theater

Hardcover. NY, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 308 pages, in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. The inside story of the chamber music group, the Guarneri Quartet.

Hardcover. New York, Publishers Company, 2nd edition, 1968, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 5 volumes: 291, 291, 317, 304, and 306 pages. Light brown cloth covers, with silver and black titles, profusely illustrated with b&w plates. Slight rubbing to covers, small brown stain to spines of Theater and Civil War volumes, previous owner's embossed stamp to all title pages, ex-lib bookplates to all copyright pages, pages very crisp and unmarked, tight binding; overall, volumes are in clean, tight condition. NOTE: DUE TO WEIGHT AND SIZE, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Softcover. Charleston SC, Arcadia Publishing, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 128 pages. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the half-title page. Italian-American theatre sprang to life in New York City shortly after waves of Italian immigrants poured into this country in the 1870's. The mass migration brought both the performers and the audiences necessary for theatrical entertainment. Hungry for recognition, support, and social exchange, the men and women from Italy formed amateur theatrical clubs as one way of satisfying emotional needs. By 1900, the community had produced the major forces that created the Italian-American theatre of the ensuing decades. In The Italian-American Immigrant Theatre of New York City, author Emelise Aleandri regenerates the excitement of the stage through striking photographs, programs, and other memorabilia generously loaned by families of the theatre community. She follows the fortunes of the earliest nineteenth-century companies and introduces those that arose in the twentieth-century. Within these pages are scenes of comedy, tragedy, vaudeville, and radio, featuring stars such as Mimi Cecchini, Guglielmo Ricciardi, Concetta Arcamone, Antonio Maiori, Rita Berti, Farfariello, and Olga Barbato. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, David R. Godine, 1st, 1992, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 112 pages. A photographer once remarked to Andre Maurois, "If I were to take a picture of a village wedding, Jean Cocteau would appear between the bride and groom." And he was right; Cocteau was photographed everywhere, by everyone, in all guises and poses. Cecil Beaton posed him smoking an opium pipe, Lucien Clergue caught him in the romantic ruins of Arles where Cocteau was shooting Orphee, Arnold Newman shot him in Paris, and Philippe Halsman in New York. Cocteau possessed, of course, a modern genius for self-promotion, but he also cared deeply about his own art and the art of a technique he embraced with passion throughout his lifetime - photography. Essay by Francis Steegmuller.

Hardcover. New York, Stringer & Townsend, 1st, 1851, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth with gilt lettering, 226 pages. Previous owners bookplate on inside front cover. Some pages show minor foxing. Light rubbing to corners and at top and base of spine. Clean, unmarked text.

Hardcover. NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 430 pages. The titanic choreographer, creator of memorable ballets, master of Broadway musicals, legendary show doctor and director, now revealed in his own words--the closest we will get to a memoir/autobiography--from his voluminous letters, journals, notes, diaries, never before published. Robbins was famous for reinventing the Broadway musical, creating a vernacular American ballet, pushing the art form to new boundaries where it had never gone before, integrating dance seamlessly with character, story and music, and as Associate Artistic Director, Ballet Master, and Co-Artistic Director, with George Balanchine, shaping the New York City Ballet with daring and brio for more than five decades through his often startling choreography in ballet's classical idiom. He was known as the king of Broadway, the most sought-after director-choreographer and show doctor who gave shape to On the Town (1944), Call Me Madam (1950), The King and I (1951), Wonderful Town (1953), Peter Pan (1954), The Pajama Game (1954), Silk Stockings (1955), West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Funny Girl (1964), Fiddler on the Roof (1964), and many other classic musicals, winning four Tony Awards, two Oscars, and an Emmy. He shocked and betrayed those he loved and worked with by naming names to the House Un-American Activities Committee. ("I betrayed my manhood, my Jewishness, my parents, my sister," he wrote in a diary. "I can't undo it.") Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Baton Rouge, Claitor's Publishing, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 305 pages, illustrated in b&w. Bookplate SIGNED BY CALVERT AND RAUSCHER on a bookplate pasted to inside cover. In a bright dust jacket, unclipped.

Hardcover. NY, F.A. Stokes Company, 1st, 1900, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth with bright gilt stamping, 137 pages. Top edge gilt. Ribbon marker, photographic frontispiece portrait of actor John Drew, as well as numerous photographs of John Drew (and other actresses) in various dramatic productions. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Curt Valentin, 1st, 1955, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Poor, 160 pages. Hardcover. Illustrated with eleven reproductions in color and 244 in monochrome; eight pages of reproductions in four color line-and-tone; an aquatint, a monochrome lithograph and three lithographs in color specially drawn for this work. Previous owners stamp on back of plate 195. Brick colored cloth with green decoration on front cover, green/gilt title on spine. Dust jacket is worn, with chunks missing along edges, and spine - jacket now protected with clear plastic cover. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 224 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. 200 illustrations in color. Foreword by Jennifer B. Lee, Performing Arts Curator, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University. Index. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Joseph Urban is a lavish celebration of this prolific artist, architect, and designer, whose accomplishments include magnificent Art Deco buildings, spectacular Ziegfeld Follies productions, and dramatic sets for the Metropolitan Opera. Joseph Urban (1872-1933) began his career as an architect and artist in Vienna before moving to America in 1911. In 1914 he moved to New York, where he ultimately signed on as set designer of the Metropolitan Opera. He also became immersed in an astonishing array of outside projects, designing nightclubs, hotel lounges, skyscrapers, theaters, stage and film sets, and even children's books. Though his creative output was immense, little remains of his work except the Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, and the New School and the base of the Hearst Tower in New York.

