Published by Black Swan, part of Transworld Publishers
Format: Paperback
£7.99
Author:
Emma Brockes
Format: Paperback
EAN: 9780552773188
£7.99
Available for dispatch within 1-2 working days
EAN: 9780552773188
Published: 11 Feb 2008
Film musicals: you either love them or they make you want to kill yourself slowly with plastic cutlery. Nothing has the power to lift your heart or turn your stomach like Howard Keel in fake sideburns singing Bless Your Beautiful Hide or Julie Andrews singing...well, just about anything.There are few situations where the question What would Barbra do? doesn't have relevance in a world which is much better lived to a soundtrack of show-tunes.
This is a book for people who know that
* People don't tend to die in musicals, but those who do deserve it
* True love waits long enough for an element of mistaken identity to be introduced (especially if one of the couple is a Nazi)
* Women carry the show.
* Talented women wind up alone...
* ...But they have the consolation of the torch song, which in Hollywood musicals is more fulfilling than a husband.
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A sharply written and wickedly funny guide ... serious, silly and utterly, compellingly humane.
- Daily Telegraph
Entertaining and witty.
- Independent on Sunday
A warm, funny memoir
- Mail on Sunday
An entertaining, heartfelt, light-as-air romp: much like a good musical in fact.
- Sunday Times
Extremely funny.
- Daily Express
If you've ever felt like bursting into an impromptu showtune at an intensely emotional time, this is a must-read.
- Easy Living
A different sort of fantasy.
- Vogue
A fabulous read.
- Hot Stars magazine
An enjoyable romp.
- East Anglian Daily Times
Witty, caustic and rambling, but above all, entertaining.
- Irish Mail on Sunday
Musical fans will adore this book - and even those who change channel at the hint of a song may find themselves smiling.
- The Gloss
A frothy, light-hearted investigation
- Metro Scotland
This funny, fervent, fans-eye book is packed with facts and apocrypha about all the best-loved musicals as well as some you've never heard of. Magic.
- Sainsbury's Magazine
(Brockes') enthusiasm for the genre is infectious; all is delightfully self-deprecating as well as extremely funny. One of her heroines is Barbra Streisland whose music is likened to 'a multi-vitamin supplement, an all-round boost to the immunity.' You could say the same of this book.
- Good Book Guide
Excellent writing and convinving theorising: her essay on Mary Poppins alone makes the book worth seeking out
- Observer
A warm and witty tribute to musicals of the golden age
- Waterstones Books Quarterly
A warm, affectionate and heartfelt exploration of the power of song and dance
- Gay Times
Emma Brockes has been a feature writer at the Guardian for several years.In 2001 she won Young Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards, and in 2002 she was voted Feature Writer of the Year, one of the youngest ever recipients of the award. After living in London, where she indulged her passion for musicals at every opportunity, Emma has now moved to New York where she hopes to do the same.
