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Writing Musical Theater
This guide to the modern musical covers the entire process of creating a show, from finding and working out the initial idea, through to the ways in which writers can market a finished show and get it produced. For the interested theatregoer and writers, it is written in a lively and user-friendly style and illustrated with numerous examples.
303 pages, Hardcover
First published February 7, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 8, 2020
Make no mistake, this is an educational book, not an entertaining one, but it is a great overview to writing musical theatre with strong examples plus they have even included samples of how beginning projects might look. The back has some good resources and suggestions. That said, if you haven't seen many of the musicals (or not for a long time) some of it can be a bit dry. There is good reason why you virtually never see one person alone writing everything for a musical theater production--only an extremely tiny number of people would have all of the know-how and overall talent to do this. Since I don't watch that much musical theater I plan to make a point of watching (and, for some re-watching) his list.
Too bad I have to return it to the library someday when it reopens, because it would be worth keeping (ie I might buy a copy or something like it.)
Too bad I have to return it to the library someday when it reopens, because it would be worth keeping (ie I might buy a copy or something like it.)
August 22, 2021
I want to take off another star because the quality of the physical book is abysmal for the price, but that wouldn't be fair to the authors.
This was solid, but I did notice a lot of verbatim repetition. For example, in their sample projects at the end, they first present the outline of the story. Then, when they "spot the score" to come up with where songs should go, they literally just copy/pasted the entire sections of that synopsis again and then in the next paragraph talk about whether a song is appropriate or not.
It's helpful to have that information adjacent in that way, but it does feel like filler to pad the thing out (and as it is the book is still relatively short).
This was solid, but I did notice a lot of verbatim repetition. For example, in their sample projects at the end, they first present the outline of the story. Then, when they "spot the score" to come up with where songs should go, they literally just copy/pasted the entire sections of that synopsis again and then in the next paragraph talk about whether a song is appropriate or not.
It's helpful to have that information adjacent in that way, but it does feel like filler to pad the thing out (and as it is the book is still relatively short).
July 31, 2023
I am studying music at uni,but I am not really interested in writing musical theatre,or in musical theatre as a genre in general more precisely ,but I read it because my professor wanted me to translate it to another language...I just finished reading it(and translated it) and I suppose I can say there were some interesting things in here.
Would I have read it if I weren't forced to? No.
But to someone interested in this kind of stuff,I do believe it would be of great help,that's why i'm giving 3 stars!
Would I have read it if I weren't forced to? No.
But to someone interested in this kind of stuff,I do believe it would be of great help,that's why i'm giving 3 stars!
May 11, 2020
If you're at all interested in the subject, this is a phenomenal book. The authors break everything down into manageable chunks with frameworks and examples. Fascinating and easy to put into practice with your own ideas.
January 8, 2021
Tons of good info here - heartily recommend.
June 10, 2008
Good, basic read for writers of (obviously) musical theater, but could be useful in a couple of places for screenwriters or playwrights as well. A warning, though: they give a lot of examples of other musicals to support some of the points they make, which won't be useful to you unless you're fairly familiar with the traditional American musical theater canon. Of particular use to me was the second part of the book, in which they go through the process of developing both an adaptation and an original piece.
September 20, 2015
Absolutely LOVED this text. It's short, but it is JAM PACKED with information on the history of the musical, basic play writing approach and theory (the libretto), basic lyric writing technique, song form structures, and basic music composition. Though it doesn't contain a complete course in all of the concentrations mentioned above, it serves as a FANTASTIC entry into the field of writing the musical theater, no matter what discipline to which you aspire.
ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO THE BEGINNER!!!!!
ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO THE BEGINNER!!!!!
February 1, 2016
Surprisingly useful, Allen Cohen's book focuses not so much on writing a musical (the easy part, believe it or not) as producing and marketing your show (VERY MUCH the hard part). I went in knowing nothing about this process and came out of the book with a stronger sense of how the industry works and what part I can play in it. Recommended for anyone who's already written at least one musical and is working on moving it forward from there.
June 16, 2015
This book is full of valuable information that I have struggled to find in other places.
Whether you want to write theatre or are simply a performer wanting a deeper understanding of your art, this book has all the info you need and examples to back it up. The only downside of this book is that its dense, paragraphs are long but if you have patience this book is packed with info.
Whether you want to write theatre or are simply a performer wanting a deeper understanding of your art, this book has all the info you need and examples to back it up. The only downside of this book is that its dense, paragraphs are long but if you have patience this book is packed with info.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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