Softcover. New York , Abrams, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Large softcover, 64 pages. 45 large color illustrations, very good+ paperback & cover This facsimile reproduces the look & feel of Cloin's art deco lithographs along with Georges Thenon's (aka Rip's) preface & Baker's own handwritten commentary. Clean, sharp copy.

Hardcover. NY, Delacorte Press, 1st, 1976, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. A director, producer, actor, and author, Joshua Logan had more Broadway hits than almost anyone else. In the late 1940s . Logan worked in theater and film throughout his career, showing talent from the time he was a young student at Princeton University. He acted on stage before achieving his first major success as a director with 'I Married an Angel,' in 1938; he also produced several shows. For many years Logan struggled with manic-depressive illness, and late in life he toured the country to offer encouragement to fellow sufferers. 408 pages, b&w photos. Clean copy.

Softcover. London/NY, Routledge, reprint, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 260 pages, b&w illustrations. Kathakali Dance-Drama provides a comprehensive introduction to the distinctive and colorful dance-drama of Kerala in South-West India for the first time. This landmark volume explores Kathakali's reception as it reaches new audiences both in India and the west. During these performances heroes, heroines, gods and demons tell their stories of traditional Indian epics. The four Kathakali plays included in this anthology, translated from actual performances into English are:* The Flower of Good Fortune* The Killing of Kirmmira* The Progeny of Krishna* King Rugmamgada's LawEach play has an introduction and detailed commentary and is illustrated by stunning photographs taken during performances. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Random House, 1st US, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 638 pages. Hardcover. Illustrated with black & white photographs. Minor rubbing to surface of dust jacket. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Oxford University Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 400 pages. Price-clipped. Clean covers and dust jacket, pages crisp and unmarked, tight binding; clean copy. A generation before Walt Disney, Fred Thompson was the "boy-wonder" of American popular amusements. At the turn of the 20th century, Thompson's entrepreneurial drive made him into an entertainment mogul who helped to define the popular culture of his day.In this lively biography, Woody Register tells Thompson's remarkable story and examines the transformation of commerce and entertainment as American society moved into an era of mass marketing and large-scale corporate enterprise. Getting his start as a promoter of carnival shows at world's fairs, Thompson was one of the principal developers of Coney Island, where he created the majestic Luna Park. Register traces Thompson's career as he built the mammoth Hippodrome Theater in Manhattan, where he mounted many productions noted for their spectacular--and spectacularly costly--staging effects. Register shows how Thompson's fantasies appealed to the growing legions of Americans who found themselves in a world that seemed increasingly "businesslike" and profit oriented. He illustrates how Thompson aggressively marketed to adult consumers a world of make-believe and childlike play, carefully crafting his own public image as "the boy who never grew up."Colorful, well-written, and insightful, The Kid of Coney Island brings to life a kaleidoscopic era in New York history as well as one of its most striking characters.

Hardcover. Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 209 pages with index. Why do we laugh? Do we really want to know why? We are torn between desire to understand the joyous human response of laughter and reluctance to expose the secret of our spontaneity to the rigors of intellectualizing, the labors of analysis. Marcel Gutwirth here offers a fresh approach to laughter and the full range of funny occasions-- from the artistry of Molire's Misanthrope to the unique nature of Beckett's comic wisdom. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Woodstock NY, Overlook Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket with minor edge wear. Over 300 photographs (many in color), most never-before published, chronology, select recordings and videotapes, index. Text taken from Lenya's interviews, private conversations, letters, and other writings provide captivating glimpses into her on-stage and off-stage world. Married to Kurt Weill, the pair brought their talents to American theater when they left Nazi Germany in the 1930s. She gave unforgettable performances on stage and screen ('Threepenny Opera', 'Cabaret' etc) and established herself as one of the twentieth century's most enduring and talented performers. Clean copy.

