Careful the Spell You Cast : How Stephen Sondheim Extended the Range of the A...

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Last updated on Nov 17, 2025 06:14:09 SGTView all revisionsView all revisions

Item specifics

Condition
Brand New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. See all condition definitionsopens in a new window or tab
Book Title
Careful the Spell You Cast : How Stephen Sondheim Extended the Ra
ISBN
9781350281851
Category

About this product

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN-10
1350281859
ISBN-13
9781350281851
eBay Product ID (ePID)
17065565250

Product Key Features

Number of Pages
184 Pages
Publication Name
Careful the Spell You Cast : How Stephen Sondheim Extended the Range of the American Musical
Language
English
Publication Year
2024
Subject
Theater / Broadway & Musicals, History & Criticism
Type
Textbook
Author
Ben Francis
Subject Area
Music, Performing Arts
Format
Trade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height
0.5 in
Item Weight
10.3 Oz
Item Length
9.2 in
Item Width
6.2 in

Additional Product Features

Intended Audience
Scholarly & Professional
Dewey Edition
23
Illustrated
Yes
Dewey Decimal
782.14092
Table Of Content
Preface 1. Oscar Hammerstein: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark 2. Arthur Laurents: We'll Find a Way of Beginning 3. Howard Prince: Are We a Pair? 4. Burt Shevelove: Nothing That's Grim 5. James Goldman: The Decades Fly 6. George Furth: Someday Just Begun 7. Hugh Wheeler: How Civilised Men Behave 8. John Weidman: Where's My Prize? 9. James Lapine: I Think I See a Glimmer Conclusion
Synopsis
Stephen Sondheim is one of the best-known and most-loved musical theatre composers, but also one of the most misunderstood, often being labelled as 'distant' or 'cynical'. Careful the Spell You Cast instead argues that Sondheim firmly belongs to the Broadway aspirational tradition, in that many of his characters are defined by their dreams: to abandon one's dream (as Ben does in Follies , Frank does in Merrily We Roll Along , and Addison does in Road Show ) is to lose one's soul. Rather than take the established view of Sondheim as a cynic, this book contends that throughout Sondheim's work, letting go of one's illusions is a process that his characters need to go through, that they must cast off illusions and false dreams, without becoming cynical and destroying their genuine dreams in the process. In turn this view aligns Sondheim's work as being aspirational and a logical continuation from the work of his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II. Following the trajectory of Sondheim's career, Careful the Spell You Cast shows how Sondheim has dramatized this process throughout his writing life alongside different collaborators. From his work as a lyricist with the musicals Gypsy and West Side Story through to his later collaborations with Hal Prince ( Company, Follies ) and James Lapine ( Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George ), this book reframes the established view through lyrical and structural analysis in relation to the characters within each of these celebrated works of musical theatre, arguing that Sondheim is, in the popular sense of the word, a romantic within the tradition of the Broadway musical.
LC Classification Number
ML410.S6872F73 2024

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