Product Description
GREAT SONGS FROM THE MUSICAL THAT WON 7 TONY AWARDS ON BROADWAY AND WAS A SMASH HIT AROUND THE WORLD.INCLUDES:ON THIS NIGHT OF A THOUSAND STARS . EVA, BEWARE OF THE CITY . BUENOS AIRES . I'D BE SURPRISINGLY GOOD FOR YOU . ANOTHER SUITCASE IN ANOTHER HALL . DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA . HIGH FLYING ADORED . RAINBOW HIGH . AND THE MONEY KEPT ROLLING IN (AND OUT) . WALTZ FOR EVA AND CHE . SHE IS A DIAMOND.PLUS CAST PHOTOS FROM THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY PRODUCTION. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Evita Broadway Score Excellent Addition!
The Broadway score of Evita is an excellent addition to any songbook library.It includes most of the popular songs, but more importantly, includes the entire libretto to this Broadway masterpiece.There are somegreat pictures of Patti LuPone (stunning in this role) as well as MandyPatinkin, both tony winners, in their respective parts.The music is anintermediate mix, giving challenge to the piano player yet, still a lot offun with all of it's rhythms and variations.I suggest getting this foranyone who likes musicals and Andrew Lloyd Webber! ... Read more

Product Description
Matching folio to Disney's animated film featuring songs from Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. 7 songs in all, including: One Jump Ahead * Prince Ali * Friend Like Me * A Whole New World * and more. Complete with full-color art from the movie. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Takes Music to a Whole New World!!
Big Easy Notes will have everyone playing these
songs from the Disney movie of the same title.
Easy arrangements that you can play well, because
they are already familiar - and hey if you forget
the words- don't worry - this book comes with lyrics.
Sturdy glossy pages will last thru several uses-
and students. Retail is $14.95- so you can pick
up a used copy fairly cheap. ... Read more

Product Description
Beautiful sheet music book, 1970 release date. With complete vocals and piano. ... Read more

Product Description
Enthusiastically anticipated as the latest Disney stage production, following the astounding success of Julie Taymors breakthrough production of The Lion King, Aida is certain to be a hit. Celebrated songwriter Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice present their version of the classic tale of Aidathe story of a love triangle in which the three main charactersRadames, Aida, and Amnerisare torn between love for each other and their greater duties. This colourful book contains all the excitement of the lavish production, detailing all the action on the stage and behind the curtain. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great book for Aida fans
I'm designing sets for our production of Aida.This book is the perfect reference for colors, lighting and design.

Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida: The Making of the Broadway Musical
Amazing book, all Aida lovers should get it! The pictures are beautiful, and the information is really detailed.

One of the better Broadway books
I'm a fan of Tie-In books, whether they be for a movie, or Broadway. This one ranks fairly high up there, behind Rent
by the Johnny Larson Estate, the Renthead bible, but above the Beauty and the Beast book which was more pictures than information.

This one had tons of information, and a good selection of pictures. You get a fantastic idea of how they progressed from the original story to the Broadway show, and nice behind the scenes anecdotes. There are also some very beautiful 2-page spreads, such as when the two-starcrossed lovers meet in the museum. However, the book is rather thin compared to some, and thus it doesn't hold quite as much information as some would like it to. It certainly could have used more pictures.

One thing it doesn't have are production drawings and concept art (it has a couple but they're small), which I always love to see. Those really help get you visualize what the production team was going for originally.

Still it's worth buying, and I would recommend it very much to any Aida fan certianly.

Overall a fine book but lacking at times
You'll find this oversized book ripe with details, from conception to Broadway debut, and filled with pages of colorful photos that illuminate the production. Journalist and author Michael Lassell traces the show's history with interviews from those intimately involved, from writer and composer Elton John and Tim Rice to stars Adam Pascal and Heather Headley to costume designers and choreographers. His unrivaled access allows us to visit every aspect of the production.

The book is divided into four chapters: story, composition, production, and performance. The first section describes the timeless tragedy and romance of Aida and of its rebirth from acclaimed opera to modern day rock musical. John and Rice's hammering out the numbers is described in the second part, and we begin to see the show's evolution from its originally titled "Elaborate Lives" Atlanta production. Set design, art direction, scenery, and costuming are detailed in the third chapter, and the last focuses on performance details.

The most ardent fan will always find such books lacking, but in fairness it gives the common theatre-goer a good sense of the energy required to stage a Broadway production. One of the best features is the photos, both plentiful and saturated with color. I especially liked the visual contrasts between various stages of the show, such as early costume sketches compared with the final outfits. The breadth of interviews also conveys the passion of an extraordinary "Aida" team.

A couple of things could have been improved upon. While I enjoyed the pictures, there was a redundancy to some. Two full page spreads of "Dance of the Robe," for example, one to illustrate the lighting and a second to show the choreography, proved unnecessary.Space dedicated to "sequence shots," a cluster of essentially the same candid photo, could also have been better utilized with more production stills or, better yet, meatier text. At the core of the show is the story, its historical and contemporary implications, and this book doesn't drive into the heart of the characters quite forcefully enough. Lassell only dedicates several pages at the end to the actors' interpretations of their characters.

