thanks for the recommendation, I'm really enjoying this. I read another one of his books a few years ago and really didn't like it so it's a pleasant surprise. Edited to add: I've just remembered I have nothing against David Nicholls, it was David Mitchell's books I didn't like! That's it, cognitive decline now I've hit 40... |
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Post by lynette on Apr 13, 2020 17:33:02 GMT
Just finished “Balancing Acts’ by Nicholas Hytner - One or two anecdotes but tbh I found it to be a list of shows in no particular order with a few generalised paragraphs of padding on how he thinks things should be done. He says he doesn’t keep a diary so had to ask a lot of people and use Rosenthal’s book for material. Missed opportunity.
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Post by justfran on Apr 13, 2020 21:24:14 GMT
One of my favourite novels is The Understudy by David Nicholls and I’ve just read today that this is going to be adapted into a radio play. It’s well worth a read, humorous and well written, definitely a recommendation for anyone interested in theatre. Thanks for the recommendation, I'm really enjoying this. I read another one of his books a few years ago and really didn't like it so it's a pleasant surprise. Edited to add: I've just remembered I have nothing against David Nicholls, it was David Mitchell's books I didn't like! That's it, cognitive decline now I've hit 40... Glad you are enjoying it, it still makes me laugh when I’ve re-read it a couple of times. His other books (not theatre related) are all great too. |
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