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Finishing the Hat Collected Lyrics 19541981 with Attendant Comments Principles Heresies Grudges Whines and Anecdotes Stephen Sondheim 9780679439073 Books

Download As PDF : Finishing the Hat Collected Lyrics 19541981 with Attendant Comments Principles Heresies Grudges Whines and Anecdotes Stephen Sondheim 9780679439073 Books

Finishing the Hat Collected Lyrics 19541981 with Attendant Comments Principles Heresies Grudges Whines and Anecdotes Stephen Sondheim 9780679439073 Books

FINISHING THE HAT covers the first half of Stephen Sondheim's musical career (1954-81), and is written by Sondheim himself. Buy this book: his voice is wonderful, as though he wrote it just to chat it out with you. After that, you realize you needn't have bothered with about two-thirds of the writing by critics and journalists who are not Stephen Sondheim. Followed by LOOK, I MADE A HAT.


Tags : Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes [Stephen Sondheim] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Stephen Sondheim has won seven Tonys, an Academy Award, seven Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize and the Kennedy Center Honors. His career has spanned more than half a century,Stephen Sondheim,Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, Heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes,Knopf,0679439072,MUS046000,Genres & Styles - Musicals,Instruction & Study - Songwriting,Composers - United States,Musical librettos.,Musicals,Musicals - United States - Analysis, appreciation,Musicals;Excerpts;Librettos.,Sondheim, Stephen - Criticism and interpretation,Songs,Songs;Texts.,Excerpts,GENERAL,General Adult,History,Librettos,MUSIC Genres & Styles Musicals,MUSIC History & Criticism,MUSIC Instruction & Study Songwriting,Music,MusicInstruction & Study - Songwriting,MusicSongbooks,Non-Fiction,PERFORMING ARTS Theater Broadway & Musicals,ReadingsAnthologiesCollected Works,THEATER MUSIC,Techniques of music music tutorials,Texts,United States,music; theatre; biography; autobiography; theater; music history; opera; dance; plays; essays; biographies; criticism; 20th century; jazz; film; movie; movies; literary criticism; arts; letters; cultural history; culture; hollywood; pop culture; drama; monologues; acting; art; classical music; creativity; heroes; philosophy; writing; musician; entertainment; rock and roll; beatles; feminism; american literature; music criticism; reference; classic; rock; shakespeare; american history; race; piano; rock music; cinema; musicals; business; school,music;theatre;plays;music history;creativity;musicals;broadway;play;music books;stage makeup;history of music;music book;music history books;theatre gifts;theater books;broadway gifts;musical;theater;music history book;books about music;books about musicians;books on music;gifts for musicians;gifts for the musician;musical theatre gifts;broadway books;broadway musical gifts;broadway musicals;broadway posters;musical gifts;musical theater gifts;playbill;theater gifts;theater gifts for actors,MUSIC Genres & Styles Musicals,MUSIC History & Criticism,MUSIC Instruction & Study Songwriting,MusicInstruction & Study - Songwriting,PERFORMING ARTS Theater Broadway & Musicals,MusicSongbooks,Excerpts,Librettos,Texts,Theater Music,Music,Techniques of music music tutorials

Finishing the Hat Collected Lyrics 19541981 with Attendant Comments Principles Heresies Grudges Whines and Anecdotes Stephen Sondheim 9780679439073 Books Reviews

Bought this for Father's Day and got a wonderful reaction!
You know how you just start singing in your head and you get to lyrics and your stuck with simply humming...NO MORE, all of Sondheims lyrics are here...you can now finish the line! So when your humming "Am I losing my mind"...you'll KNOW the words and sing out! Great BOOK if your a Sondheim fan! Anyone interested in a musical legend and his ability to write lyrics about anything and make it work..this book is for you! Once again came through, lowest price, fastest delivery...Two things I really love, Sondheim and !
If you like the American musical theatre this book should delight you. Sondheim not only supplies insights as to why and how he developed some of his shows and the ones on which he collaborated . He reveals some of the workings of musical writing and staging.In addition to his own work he writes thumb nails about the other famous lyricists of the twentieth century. The book reads like a conversation in the first person.Though it could be the nucleus of a class in musicals it does not seem like a text book at all.
The only problem , for me at least,is that the shows stop in 1981.We all know that more recent shows are also terrific. He includes all stage work from 1954 to1981 if he wrote for it the lyrics are in the book.
Anyone who cares about Broadway musical will find this, Sondheim's longest word yet as to his own lyrics and those of the people whose footsteps he followed, absolutely essential. For this, the work itself is worth a full five stars; the poor quality of the hardcover edition (the print seems to be on a dark silverish gray ink that rubs off like newsprint, the font is hard to read, and the content is poorly indexed) was the only think that made me downgrade this to four stars, and one can only hope that the paperback edition corrects these marring material deficiencies.

