I just finished Arthur Laurents' book "Mainly on Directing" tonight, and it was a fantastic read.
Forget that the man talks more trash in the first four pages than I have in my entire life; the real reason to read the book is because he has a great take on what makes musicals work and subsequently what makes them fail.
What I appreciated more than anything was his emphasis on how important it is for musical directors to respect the text that they're working with, and to explore the text as much so as if they were doing a play.
Over and over again in the book, he emphasizes that a good musical has to have strong singing and dancing, but that a great musical has to have acting behind it as well. To have a legend like Arthur Laurents write that strong acting is what he feels is lacking in most musicals today felt very vindicating to me.
So often I've heard people put acting at the bottom of the totem pole.
"If you can sing and dance; acting is a bonus."
If you read "Mainly on Directing," Laurents argues that without acting and true performance becoming a priority, a production will always stall at becoming the great show it could be--and he argues the point well.
The book's pretty slim, but it gives you a lot to think about, as well as practical advice about directing.
Oh, and the gossip ain't too bad either...
Forget that the man talks more trash in the first four pages than I have in my entire life; the real reason to read the book is because he has a great take on what makes musicals work and subsequently what makes them fail.
What I appreciated more than anything was his emphasis on how important it is for musical directors to respect the text that they're working with, and to explore the text as much so as if they were doing a play.
Over and over again in the book, he emphasizes that a good musical has to have strong singing and dancing, but that a great musical has to have acting behind it as well. To have a legend like Arthur Laurents write that strong acting is what he feels is lacking in most musicals today felt very vindicating to me.
So often I've heard people put acting at the bottom of the totem pole.
"If you can sing and dance; acting is a bonus."
If you read "Mainly on Directing," Laurents argues that without acting and true performance becoming a priority, a production will always stall at becoming the great show it could be--and he argues the point well.
The book's pretty slim, but it gives you a lot to think about, as well as practical advice about directing.
Oh, and the gossip ain't too bad either...
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