This book is defenitely a must-read for any CATS lover. It answers questions such as "Why wasn't the Italian aria in the Original London show," as well as giving insights into the preparation, rehersal and immense effort that was put into the original Broadway production. Also wonderfully written are the relationships between the author and the rest of the cast and production team. This book is a CATS fan's dream!

    Seven Tony Awards. Box office receipts of more than a billion dollars. A Broadway run of nearly 8,000 performances. And yet, if I asked you to name the actors and actresses who became stars because of "Cats," you'd probably be stumped.
   Okay, Broadway buffs, so you recall Betty Buckley, for singing "Memory."
   Next?
  In fact, although this was the ultimate ensemble piece, there was one cat who outshone the others. His name is Stephen Mo Hanan, and in the original Broadway cast, he played Bustopher, Asparagus and Growltiger. "Hanan is fantastic," purred Clive Barnes in the New York Post. And the Times, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker agreed.
    Hanan's had to wait two decades for his next plum role --- this Spring, he stars as Al Jolson in an off-Broadway production --- but he's going to be immortal for a slim little book that he never intended to publish: "A Cat's Diary." Written during the rehearsal period, these nightly entries are l00 pages of delight and insight.
    DisneyWorld has spoiled us --- people disappear into animal costumes and goof around and we find them charming, in a sentimental, how-can-you-not-like-this way. But being a cat in a musical inspired by T.S. Eliot and directed by Trevor Nunn?  Not so easy. Hard physical work, in fact. And that's just the outside preparation --- as Hanan tells it, there's immense psychological inquiry and tons of improvisation.
     Although the diaries tell us a great deal about the technical challenges of mounting this musical, there's a strong human narrative (the march toward opening night) and one heroic figure (Trevor Nunn). Mostly, Nunn stands on the sidelines, watching. When he makes a comment, it's rarely what you'd expect --- before an actress does a song in rehearsal, he asks, "But are you having fun?" And, as it happens, that innocent query opens her up to deliver a terrific performance.
      Hanan, for his part, also serves up terrific little insights: "What is the acting approach? Everyone had an opinion, and I began to understand why it took so long to set up the protocols for the Vietnam peace talks." He doesn't shrink from self-deprecating anecdotes: "Trevor said, 'You've got to look like nothing anyone has ever seen before, which is easy if you're Steve Hanan, but for the rest of us....'" And, boy, does he ever show us how the griity, unglamorous work of acting takes its toll: "I come home so tired I can hardly find my way to bed."
      As the cast becomes an extraordinary performing unit, Hanan --- who is pre-disposed to a lovely hippie-esque spirituality --- doesn't fail to get the larger point. He's amazed at how far he's come, he's constantly on the verge of tears. Trevor Nunn makes the spiritual lesson less overtly. "You must remember what the greatest power in the theater is," he tells the company. "It has nothing to do with sets and special effects. It's what's going on in your minds, and how that affects the minds of the audience."
     Hanan's account of opening night is appropriately triumphant. And, because this actor is as emotional as he is analytical, you'll tear up when it's time for Nunn to leave New York and go on to his next production. Fifteen months later, with a Tony nomination on his resume, Hanan also left "Cats." To the indelible performance he gave during his stint can now be added this slim but potent book. "Cats" lovers will enjoy it. Actors, if they are smart, will turn it into gold.

Thoroughly enjoyable. The pages flew by. You get a real appreciation of how close the company grew, and how grueling the rehersals were. It is amazing how much was done in a relatively short rehersal period. I saw the show and loved it. I do not know if that made difference, but I would think that for anyone interested in the theater, this would be a wonderful book.

If you've seen the Webber musical, this book will provide great memories. Rich photos and artwork, premium stock paper, all the lyrics and scenes. Great gift for fans of Webber! Contains pull-out poster.

Why is this book out of print? It's really quite good. It gives a great look at the hard work that is put into a show before, during, and after each performance. I got it after years of searching in a used bookstore. It's really worth the hunt if you want it. It comes complete with a nice poster and there's a picture of a young Michael Ball with a rat tail. How can you lose?

