Nutcracker
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Great for ALL ages!
  • Not suitable for young children
  • Nutcracker Lover
  • A book they will remember
  • Fascinating, for every season
Nutcracker
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 051755285X
Release Date: 1984-09-13

Book Description

"A classic, new and complete. One of the ten best illustrated children's books of the year."
-- New York Times Book Review

The tale of Nutcracker, written by E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1816, has fascinated and inspired artists, composers, and audiences for almost two hundred years. It has retained its freshness because it appeals to the sense of wonder we all share.

Maurice Sendak designed brilliant sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Christmas production of Nutcracker and created even more magnificent pictures especially for this book. He joined with the eminent translator Ralph Manheim to produce this illustrated edition of Hoffmann's wonderful tale, destined to become a classic for all ages.

The world of Nutcracker is a world of pleasures. Maurice Sendak's art illuminates the delights of Hoffmann's story in this rich and tantalizing treasure.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Great for ALL ages!.......2006-12-30

When I was a child I had this book , as well as two audio tape versions of the story. ( one read by Claire Bloom, the other by Christopher Plummer, both are great!) If you go to see the ballet without knowing the backstory it doesn't make much sense.
I also totally disagree that the book ( and the audio versions for that matter) are only good for older children and adults. While the language may be more complex than some story books there is no reason why a young child can't understand it. If parents expose their children to more sophisticated language then they learn it. Toomany books, cds, tv shows etc... talk down to children! If a child is never exposed to language then they can't learn it. My mother and father never talked down or baby talked to me, and exposed me to a wide variety of books, when I was 2 I said "I presume...." in answer to a question my mother asked me. LOL :-)
Just a though.

2 out of 5 stars Not suitable for young children.......2005-12-27

My daughter loves the Nutcracker ballet and I thought it would be good for her to know the full story behind it (I had never heard it myself). The previous reviews and comments on the beautiful illustrations led me to believe this would be a great choice for my 5 year old daughter.

The illustrations are very similar in style to those in Where the Wild Things Are. If you don't like that book, you won't like the illustrations in this one. Also be aware that this is NOT a picture book. There is a very high ratio of text to illustrations.
I also feel the text is inappropriate for young children. The actual story is very dark and the language, while beautiful, is above the vocabulary and experience of most young children. ( "These intrepid and magnificently uniformed troops, consisting of gardeners, Tyroleans, Tunguses, barbers, harlequins, cupids, lions, and tigers, and monkeys, fought with coolness, courage, and perseverance. With their Spartan bravery, this elite regiment would have wrested the victory from the enemy, had not a daring mouse captain leaped into the fray and bitten the head off one of the Chinese emperors, who in falling crushed two Tunguses and a monkey." p32)

I WOULD recommend this book for older children.

5 out of 5 stars Nutcracker Lover.......2005-10-02

Excellent book and an all time favorite for Christmas or any time...............The needed companion for the ballet !

5 out of 5 stars A book they will remember.......2004-09-23

This book is beautiful! I received the first edition as a Christmas gift as a child. I cherished it, reading it over and over again. Sendak's illustrations and Hoffman's engaging story are still vivid in my memory. I bought two copies of this re-issue, one for my 3-year-old son and one for my 4-year-old niece. This is what all children's books should aspire to. A wonderful gift for any child.

5 out of 5 stars Fascinating, for every season.......1997-06-10

This book was a gift to my family when I was a child - I loved it then, and enjoy it more every time I re-read. The story is more than just the plot for a ballet. There is a lot of background, description, and insight included, and they do a lot to make the book fantastic. What elevates this work to magnificent is the artwork done by Sendak. It is lush, detailed, and beautiful. I can't say enough about the quality of this book, and urge everyone to find their own copy. This is not just a Christmas story, but a wonderful parable for every season
Broadway Babies: The People Who Made the American Musical
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Broadway Babies: The People Who Made the American Musical
    Ethan Mordden
    Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0195054253

