Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire

Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire
by Eileen Blumenthal, Julie Taymor, Antonio Monda

Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire
List Price: $50.00
Our Price: $38.25
You Save: $11.75 (24%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $33.52 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Antonio Monda, Eileen Blumenthal, Julie Taymor
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2007-09-30
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: "Harry N. Abrams, Inc."

Book Reviews of Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire

Book Review: A Rare Book for a Rare Artist
Summary: 5 Stars

I bought this book after looking at a friend's copy, and I can say that this was one of the finest investments in my Theatre Arts library that I have ever made. This book is filled with brilliant pictures and vivid writing that will keep many in awe and almost child-like wonder at the genious of Ms. Taymore. This isn't just a book for those that appreciate theatre - I suggest it for anyone who is interested in puppetry or film, not to mention anyone who can appreciate art in general.

Summary of Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire

With more than 40 pages of new material including illustrations and unpublished sketches, this book illuminates Julie Taymor?s entire career, from her theatrical apprenticeship to her most recent work for stage and screen.

There is an all-new introductory essay by Italian film critic Antonio Monda, as well as sections on Frida, Titus, Taymor?s upcoming opera Grendel, and her much-anticipated Beatles film Across the Universe. This sumptuous book offers a fascinating look inside the creative process of one of the world?s great artists.
Most people know the work of theater director Julie Taymor, if they know it at all, from her hit adaptation of Walt Disney's The Lion King for the Broadway stage. But this gorgeous book, a pictorial history of the artist's career, demonstrates that for the past 25 years Taymor has been creating original works of theater that combine a stunning visual sense with an extensive knowledge of the performance styles of many countries outside the West. Theater critic and scholar Eileen Blumenthal has followed the work of Taymor almost since its very beginnings, and her lengthy critical assessment of this inspired artist's work combines interviews with the director with a cogent analysis of her intellectual development and cultural sources.

From her days as a teenager studying the people and theater of Bali to her travels in Japan, Europe, and then back to New York, Taymor has reveled in the cross-fertilization of different images and ideas from a wide variety of countries. Her critically lauded piece The Transposed Heads, for example, was adapted from a Thomas Mann novella that was itself based on an ancient Indian folktale. Unlike most directors, Taymor came from the world of the designer, and it was her exquisite work creating costumes, masks, and puppets that first launched her into work in the theater. But gradually she gained the respect of actors as well, and now is regarded as a director of uncommon sensitivity, who can pull performances from a cast that match in intensity her phenomenal visual eye.

Lavishly illustrated with color and black and white photographs, this is a fitting tribute to a woman who, still in her 40s, is nothing short of a theatrical prodigy. As Taymor moves further into the world of commercial theater and film (her upcoming cinematic production of Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange and adapted from her own stage production of Titus Andronicus, opens soon), more audiences than ever will be treated to her extraordinary work. --John Longenbaugh

General Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in General Books
Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt ImageGeneration T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt
by Megan Nicolay
Workman Publishing Company; Published: 2006-02-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.01
Price in other shops: $15.95
Freakin' Fabulous: How to Dress, Speak, Behave, Eat, Drink, Entertain, Decorate, and Generally Be Better than Everyone Else ImageFreakin' Fabulous: How to Dress, Speak, Behave, Eat, Drink, Entertain, Decorate, and Generally Be Better than Everyone Else
by Clinton Kelly
Simon Spotlight Entertainment; Published: 2008-10-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.00
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Art of Manipulating Fabric ImageThe Art of Manipulating Fabric
by Colette Wolff
Chilton Book Company; Published: 1996-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.73
Price in other shops: $29.95
Style Evolution: How to Create Ageless Personal Style in Your 40s and Beyond ImageStyle Evolution: How to Create Ageless Personal Style in Your 40s and Beyond
by Kendall Farr
Gotham; Published: 2009-04-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.47
Price in other shops: $22.50
The Towering World of Jimmy Choo: A Glamorous Story of Power, Profits, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Shoe ImageThe Towering World of Jimmy Choo: A Glamorous Story of Power, Profits, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Shoe
by Lauren Goldstein Crowe, Sagra Maceira de Rosen
Bloomsbury USA; Published: 2009-04-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.83
Price in other shops: $26.00
Esquire The Handbook of Style: A Man's Guide to Looking Good ImageEsquire The Handbook of Style: A Man's Guide to Looking Good
Hearst; Published: 2009-01-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.55
Price in other shops: $14.95
The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own ImageThe One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own
by Nina Garcia
Collins Living; Published: 2008-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.74
Price in other shops: $21.95
Sock Innovation: Knitting Techniques & Patterns for One-of-a-Kind Socks ImageSock Innovation: Knitting Techniques & Patterns for One-of-a-Kind Socks
by Cookie A
Interweave Press; Published: 2009-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.98
Price in other shops: $22.95
How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better ImageHow Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look 10 Years Younger, 10 Pounds Lighter, 10 Times Better
by Charla Krupp
Springboard Press; Published: 2009-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.21
Price in other shops: $15.99
Pretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, the Wonder Years Before the Condescending,Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart Ass Phase ImagePretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or, the Wonder Years Before the Condescending,Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart Ass Phase
by Jen Lancaster
NAL Hardcover; Published: 2009-05-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.09
Price in other shops: $24.95
Similar Books and other products
The Lion King (1997 Original Broadway Cast) ImageThe Lion King (1997 Original Broadway Cast)
Release date: 1997-11-14; Music CD
Best price: $9.21
Price in other shops: $18.98
Making and Manipulating Marionettes ImageMaking and Manipulating Marionettes
by David Currell
Crowood Press; Published: 2005-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $31.73
Price in other shops: $55.00
Paul Klee: Hand Puppets (Emanating) ImagePaul Klee: Hand Puppets (Emanating)
by Christine Hopfengart, Osamu Okuda, Paul Klee
Hatje Cantz Publishers; Published: 2006-10-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.24
Price in other shops: $40.00
Titus ImageTitus
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2006-04-18; DVD
Best price: $7.61
Price in other shops: $14.98
Puppets, Masks, and Performing Objects ImagePuppets, Masks, and Performing Objects
The MIT Press; Published: 2001-04-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.61
Price in other shops: $24.00
Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex ImageStravinsky - Oedipus Rex
Release date: 2005-06-14; DVD
Best price: $18.67
Price in other shops: $29.98
Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition) ImageAcross the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Sony; Release date: 2008-02-05; DVD
Best price: $9.86
Price in other shops: $19.94
Puppetry: A World History ImagePuppetry: A World History
by Eileen Blumenthal
Harry N. Abrams; Published: 2005-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.99
Price in other shops: $65.00
George Tsypin Opera Factory: Building in the Black Void ImageGeorge Tsypin Opera Factory: Building in the Black Void
by George Tsypin, Julie Taymor
Princeton Architectural Press; Published: 2005-08-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $28.89
Price in other shops: $75.00
LION KING, THE: PRIDE ROCK ON BROADWAY ImageLION KING, THE: PRIDE ROCK ON BROADWAY
by Julie Taymor
Disney Editions; Published: 1998-01-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.98
Price in other shops: $40.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories