Ghost Light
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.57 (661 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1931056064 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 420 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Superstition says that without it, a ghost will take up residence in the dark theater. The author writes lovingly of how his favorite songs, shows, and actors became a lifeline, leading him from the terrors of daily life to the tinsel dreams of Broadway, whose denizens welcomed him into its last golden era.. Frank Rich's compelling chronicle of his youth tells how theater itself became his ghost light, a beacon of security for a child finding his way through a tumultuous world. Ghost light, in theater parlance, is that single light left burning at center stage after the audience, actors, and musicians have gone home. Struggling with his parents' divorce and the universal trials of childhood, Rich took refuge in the spectacle and emotional power of the great musicals - South Pacific, Carousel, The Music Man - and eventually found a second home at Washington's National Theatre, where he worked as a ticket-taker
Paying tribute to the men who both shared and cultivated his passion for the theater, Rich draws touching portraits of Scott Kirkpatrick, manager of Washington's National Theatre, who hired young Frank as a ticket taker, and of Clayton Coots, a company manager who befriended him. After an enchanted trip to see Bells Are Ringing in 1956 when he was 7, Rich writes, "I was now destined to trace my childhood almost exclusively through an accelerating progression of plays, good and bad, that would captivate and kidnap me." Many of the tickets came from his stepfather, who was sometimes generous and fun but often frighteningly abusive. Once again, the theater helped him cope: when Frank saw <
"Life begins in the theatre" according to Lyric. This is a beautifully written, sensitive memoir of a painful childhood and coming of age. Anyone who has ever listened to the original cast album of a Broadway show and been transported in their mind to a theatre will find a kindred spirit in Frank Rich. Rich grew up in a home which had an abundance of material goods but also contained an abundance of pain. His love of the theatre and some lovely people he met along the way helped him to endure until he went away to college and his adult life.Mr. Rich was for many years the very astute theatre critic for the New York Times. He now writes incisive OpEd pieces for the Time. Magic Nights, Magic Lights HeyJudy GHOST LIGHT was so moving that my mother, who read my copy after me, became almost hysterical about the treatment that Frank Rich, his sister and step-siblings, received at the hands of their parents and step-parents. Since all of this happened a long time ago, in the dark ages before child abuse was frowned upon, it is a credit to author Rich's writing skills that he made his report so real that it could elicit such a reaction forty years after the events described. Of course, all of us who are New Yorkers, all of us who have spent the last twenty or so years reading Mr. Rich in the NEW YORK TIMES, hardly can be surpris. A Customer said Frank Rich graces the theatre world once again.. This is a must read for any ACTOR. The normal audience member will not enjoy the many humourous and quirky things that only an actor can understand. Actors of all backgrounds and levels will enjoy the insight that Frank afforded the theatre community. Yes, it can ramble, but like any review in the NY Times, read what you want to. Buy it, read it, and become a better actor.