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Light Fantastic: Adventures in Theatre

by John Lahr

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571453,320 (3.67)1
John Lahr describes the lives and careers of playwrights, directors and performers, providing a vivid backdrop to his critique of particular productions in this book of theatrical criticism, history and gossip. He also makes the reader feel present at the run-up to an opening night: in London with Dame Edna, with Tony Kushner in Los Angeles. Lahr is everywhere, from the newest Brian Friel play in Dublin, to Toronto on a Hal Prince revival of Show Boat, from Stockholm on Ingmar Bergman's production of Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade, to London and Broadway.… (more)
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This collection of recent pieces from The New Yorker are often spacious, always reflective, and nuanced. Organized in four sections (Comedians, Playwrights, Musicals, and Productions), these serious, well-written essays draw on interviews (Lahr haunts backstages, lobbies, dressing rooms, and rehearsal halls), biography, theater history, and performance-always performance. "Lahr is that rare bird in theatrical journalism--the prolific, witty, literate independent scholar. The regular New Yorker contributor creates exhaustively researched profiles that never descend into mere puffery and well-considered reviews that never resort to the glib, cruel, ad hominem attacks found in too much contemporary criticism. Reading these 41 pieces, it is hard not to be struck by Lahr's range, too, for his subjects span the spectrum of contemporary theater, from Harold Pinter to the politically engaged Anna Deavere Smith and even rebel stand-up comedian Bill Hicks. his discussions of serious comic playwrights Joe Orton and Tony Kushner (as well as of Barry Humphries--"Dame Edna Everage" ) make a dip into this book well worthwhile." [Jack Helbig]
  mmckay | Apr 27, 2006 |
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John Lahr describes the lives and careers of playwrights, directors and performers, providing a vivid backdrop to his critique of particular productions in this book of theatrical criticism, history and gossip. He also makes the reader feel present at the run-up to an opening night: in London with Dame Edna, with Tony Kushner in Los Angeles. Lahr is everywhere, from the newest Brian Friel play in Dublin, to Toronto on a Hal Prince revival of Show Boat, from Stockholm on Ingmar Bergman's production of Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade, to London and Broadway.

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