    Book Description

    Vividly recreating the unique pleasure of experiencing a song-and-dance show, Broadway Babies spotlights the men and women who made a difference in the development of American musical comedy. Mordden's account features such show people as Florenz Ziegfeld, Harold Prince, Bert Lahr, Gwen Verdon, Angela Lansbury, Victor Herbert, Liza Minnelli, and Stephen Sondheim, and such musicals as Sally, Oh Kay!, Anything Goes, Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Follies, Chicago, and countless others. While theatrical historians traditionally have emphasized the role of the authors of musicals, Mordden also examines the personal styles of the directors, choreographers, and producers, in order to demonstrate not only what the musical became but what it was. The volume includes an extensive discography--the first of its kind--which offers a virtually self-contained history of recorded show music.
    The Crawdaddy! Book: Writings (and Images) from the Magazine of Rock
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Great Compilation of the Original Rock Magazine!
    • Long-overdue tribute to the first rock journal
    The Crawdaddy! Book: Writings (and Images) from the Magazine of Rock
    Paul Williams
    Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0634029584

    Book Description

    When 17-year-old Paul Williams began publishing Crawdaddy! magazine in 1966, just as the American counterculture was poised to explode, the world was only beginning to take rock music as seriously as the intelligencia took folk and jazz. Preceding both Rolling Stone and Creem, Crawdaddy! has gone down in history as the pioneer of rock journalism, and was the training ground for many rock writers who would later become stars in their own right. Now, Paul Williams has gathered the best of Crawdaddy! into a revealing anthology that captures a fascinating historical moment when Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, the Grateful Dead and Buffalo Springfield were unknown and as yet unheard, and inspired writers were struggling to find the language with which to describe this new, vital music. Peter Guralnick, Ralph Gleason, Richard Farina, Jon Landau, Samuel R. Delany and Richard Meltzer are just a few of the later-day luminaries who cut their teeth writing for Crawdaddy! and who are showcased in this stunning collection. Featuring essays and notes by Williams and over 25 photos, The Crawdaddy! Book is a must for anyone who loves the spirit of Rock 'n' Roll. Paul Williams is the author of more than 25 books, of which the best-known are Outlaw Blues, Das Energi and Bob Dylan, Performing Artist, the acclaimed three-part series. He is a world-renowned scholar and leading authority on the works of musicians Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson and Neil Young, and science fiction writers Philip K. Dick and Theodore Sturgeon. His most recent book is The 20th Century's Greatest Hits (A "Top 40" List) (Forge/St. Martins, 2000). Williams currently lives in San Diego, California.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Great Compilation of the Original Rock Magazine!.......2003-06-17

    Paul Williams is one of originators of serious writing about the whole rock music scene. This is a great collection of his early pieces from the original Crawdaddy magazine, which was his brainchild. In addition, check out his other writings. He remains an enthusiastic observer/participant of music and pop culture.

    5 out of 5 stars Long-overdue tribute to the first rock journal.......2002-09-28

    Excerpts and recollections from the first 19 issues (February 1966-October 1968) of Crawdaddy!, the first magazine of serious rock music coverage and criticism. This was the period when rock & roll was transforming into rock, when new groups and sounds were a weekly happening, and the rock album was asserting its place in the market. It is fascinating to read the articles, reviews, and interviews by some of rock music's future premier writers such as editor/publisher Paul Williams, Jon Landau, Richard Meltzer, and Ed Ward, and to relive the history of the music in the reprinted news items and record release notices. Fans of rock history and pop music journalism will enjoy this long-overdue celebration of the orgin of the form.
    Dave at Night
    Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    • Easy Race Relations
    • One of my favorites.............
    • Dave at Night
    • Excellent!
    • Dave at Night Book Review
    Dave at Night
    Gail Carson Levine
    Manufacturer: Listening Library
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Audio Cassette

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    ASIN: 0807282456
    Release Date: 2000-06-06

    Amazon.com

    "Gideon the Genius" and "Dave the Daredevil," their father called them: two Jewish boys growing up in 1920s New York, playing stickball and--in Dave's case--getting into trouble. But when their father dies, Dave finds himself separated from his older brother and thrust into the cold halls of the HHB, the Hebrew Home for Boys (which he later dubs the "Hopeless House of Beggars" and the "Hell Hole for Brats," among other things).