This is a heckuva book!
This is an excellent book and very informative. It tells you about all of the changes that the show went through. It has wonderful pictures. They're all in color and they bring back memories of the show. I had had the good fortune of seeing the show with the entire original cast still intact. There were no understudies that day and I was so happy. I'm still trying to remember where that scrim in Fortune Favors the Brave came from. My only complaint is that they didn't tell the name of the man who played Radames before Adam Pascal took over in Chicago. Buy this book. You will thank me. ... Read more

Product Description
With wit and candour, Tim Rice describes the gilded path that took him from cricket and comic-obsessed schoolboy to one of the world's best-known lyricists.Along the way he worked as a petrol pump attendant and articled clerk before becoming a management trainee at EMI.But it was his fateful meeting with Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1965 which was to be the turning-point in Tim's career.Immediate fortune didn't follow and it took the album of Jesus Christ Superstar to reach no.1 in the States before they were taken seriously.Covering every aspect of his life until his marriage to Jane McIntosh and the opening of the stage production of Evita, this is an engaging and fascinating autobiography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Worth Every Penny
This boxed set is INDISPENSABLE for any fan of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's work together, not to mention admirers of their Disney music and films in particular (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin).To hear the composer and lyricist developing what would become some of this generation's most beloved and widely known melodies sends chills down the spine (as does the demo track where Menken works through various iterations of the tune for the title song of "Beauty and the Beast" before finally coming to the best version - you can hear him make the breakthrough on tape.)The discs are inspiring for fans of the duo's work, and a terrific insight into how a great musical number for film or stage is crafted.

Ashman passed away long before his time, and with Little Shop of Horrors and these Disney films as his popular legacy collaborating with Menken, listeners are fortunate to find such a wealth of material here (for a similar "behind the scenes look on Little Shop of Horrors, check out the 2003 Broadway cast edition which features demo recordings as bonus tracks - Little Shop of Horrors (2003 Broadway Revival Cast))

Note that while Tim Rice is given equal billing, this set really is all about Ashman and Menken (Rice contributed to a handful of songs out of the four disc collection).This is an example of a Disney music collection done right, with four full discs to provide hours of listening (the Aladdin score disc isn't as long as the others, but the main discs are jam-packed).

Amazon does not generally carry this set in stock, so be sure to check their marketplace sellers for new copies; also note that Amazon has this collection listed at least three times on their site under different titles and each has different marketplace sellers (and pricing!) - aside from this listing, here are at least two of the alternate listings:

The Music Behind the Magic, the Musical Artistry of Alan Menken, Howard Ashman & Tim Rice

WALT DISNEY RECORDS PRESENTS: THE MUSIC BEHIND THE MAGIC THE MUSICAL ARTISTRY OF ALAN MENKEN, HOWARD ASHMAN AND TIM RICE

A Must Buy For Any Serious Composer...
The Music Behind The Magic is simply just that...magic! It doesn't matterwhether you enjoy 'Disney' music or not; this collection is a must buy forany serious musical composer. By experiencing these tapes, you actually gobehind the scenes to the creation of some of the most famous and magicalsongs ever written. Want to hear 'A Friend Like Me' in its demo version?How about 8 time Academy Award(R) winner Alan Menken playing around thepiano trying to think of 'Arabian Nights'? This set not only includes theentire scores and songs to The Little Mermaid, B&B, and Aladdin(although some minor score cues are left out), but it also includespriceless work and demo versions of these beautiful and moving songs.Imagine hearing Alan on the piano humming the theme to a Whole New Worldbefore the song even had lyrics! Or what about Howard Ashman singing PoorUnfortunate Souls with lyrics that were cut from the movie. The book is agreat addition, providing photos, great behind the scenes info, and theentire lyrics to all the songs in this collection. You'll not only enjoythe superior brillance of Mr. Menken, and the late Mr. Ashman, but you'llalso learn some stuff about composing and writing worthy musical material.It took me months to get a hold of this set. Thank God foramazon.com...take advantage of it and purchase a piece of puresophistication!

Don't miss out!
Work tapes, demos...don't be deceived, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman produce nothing but pure magic. Marvel at the quality of their 'rough' stuff, and the music that never made it. I had been trying to obtain a copy of this set (CD apparently discontinued) for ages; I was not disappointed. Obviously if you are reading this then you like/love Disney music, and this will only increase your appreciation of the beautiful, timeless lyrics and melodies . The accompanying book is excellent, through it you are given an idea of how work on the music for these three films proceeded. The inclusion of the original score to Aladdin is a real gem, and if you didn't already consider these three men geniuses....

Wonderful
If you adore the music of "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Aladdin", you will love this set.Besides final versions of most songs, it also contains work tapes and demos perfromed by the song writing team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.The music and the book that comes with it are gems.As a special treat, the origional score for "Aladdin" by Ashman and Menken is included.They paint a whole different feel for the film ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An awesome find.
What more can I say? A real and rare find! This was published in 1978- BEFORE the smash hit musical went to stage (you know, the one with Elaine Paige). My personal guess is it was Rice and Webber sharing the story of Evita in more detail, as well as a clever publicity tool for their pending musical. Basically "Evita" is a pictorial journey into the woman's life and world. Lloyd Webber fans: if you get your hands on a copy of this, you will not regret it. This is a fantastic piece of literary treasure. I trust you will be as enthralled and excited by it as I am.

