Educational Media Reviews Online

The premise of this extraordinary box set is simple – pair an established playwright, composer, or lyricist with an emerging writer and see where the conversation goes. The result is a fascinating and richly textured look at both musical theatre history and the creative process.

Similar in genre to the Bravo series Inside the Actor’s Studio, each film is self-contained and can certainly stand on its own. However, it is the interconnections across the set of films that illustrate the complexity of working relationships for many of the writers and which thereby provide a broader context for viewers. One of the conversations is decidedly one-sided (Michael John LaChiusa rarely lets his interviewee get a word in edgewise), and that’s a shame, for Charles Strouse has storytelling gems to share. Aside from that one conversation, the interviews are well balanced and address each writer’s career triumphs and failures, influences, writing process, and collaborative partnerships. Of particular note are the interviews with collaborative teams Lee Adams and Charles Strouse (interviewed separately) and Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (interviewed together), as well as Will Eno’s conversation with Edward Albee. Some interviewers are more closely tied to their subjects than others, and those pairs who share strong bonds (Adam Guettel and Stephen Sondheim, for example) are particularly interesting to watch. Archival photographs provide additional value and keep the audience visually connected to the oral histories. This set will be invaluable to academic libraries for students in English, Theatre, and Music, but it also will have broad appeal to general audiences and public libraries (although cost may put it out of range for some).