This book has oodles of photographs and information about the musical. It is very well researched, and includes information about David Garnett, the history of the time period of the musical, and of course Andrew Lloyd Webber's writing the musical.

The greatest thing to come out since the Musical itself, Wonderful, educational, fantastic reproductions of the 19th century musicals!

Richard Fawkes' The History Of The Musical is a flawlessly recorded, 4 cassette, unabridged audiobook showcasing the development of the musical, from its origins in European light opera and operetta to its it's golden age in the American theater. The great song composers and lyricists are presented including Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Lloyd Webber, and Sondheim. The wonderfully narrated text by the award-winning Broadway singer Kim Criswell is enhanced with almost one hundred famous musical extracts. The History Of The Musical is a "must" for personal, academic, and community library music history and audiobook collections.

Surely there must be a medal somewhere out there for Naxos records and for author Richard Fawkes. After two superb sets of tapes and CDs titled "The History of Classical Music" and "The History of Opera," there is now available Mr. Fawkes' "The History of the Musical" (NA422712). Here we have singer/actress Kim Criswell narrating on 4 CDs or tapes just under 320 minutes of exactly what the title promises.

Starting with "The Beggar's Opera" of 1728, the history of the genre is traced up to the time of writing, meaning "Les Miserables." Along the way, we consider operetta, the English Music Hall, American vaudeville, the review, the book show, the familiar, the off-beat, the dead ends, the highly influential. And the London stage gets a good deal of attention also, thereby introducing a lot of material not very well known to those better versed in the American musical.

As with any good effort of this sort, a strong connection is drawn between the changing times and the changing concepts of what a musical should be. The importance of "Show Boat" is not glossed over, for example, nor is the other shock caused by "Pal Joey." The reliance of Lloyd Webber on staging is mentioned but not his lack of more than one fairly memorable melody per show. In general, the tone is upbeat and positive.

But this is a recording. While it could never include all the information found in a book, its dozens of recorded examples are what makes this set priceless. Where possible, the oldest "original cast" recordings are used. On the other hand, there are some strange exceptions such as "Hey there" from "Pajama Game" being sung not by John Raitt but by Ron Raines on the Jay recording. I suspect this is because Criswell is in the cast of that set.

Again, this set is in tape and CD formats. For educational purposes, the CDs offer direct access to any show under discussion--and the CDs are very generously divided into nearly 200 tracks! Very considerate of the producers. The booklet offers a nice little personal essay by Criswell. So if I have any complaint about this set, it is that I wish it were twice as long.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is a brilliant composer and playwright. If you love singing or playing broadway music, than this book is for you. From slow songs like Unexpected Song and Wishing you Were Somehow Here Again to more upbeat songs like Take That Look Off Your Face and Jesus Christ Superstar, this book covers almost all of his musicals and is absolutly wonderful!

If you by chance are hoping to sing a number from "Phantom of the Opera", or maybe you want to learn how to play "Don't Cry for me Argentina" on the piano, than this is the book for you. This book and it's second volume come complete with vocals and the musical notes. A must buy for performer and andrew Lloyd Webber fans!

Okay, so I wasn't a big CATS fan. I have never seen the show, but have heard the music from CDs. I must say the music is highly addictive. And it's Andrew Lloyd Webber, so how could you go wrong? This book would be the best book for piano because it contains basically every song. But, I have to warn beginners, it can be extremly hard. Most of the songs jump around between sharps and flats, and when they do it's usually four or five at a time! It will take alot of practice to get it down. All the songs are fun to play. It's one of those books where you start at the beginning, and play every song without skipping any. Overall a great buy.

Wow! I was amazed how great and useful this book was. It includes 19 songs of Cats Classics. Most every song is written just like Andrew Lloyd Webber did himself. It also includes pictures from various Cats casts through out the years. If you are a theater buff, and enjoy being up on stage, then this is a great audition book. With songs like Memory, Skimbleshanks, Gus:The Theatre Cat, Mr. Mistoffeles, and many others. It will leave you at the piano for hours playing away. When of the best things about this is that it is the COMPLETE book of songs from the musical. I highly recommend this, and I hope you will enjoys this as much as I did.