    Eager to escape the strict rules, constant bullying, and tasteless gruel of the orphanage, the Daredevil hops the wall one night to explore the streets of Harlem. He hears what he thinks is someone--or something?--laughing, but traces the sound to a late-night trumpeter shuffling backward into a wild "rent party." And just as quickly as he'd found himself stuck in the HHB, Dave is immersed in yet another world--the swinging salons and speakeasies of the Harlem Renaissance. Cramped, crazy parties packed with the likes of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen give Dave refuge from life at the orphanage and awaken his artistic bent. And Dave's new friends, among them a grandfatherly "gonif" ("somebody who fools people out of their money") and a young "colored" heiress who takes a shine to him, help turn things around for him at the HHB.

    The skilled Gail Carson Levine, Newbery Medal-winning author of Ella Enchanted, clearly tells this tale from her heart, as the story is based on her own father's childhood spent in the real-life HOA (Hebrew Orphan Asylum). (Ages 8 to 12) --Paul Hughes

    Book Description

    approx. 6 hours
    4 cassettes

    It was the last place anyone should have called Home, the last place for kids to live --

    The year is 1926. Dave's beloved father is dead and his stepmother doesn't want him. Only the HHB will take him in--Hebrew Home for Boys -- Hell Hold for Brats. But Dave is tough and a troublemaker. He can take care of himself. If he doesn't like the Home, he'll run away and find a better place. Only it's not that simple...

    Customer Reviews:

    3 out of 5 stars Easy Race Relations.......2007-07-04

    Dave is eleven when his father dies, leaving him with his brother and their stepmother. Their stepmother insists she can't handle raising the boys, so their uncle agrees to take Dave's quiet and smart older brother. Nobody steps forward to take Dave, though, so he is sent to live at the Hebrew Home for Boys, an orphanage.

    Dave is devastated about being in the home, and things don't go smoothly for him there. A bully sits next to him at meals and eats half of his food. Instead of teaching, his teacher simply lectures about what a chore it is to try to teach orphans. And the headmaster of the school steals a carving done by Dave's father and then beats Dave when confronted about it.

    One night shortly after arriving, Dave leaves the home after lights-out and explores the city. He stumbles upon an amazing party where he meets Solly, a strange fortune-telling man who tells everyone Dave is his grandson. Dave also meets Irma Lee, a beautiful black girl about his age. She seems as enthralled by him as he is by her.

    As the weeks pass, Dave comes up with a plan to run away from the home. The only problem is that he is starting to like it there. He likes the boys his own age, who stick up for each other and are better than family. He likes his art teacher, who recognizes that he has real talent. And Dave even has a plan for taking care of the bullies at meals. Will he stay after all?

    Solly's character was great; he had such interesting reactions to Dave and great interactions with the people at the parties. Dave's buddies at the home were also good characters. I liked that they were able to make a kind of new family and support system for themselves.

    I don't know if it was realistic for whites and blacks during this time period to mix as easily as they did in this book. This story seemed to indicate that there was no animosity between the races and everyone would be accepted in Harlem. I found that hard to believe.

    5 out of 5 stars One of my favorites....................2007-03-26

    This is one of my favorite books! I enjoyed it alot, to be compleetly honest with you at times it was a little boring but then the excitment would come and everything would show up.Like hey now that makes cense.This book is one that you can not belive that a story so big of greatness could be in a small book.Dave at night is not just a children's story it is for everyone.I got hurt when dave got hurt, when Dave cried i cried inside, when he fights i feel like punching the one he is fighting.Oh yes you are more into this book than tv shows that are just so good get you into their story.You are,almost Dave in Dave at night you are like his soul.This is an incredible story.
    DAVE AT NIGHT

    I am if woundering not Melanie Litzinger i am Carly Litzinger age:11!

