Actor-Musicianship

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.