Stanislavski Never Wore Tap Shoes: Musical Theater Acting Craft - by Burke Moses
Finally, a book about acting on the musical stage! Ask any director who stages musicals at any level, and you will hear the same: acting is the musical theater gold standard, the skill hardest to find in the audition room. Acting facility almost always separates leading player from ensemble, and, frequently, employed from unemployed. In film or on the dramatic stage, great acting stands in the spotlight. It has its own dressing room. It’s paid top dollar and walks the red carpet. Yet in the musical theater just a little acting skill goes a long, long way. With only a measure of dramatic ability, the fine singer with leading man looks will find consistent employment at mid-level, and even top venues. In the largest and most fiercely competitive group in the marketplace, the ingénue capable of speaking dialogue with mere competence rises far above her peers. The skilled ensemble singer/dancer capable of handling bit parts with aplomb, or can be counted on to take over as a reliable understudy, is nearly guaranteed a long career in theater. Almost all big musicals need chorus members that, “act a little.” Many musical performers complain about lack of work, yet always is solution the same: learn to speak the libretto-crafted word! “Stanislavski Never Wore Tap Shoes” teaches the craft of libretto acting. It is the first such text written for the musical theater, the first penned by a seasoned musical performer, and the first book that addresses the unique acting challenges faced everyday by Show People. Author Burke Moses is a thirty-year stage veteran, and has played leading roles on Broadway, The West End, at most of the major summer stock and regional theaters in America, and has worked across from many of the finest musical theater talents in the world. He is best known for originating the role of Gaston in the original Broadway and London productions of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.” When speaking dialogue on the musical stage, are you guessing or do you KNOW what you’re doing? Acting is far more effective and fun when you KNOW! Let’s learn our craft, shall we?
