Overview
Actor-musicianship is a permanent feature of the musical theatre
landscape. Actor-musician shows can be seen from Bradford to Broadway,
from village halls to international arena tours. However, with the
exception of a couple of academic papers, there has been nothing written
about this fascinating area of theatre practice. Jeremy Harrison's book
addresses this deficit, operating as both a record of the development
of the actor-musician movement and as a practical guide for students,
educators, performers and practitioners. It explores the history of
actor-musicianship, examining its origins, as well as investigating -
and offering guidance on - how this specialist form of music theatre is
created. It, in turn, acts as a means of defining an art form that has
to date been left to lurk in the shadows of musical theatre; a subset
with its own distinctive culture of performer, maker and audience, but
as yet no formal recognition as a specialism in its own right. The
actor-musician show is multifarious and as such this book targets those
interested in mainstream commercial work, as well as alternative and
avant-garde theatre practice.
The book draws together expertise from a range of disciplines with
contributions from many of the leading figures in this field, including
performers, directors, teachers, MDs, producers and writers. It also
features a foreword by theatre director John Doyle.