What do you think?
Rate this book
From Assassins to West Side Story: The Director's Guide to Musical Theatre
Musicals are the most popular form of theatre around. While straight plays struggle to survive on Broadway, musicals play to near capacity houses. They are also a favorite of school and community groups. In this smart and practical guide, New Line Theatre artistic director Scott Miller looks at twenty musicals from a director's point of view, with solid suggestions for anyone thinking of embarking on such a production. Includes discussions of Gypsy, Assassins, Into the Woods, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story, as well as many others.
Visit Scott's company's website at newlinetheatre.com
Visit Scott's company's website at newlinetheatre.com
242 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 1996
2 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Scott Miller
43 books17 followersScott Miller is the founder and artistic director of New Line Theatre, an alternative musical theatre company he established in 1991 in St. Louis, at the vanguard of a new wave of nonprofit musical theatre being born across the country during the early 1990s, offering an alternative to the commercial musical theatre of New York and Broadway tours. He has been working in musical theatre since 1978 and has been directing musicals since 1981. He has written the book, music, and lyrics for ten musicals and two plays. His play Head Games has enjoyed runs in St. Louis, Los Angeles, London, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland; and his musical, Johnny Appleweed, was nominated for four Kevin Kline Awards. He has written more than a dozen books about musical theatre, including The ABCs of Broadway Musicals series. He has also written chapters for several other collections of musical theatre essays, and pieces for several national theatre magazines and websites, and he has composed music for television and radio. For fifteen years, he co-hosted "Break a Leg - Theatre in St. Louis and Beyond," a weekly theatre talk show on KDHX-FM in St. Louis, and now he hosts the theatre podcast Stage Grok, available on iTunes. Miller holds a degree in music and musical theatre from Harvard University, and in 2014, the St. Louis Theater Circle awarded Miller a special award for his body of work in the musical theatre.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 10, 2017
Insightful and Interesting
Much more than an extended set of liner notes Scott Miller does a wonderful job of laying out the structure and meaning of some 16 Broadway plays. Each of the essays can be read independently of each other. Miller covers the role of music brilliantly (the final essay on West Side Story is a tour de force in this regard) showing hiliting the use of styles and repeated themes contribute to the build of drama. He supplies alternate interpretations that have been used with different productions and offers helpful hints as to staging and casting.
Assassins... is heavily but not exclusively loaded with Sondheim's work and for me it was a mix of plays that I've seen and not seen. "Into the Woods" (seen) is a difficult play to understand on first reading or viewing and Miller clarifies the relationships and motivations of each of the players and now I'd like to see it again. Merrily We Roll Along (not seen) plays its scenes in a reverse time order so lines like: "Mary is my deepest, closet friend in all the world. We go a long way back. (But never forward.) " have a delicious sense of foreshadowing - or is it preshadowing. In the essay on Pippin (seen) we learn new ways to break the fourth wall and an appreciation of the role of Katherine and a sense of different visions of director Bob Fosse and Roger Hirson who wrote the book.
The only weak spot I found was the essay on Carousel (seen) with I found prefunctory. The dissection (sic) of Sweeney Todd (not seen) cut to the heart of its portrayal of moral inversion, yet Miller shows how one can make an unlikeable character likeable (J. Pierpont Finch in How to Succeed in Business (seen)- use "the Smile" frugally) or John Wilkes Booth in Assassins (not seen)..
Its a good book and Miller has several others along the same line. Recommended for anyone interested in musical theatre and if your school or local libray doesn't have a collection of Miller's books you should should urge your librarian to purchase a set.
Much more than an extended set of liner notes Scott Miller does a wonderful job of laying out the structure and meaning of some 16 Broadway plays. Each of the essays can be read independently of each other. Miller covers the role of music brilliantly (the final essay on West Side Story is a tour de force in this regard) showing hiliting the use of styles and repeated themes contribute to the build of drama. He supplies alternate interpretations that have been used with different productions and offers helpful hints as to staging and casting.
Assassins... is heavily but not exclusively loaded with Sondheim's work and for me it was a mix of plays that I've seen and not seen. "Into the Woods" (seen) is a difficult play to understand on first reading or viewing and Miller clarifies the relationships and motivations of each of the players and now I'd like to see it again. Merrily We Roll Along (not seen) plays its scenes in a reverse time order so lines like: "Mary is my deepest, closet friend in all the world. We go a long way back. (But never forward.) " have a delicious sense of foreshadowing - or is it preshadowing. In the essay on Pippin (seen) we learn new ways to break the fourth wall and an appreciation of the role of Katherine and a sense of different visions of director Bob Fosse and Roger Hirson who wrote the book.
The only weak spot I found was the essay on Carousel (seen) with I found prefunctory. The dissection (sic) of Sweeney Todd (not seen) cut to the heart of its portrayal of moral inversion, yet Miller shows how one can make an unlikeable character likeable (J. Pierpont Finch in How to Succeed in Business (seen)- use "the Smile" frugally) or John Wilkes Booth in Assassins (not seen)..