    4 out of 5 stars Dave at Night.......2006-10-25

    This book is about an orphane named Dave. His father had fallen of a roof and died. When he came home from school he was in dinile. His step-mom Ida had every one come to their house after the funeral. Well while they were all there she desided that she could care for Dave and his brother. But no one wanted to take Dave because he was to loud. The boys' uncle took Daves brother with him when he left. So Ida Deicide that DAve was going to live in an orphange. Before his brother left he gave Dave a carving that their father had made. But when he got to the room and looked in his suitcase it wasn't there. Well it turns out that the owner of the HHB,the Hebrew Home for Boys, took the carving.
    Thats when dave deiced that when he got the carving back he was going to leave. The first night he was at the HHB he snuck out to a park and met Solly. They became friends and went to rent parties. So after the first party Dave went back to the HHB. And every night after that he stuck out and met up with Solly and his "girlfriend" Irma Lee. But he still wanted to get the carving before he laft so he went back to there every night till he can get the statue. If I tell anymore I'm going to ruin it so You'll have to read it and find out.



    This was an awesome book I thought. If you like it you wont be able to put it down till tour done.

    5 out of 5 stars Excellent!.......2006-09-07

    When Dave's father dies, he is sent to the cold, gritty orphanage 'The Harlem Home For Boys' (the HBB). Levine tells her tale with warmth and humor, and creates a memorable and well developed cast of characters. Dave is an engaging hero who will linger in the memory of the reader.

    5 out of 5 stars Dave at Night Book Review.......2006-03-08

    DAVE AT NIGHT


    Dave at night is about a young boy named Dave. He is living with his Dad, step mom and brother in an apartment in England. His Dad dies unexpectedly when he falls off of a ladder. His step mom can't support the family so Dave's brother had to live with his uncle and Dave has to go live at the Hebrew Home for Boys (HHB for short). There with a couple hundred other boys, he is given little food and a meager education. He is an orphan now but some of the other boy's parents visit sometimes and bring food to them. Dave brings a boat that was carved by his Dad with him to the HHB and Mr. Bloom of the HHB steals it. Dave sneaks out one night and meets a man by the name of Solly who takes Dave to a party. There he meets a young African American girl by the name of Irma Lee. They become instant friends and Irma invites Dave and Solly to her mom's party. Dave sneaks back into HHB and is caught. He is beat and sent to classes once more. Solly comes to HHB and says he is Dave's grandfather. They go to Irma's party and have a good time. When Dave gets back to the HHB, he and his buddies plan to steal the boat that Mr. Bloom stole. When Mr. Bloom leaves his office, Dave sneaks in and gets the boat. As he is leaving Mr. Bloom comes in and catches him. Dave is about to be in serious trouble when Irma Lee's mom, Mrs. Packard saves the day. She catches Mr. Name and gets him fired. The HHB gets better food, better teachers and a new furnace. In the end, Dave is happy.
    Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte (New York Review Books Classics)
    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
    • Fourth rate
    • Interesting Book, Shameful Presentation
    • Third-rate at best.
    Memoirs of Lorenzo Da Ponte (New York Review Books Classics)
    Lorenzo Da Ponte
    Manufacturer: NYRB Classics
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0940322358
    Release Date: 2000-05-31

    Amazon.com

    "It was as though Providence had willed that I should ever, all my life long, keep falling into the hands of knaves," writes Lorenzo da Ponte. Certainly, this remarkable narrative documents a life beset by a vicious world, but also one of insuppressible energy. Da Ponte is known for his librettos to three Mozart masterpieces: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. He wrote much else for the opera company of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna (until his enemies got him dismissed), going on to be a bookseller in London, a grocer in New York, a general-store owner in Pennsylvania, and, finally, a professor of Italian at Columbia University. His life, stretching from 1749 to 1838, practically defines the term "picaresque."

    Don't expect a trustworthy account, though. One reason to write memoirs is to tell your side of the story, and Da Ponte spends a lot of time settling scores. As a businessman, he's involved with a procession of false friends, who sink him with debts and slanders. At the Italian Opera in London, on the way to being forced out of another position, he juggles the egos of two rapacious divas: "The Lord help you if Morichelli gets a better reception in Martini's opera than I do in mine!" says one. His philosophy grows bitter--"I trusted in him blindly and was, as usual, barbarously tricked by him"--yet he always has another idea for making cash and, in later years, spreading the gospel of Italian literature in the New World.

