Like most of the people who grew up in the 70s and 80s, my introduction to Betty Buckley came through the television drama Eight is Enough. Buckley played Abby Bradford, forever redesigning the world's perceptions of stepmothers everywhere with a portrayal of patience, kindness and understanding. Little did we children of the 70s and 80s know that Buckley was an established musical theatre talent who, after Eight is Enough, would evolve into one of the most beloved stars on Broadway.
The Ten Essential Musical Theatre Books
As a blogger and a theatre historian, I often refer to resources that have proven invaluable to me over the years. Having spent the better part of my life (I started researching at age eleven) delving into musical theatre history, certain books have presented themselves, again and again, as my "go to" places to fact check and to just enjoy the writings of people who are as passionate as I am about this glorious genre. This blog entry is a celebration of those books.
An American in Paris and Gigi Cast Recordings: Are They “Magnifique”?
Two Broadway musicals opened this spring, each one set in Paris and each one based on a film directed by Vincenete Minnelli. An American in Paris and Gigi both won Academy Awards for Best Picture, and both boasted the involvement of Alan Jay Lerner as screenwriter (Lerner also provided the lyrics for Gigi). One of these musicals bowled critics and audiences over, receiving awards and ticket sales. The other limped along with mediocre attendance, disappointed critics, and was mostly ignored by the Tony nominating committee.
The Essentials of Cast Recordings
Those of us who love musical theatre and spend our time celebrating it's wonders know that the experience of seeing a musical is not complete until the show has been preserved in a cast recording. Indeed, a show is easily forgotten and not afforded as many future productions without a chance to share the flavor of it's music listeners who didn't get a chance to see it's original production. The companies that make cast recordings are often the heroes that give musicals their longevity, and when a show goes unrecorded, it is far less likely to have a life in regional theatres, summer stock companies and community theatres.