The ABCs of Acting in Musicals: A Civilian's Guide

ALL YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED.

This book is entertaining, informative, and really easy to read and understand. It's short enough to read in one sitting or you can flip open to any page and find something worth thinking about.

The second in writer-director Scott Miller's ABCs series, The ABCs of Acting in Musicals: A Civilian's Guide is a fun, easy-to-read, totally non-intimidating way to get a basic understanding of the very difficult craft of creating a solid performance in a stage musical, including a brief history of musicals, a brief survey of acting methods, myths about musicals and about acting, useful musical theatre terms, good books and documentaries, plus a wide array of other related topics, like using silence and stillness, the Fourth Wall, realism and naturalism, playing funny, playing sexy, acting traps, audition tips, the nature of "reality" onstage, and lots more. Even trained, experienced musical theatre actors may learn something from this little book!

What exactly is musical theatre acting?

How is acting in a musical different from acting in a play?

Is acting in a musical harder than acting in a play?

What are the acting "methods" actors talk about?

How do you navigate the "reality" inside the story and the reality of being onstage in front of an audience, all while singing and dancing?

What really makes a musical tick? What kind of work goes into it?