Best Performing Arts Reference

Using his unprecedented access to the Lucasfilm Archives and its trove of never-before-published “lost” interviews, photos, production notes, factoids, and anecdotes, Star Wars scholar J. W. Rinzler hurtles readers back in time for a one-of-a-kind behind-the-scenes look at the nearly decade-long quest of George Lucas and his key collaborators to make the “little” movie that became a phenomenon. • the evolution of the now-classic story and characters–including “Annikin Starkiller” and “a huge green-skinned monster with no nose and large gills” named Han Solo. • excerpts from George Lucas’s numerous, ever-morphing script drafts. • the birth of Industrial Light & Magic, the special-effects company that revolutionized Hollywood filmmaking. • the studio-hopping and budget battles that nearly scuttled the entire project. • the director’s early casting saga, which might have led to a film spoken mostly in Japanese–including the intensive auditions that won the cast members their roles and made them legends. • the grueling, nearly catastrophic location shoot in Tunisia and the subsequent breakneck dash at Elstree Studios in London. • the who’s who of young film rebels who pitched in to help–including Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and Brian DePalma. J. W. Rinzler, former executive editor at Lucasfilm Ltd., is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Making of Star Wars and London Times bestseller The Complete Making of Indiana Jones , as well as the #1 NY Times Bestselling graphic novel, adapted from George Lucas's original rough draft, "The Star Wars."

Widely acknowledged as the “bible” of video and film production, and used in courses around the world, The Filmmaker’s Handbook is now updated with the latest advances in HD and new digital formats. Billed as the authoritative guide to filmmaking from fundraising to distribution, the book achieves this in clear, accessible language using current up-to-date information. A gilt-edged investment for aspiring and beginning filmmakers and it would not be out of place in the libraries of experienced professionals either.”—James MacGregor, Netribution.co.uk. No matter what corner of the subject I poked into, looking for cogent explanations, the Handbook passed with flying colors. So please accept my admiration, appreciation and thanks.”—Pat Jackson, Associate Professor, San Francisco State University; Emmy-winning Supervising Sound Editor.

This book follows one of his acting classes for fifteen months, beginning with the most rudimentary exercises and ending with affecting and polished scenes from contemporary American plays. Throughout these pages Meisner is a delight—always empathizing with his students and urging them onward, provoking emotion, laughter, and growing technical mastery from his charges. Meisner, a member of the Theater Guild and the Group Theater, has devoted most of 50 years to teaching acting and is one of the great unsung resources in American theater. This book is not an acting text, but a journal of a 15-month course taken by 16 adult actors.

The great French mime performer, Claude Kipnis, reveals the mechanisms and techniques of mime in an easy-to-understand translation.

Wicked is not just a musical, it is a phenomenon. "The book takes you down the yellow brick road and behind the curtains of the great wizard."

• Features over 30 images, each one a single page so no bleed through • Heavyweight, artist-grade paper perfect for whatever you like to color with.

Miranda, along with Jeremy McCarter, a cultural critic and theater artist who was involved in the project from its earliest stages--"since before this was even a show," according to Miranda--traces its development from an improbable perfor­mance at the White House to its landmark opening night on Broadway six years later. Lin-Manuel Miranda (Book, Music, and Lyrics/Alexander Hamilton) is the Tony and Grammy award-winning composer-lyricist-star of Broadway's In the Heights --winner of four 2008 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Orchestrations, and Best Choreography with Miranda receiving the award for Best Score.

Also available from Matt Zoller Seitz: The Oliver Stone Experience , The Wes Anderson Collection: Bad Dads , The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel. , and Mad Men Carousel . “In The Wes Anderson Collection , Seitz expands a series of video essays on Anderson’s influences, illuminating as much of Anderson’s process as possible in a massive, beautifully rendered volume. Although it looks (and sometimes reads) like a coffee table book, The Wes Anderson Collection brings together style and substance to provide a loving homage to Anderson’s films and moviemaking in general.”. ( FILTER ). “ The Wes Anderson Collection comes as close as a book can to reading like a Wes Anderson film.

Finally, here's how to do all those showy tricks and flourishes that card players are dying to know: how to send a deck cascading from one hand to the other. Written by Joshua Jay, the award-winning close-up magician and card-obsessed author of Magic: The Complete Course , The Amazing Book of Cards combines friendly, concise text and full-color photos with a full-length DVD that teaches the lessons and shows the subtleties of performance. Joshua Jay, “one of America’s finest young magicians” ( Genii , The Conjurors’ Magazine ), has headlined at the prestigious Magic Castle in Hollywood, is a magic consultant for several multinational toy manufacturers, and has served as the monthly columnist for Magic magazine for 12 years.