The Making of a Musical

by Lehman Engel

Book Overview

Lehman Engel, the man who "knows more about the American musical theatre than anyone else" (Brooks Atkinson), composer of scores of smash successes, and winner of three Tonys, raises the curtain on... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879100494
• ISBN13: 9780879100490
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Limelight Editions
• Length: 157 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Still worth reading

I think I was lucky to come across this book. It is a bit dated now (it was published in 1977), but about 98% of it is still valid. I've read several books about musical comedy writing and have taken some courses on the subject. This book still had something new to say to me. I wish Engel had gone into more detail in several places. For example, in one section he lists songs that he considers "active" and songs that he considers "passive." His categorization in several cases seemed arbitrary to me even after I spent some time analyzing and thinking about it. I think Engel gives some excellent practical advice toward the end of the book about working with copyrighted material and trying to get your show produced. Where he's dated is when he says that a submission of a tape of your show's songs is not as good as a live audition. That may have been true in the late 70s, but nowadays producers want to hear a CD of your score before they would even consider sitting through a live audition of the material. I would highly recommend this book to the serious musical comedy writer, especially one who has already written a show or two. Four stars.