The blurb:
"Eva Peron, second wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron, was a legend in her time. Born of humble parentage, she rose to become the most powerful woman Latin America, had ever seen- and a potent symbol of hope and success to thousands of Argentinians. Disliked by the aristocracy and distrusted by the military, she fought for- and won- unswerving support from her beloved 'descamisados' (the shirtless ones).

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, composer and lyricist of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat,' have charted Eva Peron's rapid rise to fame and power in this compelling photo-documentary- the official book of their opera 'EVITA'. It includes the complete lyrics (many of them revised since the release of the acclaimed double album in 1976), extensive commentaries on those lyrics which trace the lives of the Perons and discuss the roles of Che, Magaldi and other, many photographs, and an explanation of the musical development of the opera.

Strikingly original in it's inception, imaginative, stylish and powerful in its execution. Evita is a story laced with political upheaval, corruption, intrigue and passion. It is, above all, the story of one of the most remarkable women of our time."

Definitely get a copy of this one if you can people, as it won't be around forever! ... Read more

Product Description
Matching folio to Disney's animated film featuring songs from Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. 7 songs in all, including: One Jump Ahead * Prince Ali * Friend Like Me * A Whole New World * and more. Complete with full-color art from the movie. ... Read more

Product Description
From the authors of the best-selling "Hits of the 60s and 70s" and the chart-topping "British Hit Singles" - Guinness now presents a music guide to the artists and records that filled the airways of the last decade. The book lists the singles and album charts (by artist's name and record title) and gives such vital statistics as label name and number, peak position and length of time in the charts. These help to overview the trends of the last ten years. The facts and feats section is filled with much relevant information, while the year-by-year breakdown offers a closer look at the chart scene and the names that matter. Illustrated in colour throughout, this book fully chronicles the hits of this exciting chapter in British music. ... Read more

Product Description
A month-by-month account of the goings on in the world of pop, including awards, gigs and gossip, plus USA chart news and the impact of the Internet. The book features the top 100 acts and singles of the 20th century, and the biggest and best from each decade and year. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The single most useful chart reference book.
This really only applies if you are studying the U.K. charts, but since the late 1970s Guinness have published the definitive encyclopaedia of U.K. Chart hits

This contains a list of all acts to hit the U.K. pop music charts from Al Martino in 1952 to the end of the year 2000. The acts are listed alphabetically with chronological lists of each act's hits with number of weeks in the charts and highest chart position. A small amount of additional data is given for some groups, like dates and places of birth, but this is not the purpose of this book and so it is necessarily brief. There is a second section where all the song titles are listed which gives the year, highest position and artist, and this is extremely useful if you can't remember who had a hit with I Only Want To Be With You. A third section gives some chart facts and feats, such as the longest running chart acts, acts with the most hits, etc., and this is interesting and useful for quizzes!

The chart used is that favoured by the BBC, which has changed chart compiler over the years, and strong arguments are made for charts used before the B.B.C. had an official chart on the basis that they must use where possible actual sales data and not record company figures or airplay.

Earlier editions contain better photographs from the likes of Harry Hammond and Dezo Hoffman, but the sheer quantity of chart acts has necessitated the reduction of picture space and the increase in text. This latest issue has also been dumbed down in the editorial content, but that doesn't detract from the quality and sheer quantity of the data. This is a must have for any fan of U.K. pop music. ... Read more

Product Description
The glamour and allure of the pop music business attracts many aspiring musicians, but breaking in successfully is such a lottery that the effect is confusion and disillusionment.This book, written by some of the industry's top musicians and business professionals, describes in full the British pop music business, and in so doing explains to would-be stars what to expect from a career in pop and rock and how to avoid its pitfalls.From these chapters, an accurate and clear picture of the industry emerges, and with this knowledge the young musician will have a much better chance of "breaking in" to the business. ... Read more

Product Description
From the authors of the best-selling "Guinness Book of British Hit Singles" comes the completely revised and updated 4th edition of British hit albums, covering every LP which has entered the charts from 1958-1989. With an alphabetical list of every act that has had an album in the Top 100, part 1 details the all-important name, label, peak position and length of time in the charts of each LP, as well as including a special section on compilation albums. Part II is a fascinating look into the statistical facts and feats including a complete record of all the No. 1 LPs, who has had the most chart success, whose is the best-selling album of all time, which LP has spent the longest time in the charts and which artists have entered at No.1. Part II also gives an overview of the album/music scene of the past 30 years and highlights major landmarks, people and titles that were important in the development of the 12 inch disc. The 4th edition of the "Guinness Book of British Hit Albums" with its many black and white photographs, is not only the definitive reference book for those in the music business, but an invaluable source of information for all rock and pop fans. ... Read more