Musical / 9m, 6f / Various Sets A hilarious take off on American films, especially from the 1930s through the 1970s. The principals play a variety of characters. There is a Cagney Bogart Dean Brando type-- and a Fonda Stewart Peck Perkins type. The women, too, are types-- basically Bette Davis, Loretta Young and Eve Arden. The parts they play are wild parodies from many Hollywood genres; a silent tearjerker, slum idyll, gangster epic, courtroom melodrama, chain gang social justice thriller, screwball comedy, Busby Berkeley backstage musical, war propaganda canteen musical-- not to forget "Casablanca," "Citizen Kane" and a variety of minor genres. "Christopher Durang has written one of the funniest, zaniest, most entertaining plays of the last decade...What we see is the American way of life reflected through a distortion mirror...It's true that Durang has serious points to make...but this is no message play, thank goodness. Most everything in it is pure, unadulterated, uproarious fun....[Durang's] witty comedy about the movies is a splendid, constantly surprising treat." - Stanley Eichelbaum, San Francisco Examiner "A grand popular entertainment. A significant act of film criticism as well as wise social commentary. Mr. Durang has the waggishness of four Marxes and the malice of Jonathan Swift. Through the history of the American film, we see a history of America - the turn from patriotism to cynicism, from optimism to sensationalism...The clown-sharp company of comic actors strikes precisely the correct stance - total conviction and not camp...A History of the American Film is an A-movie, a glorious montage of myth-America. - Mel Gussow, The New York Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Challenging, but Unique and Fun to Direct,
This review is from: History of the American Film, A (Paperback)
It takes a lot of creativity to stage the frequently changing locales and scenes of this play, but the comic spoofery of American film history is a unique twist for what we think of as musical theater. Early scenes begin with the silent movie era, with most of the scenes focusing on the 1930s through the 1950s. The playwright creates comic send-ups of Cagney, Bogart, Dean, Brando, Fonda, Stewart, Peck, and Perkins-- and of actresses Bette Davis, Loretta Young and Eve Arden. Samuel French describes the scenes as "parodies from many Hollywood genres-- a silent tearjerker, slum idyll, gangster epic, courtroom melodrama, chain gang social justice thriller, screwball comedy, Busby Berkeley backstage musical, war propaganda canteen musical-- not to forget "Casablanca," "Citizen Kane" and a variety of minor genres." Lots of zany screwball fun.
Score by Mel Marvin. Cast: 9 m., 6 f.
5.0 out of 5 stars
thanks so much,
By Ashley (Missouri) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A history of the American film (A Bard book) (Paperback)
I havent read the book yet, but a friend of mine did and told me to use it as a humourous interp peice. So whoever reviewed this the first time thank you so much. I'm glad to know that it worked well, because thats what i'm planning to do with it next year. Christopher Durang is a great playwright, i'm doing a peice of his for my Humourous interp peice this year, and he is so funny. Thanks so much
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great for Interpretation (Speech),
By
This review is from: A history of the American film (A Bard book) (Paperback)
This piece is a little choppy as far as play progression goes, but I used it as a Humorous Interpretation cutting for my Speech team with great results! The story is the progression of a couple people (mainly a woman) through a satirical movie scenario. It's hilarious as they go through the silent years, western films, even grapefruit weilding gangsters. It's an absolutely hilarious piece and a must-have script!
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