The Dramatic, Precarious Life of the 19-Century Actor
2 new books about Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, and Harry Watkins shows the life of a 19th-century actor was filled with acclaim and alcoholism in equal measure.
Book Reviews
Some Enchanted Music of the Night
A bio sums up Rodgers & Hammerstein’s achievement, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s memoir is surprisingly lively.
The Showman and the Raconteur
New memoirs by British directors Nicholas Hytner and Dominic Dromgoole run the gamut, and the Globe.
Ivo Genius: Director, Adaptor, Auteur
A new book looks at Ivo van Hove’s thoroughgoing process, which is as much about distillation as direction.
Dream Ballet Vs. Steam Heat
Two new dance biographies show what we can (and can’t) learn from the revolutionary choreography of Agnes de Mille and Bob Fosse.
‘Angels’ in the Details
A massive new oral history recreates the drama behind Kushner’s modern epic, but does it do his ideas justice?
Streep and Shepard: 2 Straight Arrows Ascending
Sam Shepard and Meryl Streep both made defining marks on New York stages before wandering afield.
By Playwrights Possessed, Namely Sam and Eugene
An O’Neill biography puts the drama centerstage, while a tantalizing compendium of Beckett-iana largely elides it.
How to Fight for Arts Funding? Lessons from NYC’s Lean Years
The new book ‘Drop Dead’ puts a debate we’re still having—between art for art’s sake and art for the common good—into stark relief.
Mary Martin and Barbra Streisand, Divas With a Difference
Two new bios examine the lives and careers of two musical-theatre giants: one most at home onstage, the other too big for any single medium.