    Da Ponte doesn't interrupt his tale to ask probing questions. The most important period, his association with Mozart, passes with disappointing brevity. Though he salutes the composer's genius, he offers no insights into Mozart's personality or their collaboration. Da Ponte was busy at the time, however. He says he wrote Don Giovanni simultaneously with two other librettos: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, one at night.

    This annotated version is a little short on notes. Da Ponte's many phrases in Latin and the untranslated Italian expressions could use some commentary. The notes do inform us when the author is mixing up his facts, which is fairly often. The 1929 translation by Elisabeth Abbott, blending 18th-century elegance with 20th-century crispness, has previously been available only in an expensive hardcover edition. This paperback is part of the New York Review of Books Classics imprint, an invaluable series that republishes worthy but hard-to-get titles. Da Ponte's book fills the bill admirably. --David Olivenbaum

    Book Description

    Plot and counterplot lie at the heart of Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and The Marriage of Figaro, the three brilliant libretti that Lorenzo Da Ponte prepared for Mozart. They were also central to Da Ponte's own extraordinary life. His Memoirs record a fantastic variety of romantic, political, and professional intrigues, and tell of meetings with a host of remarkable men. In a life that took him from the canals of Venice to the streets of New York, Da Ponte was at different times priest, professional gambler, proprietor of a bordello, political agitator, court poet, impresario, grocery store owner, and the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia University. His Memoirs, a minor classic of Italian literature, are the picaresque and engrossing story of a man of enormous talent and unsurpassed flair who was, above all, an indefatigable survivor.

    "I shall speak of things . . . so singular in their oddity as in some manner to instruct, or at least entertain, without wearying." —Lorenzo da Ponte

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Fourth rate.......2007-09-22

    I trawled my way through this book as I usually like to start what I finish, but, my, it was hard going. The first half particularly is basically a lot of score settling which comes across as being so irrelevant especially now two centuries later. Half the time, my mind wandered and I just found the whole thing difficult to follow. Da Ponte seems full of self-pity and perhaps a justified sense of victimhood. Anyone would think he was a failure!

    3 out of 5 stars Interesting Book, Shameful Presentation.......2003-12-27

    Da Ponte's Memoirs are a worthy, if eccentric, addition to the NYRB catalog, but the NYRB provides almost no help in situating it. This translation first appeared, I believe, in 1929 and has been available in recent years from both Dover and Da Capo. One, (or was it both?), carried an excellent preface by the distinguished scholar of the Renaissance, Thomas Bergin. NYRB does not republish Bergin. It does republish the original 1929 introduction (by Arthur Livingston, once a teacher of Italian at Columbia) but with no hint of its provenance and, so far as I can discern, no mention of the date (the biblio page gives you a hint when it mentions a "renewal copyright" dated 1957). There is also an LC entry identifying "Livingston, Arthur, 1883-" but I doubt very much that Livingston was still alive when NYRB published in 2000. There is a preface by the distinguished music-scholar Charles Rosen, but it is beneath him: a slapdash affair that does little aside from assuring us that Italian olive oil is now available everywhere in America.

    Aside from these matters of production - the text itself is absorbing and instructive if you understand what you are getting. Da Ponte's only real claim to fame is, of course, that he is the librettist of Mozart's three great comic operas. Da Ponte cheerily declares that Mozart was the greatest composer of his time - perhaps the greatest ever - yet he gives this greatest of all composers perhaps a half dozen pages out of the entire 472-page text, less than any of a dozen other drifters and dreamers or down-market impresarios whom he met along the way.

    Rather than reading it as a work of music criticism, you can take it as a loose-jointed adventure story, in the tradition of Casanova (Da Ponte claims him as a friend) or Benvenuto Cellini. A perhaps more interesting comparison would be to Stendhal's "Charterhouse of Parma": readers who are scandalized that Da Ponte gives such short shrift to Mozart will recall that Stendhal's hero trekked all unknowing through the Battle of Waterloo. I suppose it is just possible that Stendhal read Da Ponte: I have no idea whether he did in fact. But it doesn't matter; the comparison adds a gratifying resonance anyway.