Princeton NJ, Princeton University Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 264 pages, still in publisher's shrinkwrap. Lewis Carroll began photographing children in the mid-nineteenth century, at a time when the young medium of photography was opening up new possibilities for visual representation and the notion of childhood itself was in transition. In this lavishly illustrated book, Diane Waggoner offers the first comprehensive account of Carroll as a photographer of modern childhood, exploring how his photographs of children gave visual form to emerging conceptions of childhood in the Victorian age. Situating Carroll's photography within the broader context of Victorian visual and social culture, Waggoner shows how he drew on images of childhood in painting and other media, and engaged with the visual language of the Victorian theater, fancy dress, and Pre-Raphaelitism. She provides the first in-depth analysis of Carroll's photographing of boys, which she examines in the context of boys' education and reveals to be a significant part of his photographic career. Waggoner draws on a wealth of rare archival material, demonstrating how Carroll established new aesthetic norms for images of girls, engaged with evolving definitions of masculinity, and pushed the idea of childhood to the limit with his use of dress and nude images

Hardcover. New York, Liberty Street, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 176 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket edges. B&W and color photographs throughout. Fifty years ago, the dashing Scottish actor Sean Connery kicked off the Bond franchise, a cinematic series unlike any other. In November 2012, Skyfall, the 23rd movie in what is seen as the authorized line of Bond films, will be released, with Daniel Craig (the sixth Bond) again in the lead role. The world will once more stream to the theaters for another dose of Bond. LIFE was on the scene in the swinging '60s when James Bond became a cultural icon (in fact, when we put the gold-painted actress Shirley Eaton on the cover in 1964, we helped him along), and now LIFE tells the whole story in this commemorative book.

Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. An up close and personal portrait of a legendary filmmaker, theater director, and comedian, drawing on candid conversations with his closest friends in show business and the arts-from Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep to Natalie Portman and Lorne Michaels. The work of Mike Nichols pervades American cultural consciousness-from The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to Angels in America, The Birdcage, Working Girl, and Primary Colors, not to mention his string of hit plays, including Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple. If that weren't enough, he was also one half of the timelessly funny duo Nichols & May, as well as a founding member of the original improv troupe. Over a career that spanned half a century, Mike Nichols changed Hollywood, Broadway, and comedy forever. Most fans, however, know very little of the person behind it all. Since he never wrote his memoirs, and seldom appeared on television, they have very little sense of his searching intellect or his devastating wit. They don't know that Nichols, the great American director, was born Mikail Igor Peschkowsky, in Berlin, and came to this country, speaking no English, to escape the Nazis. They don't know that Nichols was at one time a solitary psychology student, or that a childhood illness caused permanent, life-altering side effects. They don't know that he withdrew into a debilitating depression before he "finally got it right," in his words, by marrying Diane Sawyer. Remainder dot to bottom edge otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, Blue Apple Books, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, SIGNED by illustrator Kreloff and performer Brian Stokes Mitchell on CD. Tony Award winner and Broadway icon, Mitchell, brings star power to this Broadway treasury. With entries such as "audition," "box office," "marquee," and "understudy," kids will discover Broadway from A to Z. Elliot Kreloff's energetic and dynamic illustrations come from someone who clearly knows theater from first-hand experiences.

Hardcover. Jefferson NC, McFarland Publishing, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue cloth with white lettering. 176 pages, b&w illustrations. In 1945, the author found herself in the monsoon-drenched jungles of Assam, caring for soldiers in the China-Burma-India theater of war. Nothing in her nurse's training had prepared her for the tropical diseases her patients faced, nor had her experiences readied her for a hospital where men spat on the floor, rats were pervasive, and patients were as likely to sell their medicine as swallow it. What made the experience tolerable was Nurse Camp's romance with one of the airmen who flew the Hump, supplying O.S.S. troops behind Japanese lines and carrying General Joseph Stillwell's Chinese troops to fight the battle of North Burma. She accompanied her future husband on some of his missions. Based, in part, on letters she wrote to her parents, this is the poignant story of one nurse's experience in World War II and how her service changed her life forever. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise a clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, Association Press, 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 312 pages, very good in an edgeworn, chipped dust jacket. 82 Broadway plays reviewed by Atkinson and all illustrated with Hirschfeld's caricatures.

Hardcover. NY, Henry Holt, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, unclipped. The moving story of the life of the woman behind A Raisin in the Sun, the most widely anthologized, read, and performed play of the American stage. Written when she was just twenty-eight, Lorraine Hansberry's landmark A Raisin in the Sun is listed by the National Theatre as one of the hundred most significant works of the twentieth century. Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway, and the first Black and youngest American playwright to win a New York Critics' Circle Award. Charles J. Shields's authoritative biography of one of the twentieth century's most admired playwrights examines the parts of Lorraine Hansberry's life that have escaped public knowledge: the influence of her upper-class background, her fight for peace and nuclear disarmament, the reason why she embraced Communism during the Cold War, and her dependence on her white husband-her best friend, critic, and promoter. Many of the identity issues about class, sexuality, and race that she struggled with are relevant and urgent today. This dramatic telling of a passionate life-a very American life through self-reinvention-uses previously unpublished interviews with close friends in politics and theater, privately held correspondence, and deep research to reconcile old mysteries and raise new questions about a life not fully described until now.