"A major resource for both general and scholarly audiences. Using a dictionary catalog arrangement, The Companion offers full synopses and scenarios, production information, and critical commentary for O'Neill's major and minor plays. Character analyses appear for all but a very few minor figures. Cast lists of original productions and selected revivals are provided along with essays on specific theatrical companies. Biographies of persons involved in the design and production of first performances are included, as are those of actors who created important roles or have become linked with certain roles. The Companion also includes detailed biographies of O'Neill, his wives, members of his family, and his close associates, particularly those from his Provincetown and Greenwich Village days. The book's three appendices list a chronology of completed plays; film, musical, and operatic adaptations of works; and an assessment of O'Neill's theory and practice of the theater. ... The broad scope of this work should provide accessible and welcome assistance to both the seasoned O'Neill scholar and the newly initiated.... For academic libraries, community college level and up, and public libraries." -- Choice
Review
“A major resource for both general and scholarly audiences. Using a dictionary catalog arrangement, The Companion offers full synopses and scenarios, production information, and critical commentary for O'Neill's major and minor plays. Character analyses appear for all but a very few minor figures. Cast lists of original productions and selected revivals are provided along with essays on specific theatrical companies. Biographies of persons involved in the design and production of first performances are included, as are those of actors who created important roles or have become linked with certain roles. The Companion also includes detailed biographies of O'Neill, his wives, members of his family, and his close associates, particularly those from his Provincetown and Greenwich Village days. The book's three appendices list a chronology of completed plays; film, musical, and operatic adaptations of works; and an assessment of O'Neill's theory and practice of the theater. ... The broad scope of this work should provide accessible and welcome assistance to both the seasoned O'Neill scholar and the newly initiated.... For academic libraries, community college level and up, and public libraries.”–
“We have long needed such a book, and we should be extremely grateful to Professor Ranald for creating it. Her herculean effort is unlikely to be rivaled in our time....”–
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