    Moreover, even if this book is not remotely useful as direct criticism of Mozart, I think it does cast the great libretti in a new light: you come to understand the schemers and seducers of the Mozart operas were not a mere nonce creation: they accompanied Da Ponte throughout the whole of his long and rumbustious life. "I trusted them and they betrayed me..." would be a pretty good title for the whole. You can certainly tire of his preening, his score-settling his tale-telling. Indeed you come pretty quickly to realize that not 100 percent of it can possibly true. How much, then? 80 percent? 50? 20? Of course I have no idea: maybe 50 will do as a guess. But I don't think that matters either. Recall what Goethe said about Livy: yes, they are just stories, but they are good stories. At the end, I think you can give Da Ponte credit for his most (nearly) disinterested passion: his desire to spread Italian culture to the Anglo-Saxon world. In this light, we can greet him on his own terms: se non e vero, e ben trovato.

    Four stars for the book, one for the presentation. Compromise on three.

    2 out of 5 stars Third-rate at best........2000-08-17

    The best thing about this book is the preface by Charles Rosen. The rest it hugely disappointing. It is amazing how a poet can be so non-descriptive! How can any writer has been friends with both Mozart and Casanova and yet have nothing to say about them? One gets no sense of what life was like during the end of the 18th century at all. Even Da Ponte's own thoughts and motives do not come across. All that is left are petty political games at an assortment of different opera houses. Da Ponte's story is less amusing than the description of a single flirtation in the truly interesting and picaresque memoirs of his friend Casanova.
    The Dog Who Sang at the Opera
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • Kudos for The Dog Who Sang at the Opera
    • It Ain't Over til the Wolfhound Sings
    • Simply Wonderful
    The Dog Who Sang at the Opera
    Marshall Izen , and Jim West
    Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    5. Polly and the Piano Polly and the Piano

    ASIN: 0810949288

    Book Description

    The true story of a dog who outsang a diva at the Metropolitan Opera!

    When Pasha, a vain wolfhound, gets a role at the opera house, she loves the limelight so much that she looks down her nose at Sluggo, a mutt clown dog. Lost in fantasies of herself as the true queen of the opera, Pasha begins to sing on stage! Reprimanded behind the scenes, Pasha finds that her only fans are Sluggo-and the newspaper that makes her, finally, the star she's always believed her-self to be.

    Inspired by a true story from New York City's Metropolitan Opera, this enchanting book will appeal to dog lovers, opera lovers, and anyone with a sense of humor. It includes the original New York Times article and a letter from Renée Fleming, the prima donna who was upstaged by a pooch-but turned out to be a dog lover who thought the singing canine had given her a run for her money! AUTHOR BIO: Jim West and Marshall Izen are highly regarded puppeteers who were performing in the opera Manon when the incident that inspired this book took place. Jim continues to travel extensively, performing for children. Erika Oller is well known through her books with Lesléa Newman and her popular line of gift items featuring happy, rotund ladies.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Kudos for The Dog Who Sang at the Opera.......2006-07-30

    This is a great story with beautiful illustrations. Funny, charming, and entertaining for both children and adults. I bought this book for my 73 year old father who has a love of the opera and dogs. He loved it!

    5 out of 5 stars It Ain't Over til the Wolfhound Sings.......2006-02-16

    Smug, self-centered, perhaps even spoiled wolfhound "Pasha" is a supercilious Russian Wolfhound bred in Europe, who proclaims herself "une reine" (a queen) and looks "down her long Russian nose" at Sluggo, a cheerful "mix"--all scruffy American cheer--who looks past Pasha's haughty comparisons. "'You're a mutt,' barked Pasha." "'But it's fun being related to lots of different kinds of dogs,' answered Sluggo."

    The narrative is particularly well written, with lots of dialogue, characterization, humor, and tension. Illustrator Erika Oller turns in a veritable tour de force, with illustrations that somehow capture the grandeur and sweep of an opera house. Her washes and shadings, contrasted with directional and suffused light, convey the almost mystical aura of live theater. Packed with scenery and singers, Ms. Oller shows that the stage is full of excitement, commotion, and even a little confusion.

