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The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide | 
 enlarge | Author: David Spencer
Publisher: Heinemann Drama
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $16.84
You Save: $3.11 (16%)
New (15) Used (6) from $16.84
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 302954
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 216
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 0325007861
Dewey Decimal Number: 782.1413
EAN: 9780325007861
ASIN: 0325007861
Publication Date: July 1, 2005
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Condition: BRAND NEW! In publisher's original shrink-wrap. May have remainder mark unless previously noted. Dlvy confirmation within US included. Shipping Fast, except Hawaii and Alaska. Our Provident name: making timely fulfillment & thorough preparation to secure a future together.
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Product Description
David Spencer has written a book full of truths a young writer will not find articulated anywhere else. Most of us in the theatre gained our "experience" by making mistakes and learning from them. David's book lets you gain the "experience" and skip the mistakes part. Anyone maneuvering the treacherous waters of musicals will find it not nearly so lonely or baffling with this remarkable volume as a companion.
- Richard Maltby, Jr., Director/Lyricist, Miss Saigon, Ain't Misbehavin', Baby Consider The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide your new best friend in the business.
- Alan Menken, Oscar recipient and TonyAward nominee, composer, Little Shop of Horrors and Beauty and the Beast At long last: a how-to book written by someone who actually knows how to. It hits so many nails on the head I could barely get through it for the sound of all that hammering.
- Larry Gelbart, Award-winning co-librettist, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and librettist, City of Angels For its practitioners, musical theatre is an art, a passion, and a lifelong love. But it's also a complex landscape involving not merely principles of craft about book, music and lyrics, but also principles of collaboration, script/demo presentation, project/production development, venue, business, and - everybody's area of uncertainty - politics. In The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide, award-winning musical dramatist and teacher David Spencer provides a guide-to-the-game that helps you negotiate all those aspects of the business and more. This professional handbook will walk you through: - getting your name and your projects into the hands of producers, instead of the rejection pile
- choosing the right producer, agent, or director, instead of surrounding yourself with people uninterested in your work and your careeror interested for the wrong reasons
- bringing your vision to life through stage-savvy writing, instead of watching it sputter due to flaws in craft
- living a happy, healthy life in musicals, instead of dying a slow, showbiz death.
If you're taking your first steps, Spencer's counsel, anecdotes, and instructions will save you years of blindly stumbling about without results. Likewise, if you've been around the block a few times, The Musical Theatre Writer's Survival Guide can rescue you from the kinds of career-stalling traps, bad habits, and false assumptions that lead to dead ends.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
Masterpiece of applicable advice, thank you Spencer March 10, 2008
Rare it is to find a guide so well crafted by a writer successful in his own right. I found this the perfect abridged bible for anyone with a career or contemplating a career in the musical theater. David Spencer's frank tone tears down the dream and shows the true reality of the business. With diligent and witty writing, Spencer's guide is as fun as it is rigorous. The author includes bits of his own writing process mingled with very generous advice on what works and what does not. It's reading list alone would recommend it. This book will make many a musical theater writer conscious of the hidden pitfalls prevalent in the business and so will, with an increase of its readership, increase the quantity as well as quality of musical authorship on and off-Broadway, a deed most needed.
You get the feeling the author cares about the reader's survival through life as well as on the perilous if rewarding journey of musical theater writing. The book is surprisingly also a brilliant textbook for navigating professional and private relationships as Spencer is of the clever opinion that success in any field requires such skill. Theater-goers may benefit as well from its clear picture of the creative process behind the large shows. No one interested in musical theater should be without this book.
An Invaluable Resource March 5, 2008
David Spencer's book is without question the most comprehensive, concise and informative book on writing contemporary musical theatre I've found on the market to date. An astonishingly quick (and entertaining) read, the book covers all of the bases of writing shows, from the creative process to dealing with the business end of getting an original musical produced. It is also jam-packed with useful information regarding the 'knit-picky' details of standard conventions (such as formatting scripts, creating and distributing demos, etc) that are worth the price of purchase alone.
The book is well-structured into concise, easy to read sections that are easy to refer to when necessary. Appropriately titled a "Survival Guide," Spencer makes no attempt to create an 'everything-you-need-to-know-to-write-a-musical' guide; instead, he provides brief (but considerably detailed) insight into each topic.
This is not a book for a beginner who is looking to learn how to write songs, but rather for ambitious young artists who are serious about creating new musical theatre. There are entire books that deal with the considerations posed by individual chapters (such as musical forms, rhyme, characterization, etc) that supplant the information in this book; his list of suggested readings is very helpful. Consider this book to be the 'study-guide' for the test; there is no other book on the market that covers so much terrain with such detail in such a small volume. It truly has become my survival guide - thank you David Spencer!
Excellent! October 20, 2007
I have read some books on writing Broadway Musicals which were quite good but this one has a direct clarity that demystify's the process of creating a musical. Good advice is given in every important area from story to page layout and fonts to the politics involved in collaboration. An invaluable tool for a writer that's seasoned or just starting out.
 Simply essential November 26, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
THE MUSICAL THEATRE WRITER'S SURVIVAL GUIDE is, one the whole, an excellent and much-needed resource. This is not so much a book about how to write a musical, but what to do with it once you have written it. The most valuable parts for me were the sections dealing with collaboration. Author David Spencer discusses not only how to deal with writing partners, but also with the other collaborators, like the director, the producer and the designer. He also gives practical advice about the most effective way of presenting the reading and making the demo recording. He goes into great detail about what any material that you send out should look like. These parts of the book alone make it worth owning.
I felt that Spencer jumped the track toward the end with a lengthy discussion of setting up one's own recording studio, which would have been much better as an appendix, rather than in the main body of the book. My other quibbles with the book are the rather gag-inducing Sondheim worship and the author's frequent tooting of this own horn. (I found the section dealing with awards and grants depressing because it only pointed up the unlikelihood that material by a maverick like me would ever be considered.) There are a couple of minor errors (such as when he says that William Redfield played Rosencrantz in Burton's HAMLET, when in reality he played Guildenstern) and there is a glaring use of "principle" as an adjective, rather than "principal." But in general, I found this an invaluable book that absolutely needed to be written. Every serious musical theatre writer should have his own copy. This one is simply essential.
Indispensable, Unique Reference for Musical Theatre Writers September 30, 2006
I am an aspiring musical theatre writer with no real experience yet, but reading this makes me feel like I have twenty years of experience under my belt! It seems that Mr. Spencer has thoughtfully included, out of his own widespread experience in the biz, absolutely every thought, information, helpful tidbit or advice that I think EVERY new or seasoned musical theatre writer will find very, very helpful. He is very intentional about sharing stories and information to help young writers avoid pitfalls and mistakes he once made, or is familiar with. Every chapter flows well, is thorough, well-structured, & intriguing to read. I am sure I will continue looking back to this for frequent reference as I continue pursuing this career. Thank you, Mr. Spencer, for this invaluable resource!! It is worth more than every penny!
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