Cheap Strike Up the Band: A New History of Musical Theatre Discount Review Shop
Available at Amazon
Cheap "Strike Up the Band: A New History of Musical Theatre" Discount Review Shop
Most popular books. Book Recommendations and Book Reviews by book clubs nationwide with book excerpts and reading group guides.
Available at Amazon
Cheap "Strike Up the Band: A New History of Musical Theatre" Discount Review Shop
An amazing theatre textbook. It covered a wide range and was set up chronologically rather than by culture, which made more sense to me than any other theatre history text I've used. It also covered cultures and types of theatre that I had never heard of before, rather than focusing on Western cultures. The writing style was approachable and held my interest easily. There were many photos, drawings, and diagrams, which all served to augment the reading.
I highly recommend it. Especially because it is an entertaining textbook while still being vastly informative.
Available at Amazon
Cheap "Theatre Histories: An Introduction" Discount Review Shop
As an intro book, this has all the right ingredients to capture the imagination of those who are new to the mechanics of theater. With illustrations, photographs, and easy-to-understand text, this book has it all. It explains everything from 'flying fish and dying villains' to Aristotle's three unities to where to get your broadway tickets... For the greenhorns to theater, this book will definitely kick-start your imagination. A great book.
There are some sections (such as that of the Guthrie Theater) which need to be updated, but they will definitely cover that in the next edition.
Who doesn't love illustration and photographs!? This book has a lot!
If you are a serious theatre management student or professional, this is the first book you need to have on your shelf. It is the definitive "Go To" book for all things related to managing theaters and shows, at all levels of the industry.
For example, box office operations and advertising are just as important to Broadway theaters as they are to school and community theaters. The dimensions are different of course - a million dollars a week for the pros, or a thousand dollars a week for schools and communities. But those dollars are equally critical for the economic health of each venue and producing organization. As a result, the book's discussion of box office operations is very relevant to all venues and organizations.
However, just because various performing arts have many things in common, does not mean that solutions to their various concerns are freely interchangeable. Thus, Conte has chapters that focus on the various performance levels - commercial, non-profit theaters, and so on. Within special chapters, the problems and challenges of each type of operation are reviewed in detail.
Conte has a down-to-earth approach to arts production, borne from years of hands-on management experience. Conte says that, in spite of the numerous examples he provides, this is not a "how-to" book. I respectfully disagree. There is so much information contained in this book that any theater manager or producer can learn and use methods and means to accomplish almost any managerial objective. To get a start at achieving anything, the resource to begin with is Theatre Management. As an academic resource, Theatre Management is a veritable encyclopedia of all theatre management.
I purchased Plays for the Theatre at Amazon for a fraction of the cost of the bookstore price. Although it took longer for the shipment to arrive, it was worth the wait. This book was exactly what I needed for my 6-week class and I still use it to read the classic plays.