    In a way, the dogs become symbolic of class and racial differences, of royal Europe and upstart America. The reader may notice that the two dogs' class and "breeding" distinctions find a match in the performers' costumes. Pasha identifies so much with the woman singing of her royal pedigree ("Everyone looks at me because I am beautiful. My beauty makes me a queen.") that she begins to sing. Her howls (and I quote: "Wa-hoo, woo-hooo... Wa-hoo-woo-hooo-woo...") elicit giggles from the audience and she is pulled rather un-royally off the stage. There's your headline about wanted and unwanted attention!

    Pasha is dejected. However, Sluggo, a canine equivalent of the archetypal James Cagney figure, reassures her. Comforted, Pasha resumes her royal stance and deigns to say, "Spasibo..." "It's Russian for 'thank you. " Nonplussed Sluggo gets into his 1930's everyman (everydog?) vernacular: "You're welcome', answered Sluggo. "That's English for 'anytime.'" Pasha and Sluggo become friends, although Pasha retains some of her canine-centric ways about her. In yet another amazing Oller picture, Pasha lies listening--all dreamy-eyed--to Metropolitan Opera House broadcasts. "And as she listens, she remembers what a beautiful voice Manon had...for a human."

    West and Izen base their book on a truer-than -usual event that occurred on September 26, 1997. The authors were onstage as puppeteers during a Metropolitan Opera House staging of "Manon," and a dog really did begin to howl during the festival scene. "The Dog Who Sang at the Opera" closes with a newspaper article describing "Passion's" interruption of diva Renee Fleming, in which she is quoted as saying "I told the director, `it's the dog or me,'" and stating whether she couldn't decide whether this was the most humiliating or complimentary experience of the opera. Life imitates art! Fortunately, there is a letter (dated October 17, 1997) from Ms. Fleming printed on the penultimate page, in which she explains that not only was her "dog or me" proclamation said tongue in cheek, but that she is a dog lover from way back. "I thought Passion's high notes were at least as good--or perhaps even better--than mine." (Still, I had to love the seemingly imperious attitude of the opera, for there on the very last page of credits and other details is a legal disclaimer: "This book is not authorized, sponsored, or endorsed by the Metropolitan Opera.") This is a wonderfully told story, with a few quietly embedded lessons, and all of it glistens with the emotion and atmosphere of Ms. Oller's watercolors. Very highly recommended for all kids around elementary school age.

    5 out of 5 stars Simply Wonderful.......2005-12-01

    This book is magic. The story is charming and the illustrations are stunning. I have given the book to all my nephews and nieces and they love it.
    Five Performing Arts (New York Review Books Collections)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Five Performing Arts (New York Review Books Collections)

      Manufacturer: New York Review Books
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

      GeneralGeneral | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
      Performing ArtsPerforming Arts | Entertainment | Subjects | Books | Dance | Magic & Illusion | Theater
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      ASIN: 1590171314
      Release Date: 2005-01-31

      Book Description

      Does an opera producer do anything besides tell the singers where to stand? Can a single note be played more or less beautifully on the piano? In these essays, five of our most accomplished artists and critics explore questions of technique and interpretation in the performing arts.

      Tom Stoppard considers ways of controlling how an audience gets information while watching a play, and Charles Rosen reflects on the very physical relationship between the musician and the instrument. Jonathan Miller describes ways of restoring dramatic motivation to some of our best-loved operas. Garry Wills argues that the collaborative and commercial pressures of filmmaking have produced some of our greatest cinematic achievements, and Geoffrey O'Brien looks at how hip audiences in the Nineties have rediscovered Sixties pop music icon Burt Bacharach.