The wonders of the woman are shown in what she accomplished. Evita is the woman behind the title of this fantastic romp through a piece of history as well as a part of her life. I truely enjoyed this work of art. It provides insight through effective pecimism while allowing the reader to formulate his or her own opinion of this beloved first lady. Through an unfortunate childhood, the death of her biological father, the coming of age, and the phases of growing up, everthing happens for a reason; the meeting of Colonel Peron! The life she lead should not be compared to another. The entire story is heartfelt and moving...just keep in mind this is one author's perception. There are many more references to choose, but this is a good one to begin your Eva Peron education. I also recommend 'In my own words' by Evita herself.

This is one of my favorite piano books. Most of the songs and themes are included in nice arrangements, although I do wish that they'd included some songs such as "Strange Thing Mystifying" and "Simon Zealots." Other than that, I highly recommend it.

For anyone out there looking for the music and lyrics to perform Jesus Christ Superstar here ya go! i recomend it as it is not all that hard to sing/play and is all around good music.

I love POTO! I had been trying to get this music book for ages. It's quite simple, and very suitable for Grade 3 and above. My fav is the theme song of course and 'All I Ask of You' and 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' are beyond anything I've ever played. 'Masquerade' is not exactly my fav and 'The Point of No Return' is quite tricky but all are equally hauntingly beautiful!

I really Liked this book because you get to play the main songs from The Phantom. It really Isn't that easy, but the harder it is the better it sounds! I reccomend this book to all who love the Phantom songs and would like to play them for themselves

They selected the best songs and I'm very glad to have a copy. It's a bit difficult to play these numbers on a harp (I have no piano)... but I like having it anyway, being a Phantom nut as I am. There's not much I can say about sheet music but I recommend this.

This is a great piano book for those who love the music of The Phantom of the Opera. The songs are not terribly difficult, but they sound great. The keys some of the songs are written in could make it hard for less experienced players.

This sheet music is great! My copy does not have pictures, and some of the lyrics are different, but that's because I bought mine at an auction and it is an older version(my copy is an "easy piano" version, yours might be different).
This sheet music is great for beginning pianists. I am an intermediate piano player myself, and I am a huge Phantom Phan, and when I learned almost all the songs in the book, I figured out that most of the Phantom songs on the soundtrack were in an entirely different key. I play by ear more than I read music, so I set up my boom box next to my keyboard and figured most of the songs out in the different keys.
So, in other words, this sheet music is awesome!!!!

This book ROCKS!!! It is the closest you can get to the behind-the-scenes of Phantom. I got mine on an Amazon Auction(by the way, check out those auctions sometimes, they can be useful). It has the complete libretto at the back and amazingly sharp, clear pictures( they are so sharp you can even see the actors veins in their hands!).
This book has the history of the Paris Opera, then it goes on to tell how Gaston Leroux came up with Phantom, then the film versions of Phantom, then, of course, the Lloyd Webber version.
This book is perfect for the true Phantom Phan!

As a hardcore Phantom fan, I am always looking for more information on the play. I came across this amazing book in the public library in my town and was amazed at the detail. There was so much that I didn't already know, and I knew a lot. I wanted to keep on renewing the book and never give it back but a good friend of mine, who is also very adamant about Phantom, went searching for this book that I wouldn't shut up about and bought me a copy. I love it. It includes info on the opera house, Gaston Leroux(the author of the novel on which Andrew Lloyd Webber's play is based), the story behind the novel, Lon Chaney's film, other versions of the film and other plays, Andrew Lloyd Webber's version, and the Libretto. This is the most complete and well written book on the play I've come across. George Perry reveals the intricacies of the production from make-up to costumes to set to everything. I consider this a valuable part of my Phantom collection and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes this play or theater in general. It rocks!

This book is phenomenal! The information never ends! It details the opera house in Paris where this who story was supposed to take place. There is alot of information on the early movie forms of the story, including those who acted in them, as well as Gaston Leroux's book form. The bulk of the book is about Andrew Lloyd Webber though. There are so many pictures and stories about each of the characters, and the important peopel behind the scenes of the stage! This is a wonderful book whom anyone, Phantom fan or not is sure to enjoy!