Best American Plays 7th Series

by John Gassner

Book Overview

Complete texts of 19 plays from 1967 to 1973. Includes All Over; The Boys in the Band; Ceremonies in Dark Old Men; The Great White Hope; The House of Blue Leaves; Indians; Lemon Sky; Little Murders;... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517513870
• ISBN13: 9780517513873
• Release Date: July 1975
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 640 Pages
• Weight: 2.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

playbill

The book was as described. What helped was the review/explanation of which plays were in the book and stating that they had the complete scripts.

Variety of playwrights and styles

The John Gassner Series of Best American Plays 1967-1973 is great because you get all the plays considered as best in that decade. There are other compilations of play books around, but what I like about Gassner Series is that the full play is presented, no synoposis, no pictures, just an intro page and the play. Although he does provide a series for decades past, Gassner provides historical data about the opening night, the author, various other plays by author and more. These are lengthy plays and these books offer a broad range of drama styles. This volume contains: The Great White Hope by Howard Sackler, about a black community who defends the champion title of a black boxer against a "white" boxer. With over 40 characters in the play, constant quick changing dialogue, this is a very difficult reading. Prisoner of Second Avenue (Neil Simon) - Similar in theme to other Simon plays, this is both sad and funny while the focus is a middle-aged man who suffers a nervous breakdown and his brother and sisters intervene. Arthur Miller's "The Price" is superb reading. Lengthy dialogue, typical Milleresque style with twists and turns. Two estranged brothers come together reluctantly to settle on distribution of their dead father's possessions. As for intensity, this is right up there with his other popular plays. All Over (Edward Albee) * Scuba Duba (Bruce Jay Friedman) * 1776 (Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards) Sticks and Bones (David Rabe) * Indians (Arthur Kopit) The House of Blue Leaves (John Guare) * Lemon sky (Lanford Wilson) Subject to Fits (Robert Montgomery) * Tom Paine (Paul Foster) Thre shorter plays grouped together: Morning (Israel Horovitz) * Noon (Terrence McNally) Night (Leonard Melfi) * Little Murders (Jules Feiffer) * The Boys in the Band (Mart Crowley) * Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (Lonne Elder III) * Play it Again, Sam (Woody Allen) Excellent collection! Try the companion series .....MzRizz