No Legs No Jokes No Chance

Traces the American musical from its rich beginnings in European opera. This book talks about the infancy of the musical - the revues, operettas, and early musical comedies, as well as the groundbreaking shows like "Oklahoma!" and "Show Boat", with references to how history, literature, fashion, popular music and movies influenced musical theater.

For Surveys of Musical Theater, Music Appreciation courses and Popular Culture Surveys. This unique historical survey illustrates the interaction of multiple artistic and dramatic considerations with an overview of the development of numerous popular musical theater genres. This introduction provides more than a history of musical theater, it studies the music within the shows to provide an understanding of the contributions of musical theater composers as clearly as the artistry of musical theater lyricists and librettists. The familiarity of the musical helps students understand how music functions in a song and a show, while giving them the vocabulary to discuss their perceptions.

In her spirited, witty and vastly entertaining memoir, Helene Hanff recalls her ingenuous attempts to crash Broadway in the early forties as one of “the other 999.” Naive, nearsighted, frequently penniless but hopelessly stagestruck, she found her life governed by Flanagan’s Law: “No matter what happens to you, it’s unexpected.” Therefore, as a prize-winning Theatre Guild protégée with a brilliant future, Helene naturally found that all the producers who were going to produce her plays didn’t, and all the agents who were going to sell her plays couldn’t. Together with her best friend Maxine, an aspiring actress consigned to playing the comedy-ingénue in plays that regularly folded after five performances, she cultivated the “delicate, illegal art of getting everything for nothing”—from free seats to every Broadway show and neighborhood movie and borrowed outfits from Saks to voice lessons for Maxine and Greek lessons for Helene. To keep body and soul together until Broadway fame arrived, they devised an economic survival system that embraced such unlikely jobs as taking street-corner. Reviews — “Miss Hanff, having a good memory and a lively sense of humor, has composed a theater sketch that is realistic as well as hilarious....One of the most amusing recent theater books about the Broadway theater.”—Brooks Atkinson “A delightful book by an irrepressible author....What really lifts the book to a high level of entertainment is the sparkling humor. To describe the incidents wouldn’t do justice to the book’s charm which comes from the style of writing and Miss Hanff’s boundless optimism.”—Library Journal “A gay and entertaining book which also has substance.”—Boston Herald “Hilarious and highly successful. If you need cheering up, this is it. Here’s hoping Miss Hanff finds more failures to write books about.”—Columbus Dispatch

In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook—the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies—and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews. An acclaimed poet, editor, and cultural critic, David Lehman hears America singing—with a Yiddish accent. He guides us through America in the golden age of song, when “Embraceable You,” “White Christmas,” “Easter Parade,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” “My Romance,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Stormy Weather,” and countless others became nothing less than the American sound track. The stories behind these songs, the shows from which many of them came, and the shows from which many of them came, and the composers and lyricists who wrote them give voice to a specifically American saga of love, longing, assimilation, and transformation. Lehman’s analytical skills, wit, and exuberance infuse this book with an energy and a tone like no other: at once sharply observant, personally searching, and attuned to the songs that all of us love. He helps us understand how natural it should be that Wizard of Oz composer Harold Arlen was the son of a cantor who incorporated “Over the Rainbow” into his Sabbath liturgy, and why Cole Porter—the rare non-Jew in this pantheon of musicians who wrote these classic songs shaped America even as America was shaping them. (Part of the Jewish Encounter series)

Now in its 3nd edition, we've expanded this book's size by a third with more great quotes! The Audience Book of Theater Quotations is a lifelong labor of love by Professor Phillips. If you have anything to do with the theater, buy this book. "I've been fortunate to spend many an afternoon with author Louis Phillips, sharing his insightful appreciation of movies, plays and poetry. Luck has come your way! Here you have it: Theatre treasures from A to Z. You pick the time (lots or little) and let Louis be your tour guide into this wondrous chronicle. "The Audience Book of Theatre Quotations" commemorates recitals both malicious and hilarious. You won't be able to resist prolonged applause and a standing ovation!" --Richard D. Pepperman; Film editor, teacher, and author of The Eye is Quicker Film Editing: Making a Good Film Better; Setting Up Your Scenes: The Inner Workings of Great Films; Film School: How to Watch DVDs and Learn Everything About Filmmaking "There are so many great quotes, it is a fascinating read." --William E. Cooper, Reader Views "... this book will inspire the inner theatre lover in us all." --Vianna Renaud, TCM Reviews “You read through The Audience Book of Theatre Quotes and it's like taking a trip through theatre-time superimposed on your own personal life-in-the-theatre time. Quotes from the likes of Dorothy Parker, Laurence Olivier, David Mamet, Hume Cronyn, Robert Benchley, Ben Hecht, Basil Rathbone and hundreds of others, always intriguing, mostly funny, sometimes filled with almost scriptural vision/insight. A book to be read slowly, maybe a page a day, either when you first get up or before you go to bed, letting the wisdom/humor either seep through your whole day, or ease you through your dreams.” –-Hugh Fox, professor, author of numerous books, poet, critic, playwright