Sondheim's subtitle warns readers that the tone for this study of his and others' lyrics for the American musical theater will not be without its crankier points, and some reviewers have been unhappy at his ungenerousness exhibited here toward Ira Gershwin, Noel Coward, and particular his theatrical mentor (and beloved friend) Oscar Hammerstein II. If this were just a work by another theater scholar it might be harder to take the tendentiousness of the author's opinions; but since this is Stephen Sondheim, unquestionably the greatest American lyricist alive, the opinionated nature of the prose automatically becomes itself important since we find out here what he really thinks. His rules for crafting excellent lyrics make perfect sense in light of the shows he's created and from the social and theatrical milieux from which Sondheim comes. If his carping at Ira Gershwin for frequently inverting word order might seem unfair (since Gershwin came from a world where Yiddish-inflected syntax was a commonplace), it does tell you much about Sondheim's own wealthy and genteel Upper West Side and Williams College background that he would object. And it's such a pleasure to see the lyricists whom Sondheim greatly admires, from the expected (Cole Porter) to the perhaps more surprising (the greatly underappreciated Dorothy Fields).

The most fun in the book is finding out what Sondheim thinks of his own lyrics, and to get the stories behind how he crafted them. Many of the shows had such a difficult time in the making that he provides you with the lyrics of fascinating alternate songs for the shows (many of which have been recorded, since so many singers who work in musical theater are obsessive Sondheim fans). We also get portraits of many of the people with whom Sondheim worked (from Ethel Merman to Zero Mostel to Jason Alexander to Nathan Lane), with tantalizing throwaway comments about them. We can only wait for the promised sequel, with lyrics from his shows from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE onward--and we can only hope the next book comes in better material shape from the publisher.
Not getting this book is like a pastor not getting a bible. If you are, at all, interested in the theater, this book belongs in your bookshelf. Lots of pictures, the entire story of the musical(s), and great thoughts and historic notes to keep you reading well into "Saturday Night."
I gave Finishing the Hat to two friends of mine in the theatre after I bought a copy for myself.

It's a very witty book of lyrics that is alternately incredibly insightful and naughty. It's a joy to read, because, if you've heard these songs before, the lyrics and melody are like old friends and you can't help but sing along quietly (so as not to disturb the rest of the house)

It even contains some photocopies of Sondheim's original lyrics, written in pencil, complete with scratch-outs and changes.

By the way, my two theatre friends love the book as much as I do.
For any aspiring lyricist (in theater or in any other songwriting arena) this book is indispensable. Sondheim's thoughts on clarity and his reasoning are crucial to any writer. The book is structured very well, with chapters organized by show and lengthy introductions to each show's set of lyrics. I particularly was intrigued by the introduction to the chapter on "The Frogs." The inclusion of first drafts of lyrics is especially useful, and the production photos and snippets of Sondheim's handwritten drafts is a nice touch. A book that provides new information every time you read it. My only complaint is that it's companion draft, Look, I Made a Hat Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Wafflings, Diversions and Anecdotes isn't here yet! For lyricists who are also composers, I highly recommend buying this book along with Sondheim on Music Minor Details and Major Decisions. It would be hard to imagine a more complete look into the creative process of theater songwriting.
FINISHING THE HAT covers the first half of Stephen Sondheim's musical career (1954-81), and is written by Sondheim himself. Buy this book his voice is wonderful, as though he wrote it just to chat it out with you. After that, you realize you needn't have bothered with about two-thirds of the writing by critics and journalists who are not Stephen Sondheim. Followed by LOOK, I MADE A HAT.