Well, let me tell you, it does as promised. It’s a rather practical manual for any young artist wether a painter, dancer, actor, singer or poet. Written with great insight and on a broad number of subjects such as: confidence, discipline, self-esteem, fame and failure…etc. Its certainly a book less oriented to the business side of the career in arts and much more on the personal growth and “self-awareness”. And you know we feel its just as important to take care of both here!

The format is easy: its multitude of anecdotal letters written to a young “BZ” who we assume is a friend or younger self of the artist, in which she gives random advice in a familiar voice.

So, Is it worth reading? YES! It’s a wonderful read, and almost like if you were reading a blog, but with huge amounts of great insight on how to cope with some of the harder emotional aspects of being an artist. My only complain is that sometimes the author can be a bit repetitive on not-so-important stuff. Its ok to insist on the major points, but don’t reiterate yourself to fill pages of no importance.

Like every week we post a book review on a subject related to acting, health, personal growth or anything related to the showbiz industry. This time it’s the memoirs of Charles Strouse: “Put on a Happy Face”

Strouse is an Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winning composer. He is mostly known for his work in Annie and Bye Bye Birdie. While he is definitely one of the most talented composers there are and has enriched Broadway with such songs as “The Sun’ll come out Tomorrow…” the writing in the book is not at all easy flowing.

In the book he tells of his life experiences and obviously his many achievements. But uses too much of other well-known celebrities to give himself a boost. Name-dropping of the likes of Sammy Davis Jr, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin on Lauren Bacall.

So, Is it worth reading? While I don’t wish to demean any of Charles Strouses’ achievements and take nothing from how wonderful a person he may be, Im strictly basing my opinion on the book as a whole. And that includes the writing, the level of entertainment it offers and the flow of things. And I think it lacked level in all of the above. So NO, I would not read this book unless you truly are interested in the composers life.

Like every week we post a book review on a subject related to acting, health, personal growth or anything related to the showbiz industry. This time it’s the vocal lesson book “Voice and the Actor” by Cicely Berry.

The author lets us know she bases her work on “the conviction that while all is present in nature, our natural instincts have been crippled from birth by the conditioning of our society”. And that’s fine, but the premise doesn’t really tell us exactly what our society has ruined and what raw talent we wont be able to perfect.

She tells us an actor needs precise exercise and clear understanding to liberate all his true possibilities. Berry also claims that past techniques are a myth and covers both exercises on pronounciation with subjects such as: relaxation and breathing, muscularity of the toungue and mouth, singing…

So, Is it worth reading? NO. The author gives us rules to perform exercises but no explanation of what the exercises are aimed at perfecting. Exactly how do I use these things later? I say there are plenty of books that can aid me in perfecting my voice better than this one.