      Witty, trenchant, often surprising, and always insightful, this collection is essential reading for all devotees of theatrical, musical, and film performance.
      To Free the Cinema
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        To Free the Cinema

        Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        1. Film As A Subversive Art Film As A Subversive Art
        2. Film Culture Reader Film Culture Reader

        ASIN: 069102345X

        Book Description

        Jonas Mekas, one of the driving forces behind New York's alternative film culture from the 1950s through the 1980s, made for an unlikely counterculture hero: a Lithuanian emigre and fervent nationalist from an agrarian family, he had not grown up with either capitalist commercialism or the postwar rebellion against it. By focusing on his sensitivity to political struggle, however, leading film commentators here offer fascinating insights into Mekas's career as a writer, film-distributor, and filmmaker, while exploring the history of independent cinema in New York since World War II. This collection of essays, interviews, and photographs addresses such topics as Mekas's column in the Village Voice, his foundation and editorship of Film Culture, his role in the establishment of Anthology Film Archives and The Film-Makers Co-op (the major distribution center for independent film), his interaction with other artists, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and finally the critical assessment of his own films, from Guns of the Trees and The Brig in the sixties to the diary films that followed Walden.
        Broadway Musicals (Abradale)
        Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
        • A Great Book To let Slip Away!!
        Broadway Musicals (Abradale)
        Martin Gottfried
        Manufacturer: Abradale/Abrams
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        ASIN: 0810980606

        Customer Reviews:

        4 out of 5 stars A Great Book To let Slip Away!!.......2004-07-11

        A true treasure of a book. This is a very large book, and not just width wise. It is very tall too. There are many pictures, a lot of them in color. They have some of the rarest flops featured toward the back of the book, and the classics are all here too. Some highpoints are the run-through of how they make (made) "Annie" run every night. There is also a synopsis of "Hello Dolly" which helpful since I have only seen the movie. There is a flaw though, and it is not insignificant. The author does not seperate fact from opinion. Example: "Sweeney Todd does not hold a place in the theater". This book came out the same year "Sweeney Todd" did(1979), so it might be just a bit early to say that. Obviously, he is a critic, but he should have took that hat off ,and taken on the role of an author who looks at the facts.("Sweeney" is just one of the hows that gets criticized.) Still, it is chock full of information and pictures, so it is worth a hunt.
        Le Book New York 2004 Too: Art Direction, Magazines, Music, Advertising, fashion : Emilio Pucci (3 Volume Set)
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Le Book New York 2004 Too: Art Direction, Magazines, Music, Advertising, fashion : Emilio Pucci (3 Volume Set)

          Manufacturer: Le Book Publishing, Inc.
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Spiral-bound

          ReferenceReference | Subjects | Books | Almanacs & Yearbooks | Atlases & Maps | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Business Skills | Careers | Catalogs & Directories | Consumer Guides | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Education | Encyclopedias | Etiquette | Foreign Languages | Fun Facts | Genealogy | General | Job Hunting | Large Print | Law | Publishing & Books | Quotations | Spanish-Language Reference | Study Guides | Test Prep Central | Words & Language | Writing
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          Fashion DesignFashion Design | Commercial | Graphic Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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          ASIN: 2905190426
          Release Date: 2004-04-02

          Book Description

          The bible for the fashion and advertising industries, Le Book is an international key to the creative world, an up-to-the-minute guide to more than 10,000 professionals from the best photographers, art directors, stylists, and model agencies, to location finders, rental studios, caterers, record labels, magazines, advertising agencies, fashion designers, and public relations firms. In short, everything and everyone that is important to these industries can be found all in one place, right here, in Le Book. Displaying the work of some of the hottest and most enduring photographers of our time, Le Book serves not only as a reference, but also as a time capsule for photography and design. With thousands of images, it's a virtual who's who of creative talent. With practical contact information, it's also a whose who. But more importantly, Le Book functions as a source of inspiration for creative people worldwide, and has become the global meeting place for those involved in the fields of visual communication.

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          1. On Collective Memory (Heritage of Sociology Series)
          2. Oprah Winfrey (Biography (a & E))
          3. Philadelphia Chickens
          4. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture
          5. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture
          6. Rationalizing Culture: IRCAM, Boulez, and the Institutionalization of the Musical Avant-Garde
          7. Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle
          8. Saint John's Bible: Prophets
          9. Samurai Girl Real Bout High School Volume 6 (Samurai Girl Real Bout Highschool)
          10. Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything

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