Other books that might interest you

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  The Importance of Being Earnest

  Oscar Wilde

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  Meet Jack Worthing, Algernon Montcreiff, and their alter egos, Ernest and Ernest, as they embark on a hilarious courtship of Cecily and Gwendolyn, while dealing with Gwendolyn's insufferable mother, Lady Bracknell. Both men find more than they bargained for and find out what's really in a name in this comedy starring a superlative cast of classic radio stars.

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  La Bete

  David Hirson

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  In a comic whirlwind of high style, La Bête tells the story of Elomire, a 17th century French playwright, and his touring acting troupe who have come to lead the high life due to the patronage of the fickle Prince of Conti. Sparks fly when Valere, a swaggering braggert with delusions of artistic grandeur, becomes the Prince's choice to join Elomire's troupe. It is a battle of wits and witticisms as the two face off in this outrageous commentary on the nature of art and the artist in society.An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring Michael Cumpsty, Jen Dede, Alice Hirson, John de Lancie, Matt Letscher, Robert Machray, Tom McGowen, Amy Pietz, Andre Sogliuzzo and Sarah Zimmerman.

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  Tallulah! - The Life and Times...

  Joel Lobenthal

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  Outrageous, outspoken, and uninhibited, Tallulah Bankhead was an actress known as much for her vices -- cocaine, alcohol, hysterical tirades, and scandalous affairs with both men and women -- as she was for her winning performances on stage. In 1917, a fifteen-year-old Bankhead boldly left her established Alabama political family and fled to New York City to sate her relentless need for attention and become a star. Five years later, she crossed the Atlantic, immediately taking her place as a fixture in British society and the most popular actress in London's West End. By the time she returned to America in the 1930s, she was infamous for throwing marathon parties, bedding her favorite costars, and neglecting to keep her escapades a secret from the press. At times, her notoriety distracted her audience from her formidable talent and achievements on stage and dampened the critical re-sponse to her work. As Bankhead herself put it, "they like me to 'Tallulah,' you know -- dance and sing and romp and fluff my hair and play reckless parts." Still, her reputation as a wild, witty, over-the-top leading lady persisted until the end of her life at the age of sixty-six.From her friendships with such entertainment luminaries as Tennessee Williams, Estelle Winwood, Billie Holiday, Noël Coward, and Marlene Dietrich, to the intimate details of her family relationships and her string of doomed romances, Joel Lobenthal has captured the private essence of the most public star during theater's golden age. Larger-than-life as she was, friends saw through Bankhead's veneer of humor and high times to the heart of a woman who often felt second-best in her father's eyes, who longed for the children she was unableto bear, and who forced herself into the spotlight to hide her deep-seated insecurities.Drawn from scores of exclusive interviews, as well as previously untapped information from Scotland Yard and the FBI, this is the essential biography of Tallulah Bankhead. Having spent twenty-five years researching Bankhead's life, Joel Lobenthal tells her unadulterated story, as told to him by her closest friends, enemies, lovers, and employees. Several have broken decadelong silences; many have given Lobenthal their final interviews. The result is the story of a woman more complex, more shocking, and yet more nuanced than her notorious legend suggests.

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  Alhambra The: A Series Of Tales...

  Washington Irving

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  This is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories by Washington Irving. Irving lived at the Alhambra Palace while writing some of the material for his book. In 1828, Washington Irving traveled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain. At first sight, he described it as "a most picturesque and beautiful city, situated in one of the loveliest landscapes that I have ever seen." He immediately asked the then-governor of the historic Alhambra Palace as well as the archbishop of Granada for access to the palace, which was granted because of Irving's celebrity status. Aided by a 35-year old guide named Mateo Ximenes, Irving was inspired by his experience to write Tales of the Alhambra. Throughout his trip, he filled his notebooks and journals with descriptions and observations though he did not believe his writing would ever do it justice. He wrote, "How unworthy is my scribbling of the place." A commemorative plaque in Spanish at the Alhambra reads, "Washington Irving wrote his Tales of Alhambra in these rooms in 1829". The book was instrumental in reintroducing the Alhambra to Western audiences. (Summary by Wikipedia and David Wales)

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  World Music - A Very Short...

  Philip V. Bohlman

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  The term "world music" encompasses both folk and popular music across the globe, as well as the sounds of cultural encounter and diversity, sacred voices raised in worship, local sounds, and universal values. It emerged as an invention of the West from encounters with other cultures, and holds the power to evoke the exotic and give voice to the voiceless. Today, in both sound and material it has a greater presence in human societies than ever before.In this new edition of his Very Short Introduction, Philip Bohlman considers questions of meaning and technology in world music, and responds to the dramatically changing political world in which people produce and listen to world music. He also addresses the different ways in which world music is created, disseminated, and consumed, as the full reach of the internet and technologies that store and spread music through the exchange of data files spark a revolution in the production and availability of world music. Finally, Bohlman revises the way we think of the musician, as an increasingly mobile individual, sometimes because physical borders have fallen away, at other times because they are closing.

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  Pagliacci

  Thomson Smillie

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  Pagliacci may be the most completely compelling short opera in the repertory and owes much of its impact to a brilliant story based, it is said, on true life and told through the device of a play-within-a-play. The action is set in Calabria in the deep south of Italy where the jealousies and illicit passions of a troupe of strolling actors precisely intersect with the play they are performing – to both touching and tragic effect. Leoncavallo was his own librettist, and his literary skills, allied to great melodic creativity, guarantee that in its two short acts Pagliacci – ‘Clowns’ – delivers an overwhelming emotional experience.

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