Its a good book and Miller has several others along the same line. Recommended for anyone interested in musical theatre and if your school or local libray doesn't have a collection of Miller's books you should should urge your librarian to purchase a set.
February 13, 2013
"If music be the Food of love, play on." I have long maintained that if life were perfect, it would be a musical. All would sing in harmony, and we would even all be able to dance! This collection, however, by director Scott Miller demonstrates that even if life is not perfect, it is aided greatly when seen as a musical. In this work he presents 16 musicals from different time periods, and examines them in depth.
The dimensions he adds to each of these shows by his analysis makes a reader want to apologize to all the English teachers who were abused when they insisted on examining closely any work of literature for the symbolism and the hidden meanings. Director Miller opens many new worlds in each of these musicals by his analysis. I also found myself decrying never having taken a course in music appreciation or music theory. He amply demonstrates the values of such discipline when he compares the librettos with the actual musical notation accompanying them.
This book is excellent reading and guidance --- and even inspiration -- for the new or aspiring director of any musical production.
His selections of musicals are also praiseworthy. He avoids, for the most part, the traditional boy-meets-girl, and happy-ever-after endings common to so many musicals. Instead, he has chosen musicals which challenge the intellect, as well as the depth of a performer's ability. Musicals such as Assassins by Sondheim and Weidman, which on its surface appear to celebrate the anarchists of society. He also includes inspiring works such as Man of La Mancha and Les Miserables.
He examines these works from all angles. He listens carefully to the music -- the instrumental parts as well as the songs to be sung, and sees how they are interwoven with the dialogue. He catalogs the unspoken and unsung moments for how they are designed to convey emotions and images. He notes for the reader the valid and important distinctions between songs designed to carry the plot, and songs sung for the sake of singing, and the impact each may have on the audience and on the story to be told.
Always a fan of the Theatre, and especially of Musical Theatre, this book still manages to inspire and instill new ideas in how productions are to be viewed and produced and staged and even just listened to, when all that is available is the soundtrack. I recommend this heartily to anyone who wishes to consider the production of a musical. His advice is not only insightful and thoughtful, but also mindful of the legal obligations and implications of production decisions.
The dimensions he adds to each of these shows by his analysis makes a reader want to apologize to all the English teachers who were abused when they insisted on examining closely any work of literature for the symbolism and the hidden meanings. Director Miller opens many new worlds in each of these musicals by his analysis. I also found myself decrying never having taken a course in music appreciation or music theory. He amply demonstrates the values of such discipline when he compares the librettos with the actual musical notation accompanying them.
This book is excellent reading and guidance --- and even inspiration -- for the new or aspiring director of any musical production.
His selections of musicals are also praiseworthy. He avoids, for the most part, the traditional boy-meets-girl, and happy-ever-after endings common to so many musicals. Instead, he has chosen musicals which challenge the intellect, as well as the depth of a performer's ability. Musicals such as Assassins by Sondheim and Weidman, which on its surface appear to celebrate the anarchists of society. He also includes inspiring works such as Man of La Mancha and Les Miserables.
He examines these works from all angles. He listens carefully to the music -- the instrumental parts as well as the songs to be sung, and sees how they are interwoven with the dialogue. He catalogs the unspoken and unsung moments for how they are designed to convey emotions and images. He notes for the reader the valid and important distinctions between songs designed to carry the plot, and songs sung for the sake of singing, and the impact each may have on the audience and on the story to be told.
Always a fan of the Theatre, and especially of Musical Theatre, this book still manages to inspire and instill new ideas in how productions are to be viewed and produced and staged and even just listened to, when all that is available is the soundtrack. I recommend this heartily to anyone who wishes to consider the production of a musical. His advice is not only insightful and thoughtful, but also mindful of the legal obligations and implications of production decisions.
Read
July 31, 2011A fascinating book about what makes musicals tick. From the tritone present in almost every song in West Side Story to the very grown-up themes in Into the Woods, this book is a must for anyone interested in working in the theatre. Not only does it give you backgrounds on how the shows were created, it dissects all of them (not to the level that author Scott Miller has the potential to, of course) just enough to make you want to read more on the synthesis of these musicals. It makes each of the musicals written about more interesting to watch, listen to, and read.
Read
December 30, 2010I know some people say this is a hot button book and the author is a St. Louis director who is quite controversial. He does seem to think his thoughts are the be all end all of musical theatre, but for me they are a great jumping off point and he talks about some of my favorite shows. And the shows are of a very broad range.
August 11, 2017
A wee bit dated at this point, twenty years on, but a varied collection that still represents some of the best of the best. Miller can't always decide if he wants to analyse the music or not, but he makes some interesting points and draws your attention to the important things.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews