A review by _inge
Breaking Into Song by Adam Lenson
informative
inspiring
reflective
3.0
I haven’t actually read anything about musicals as a type of art before, so this was an interesting read. It’s basically a collection of short essays, but it feels more like the author’s stream of consciousness. The structure therefore lacked in certain aspects a bit, and as I read this I wondered if the author felt similar - he often writes things like ‘I’ve already said this, but-‘. I would’ve preferred a structure based around negative opinions about theatre and why they’re wrong according to the author, for instance.
Even though some parts felt repetitive the contents were interesting. I will never look at the idea of ‘the musical’ in the same way, and I found the idea that we seem to dislike merged forms of art (comics and musicals) thought-provoking to read. It’s still very accessibly written too, so although I didn’t know much of the references to musicals I still followed what was being said about them. I read this in the same week I’ll see The Book of Mormon, so timing couldn’t have been more perfect!
Even though some parts felt repetitive the contents were interesting. I will never look at the idea of ‘the musical’ in the same way, and I found the idea that we seem to dislike merged forms of art (comics and musicals) thought-provoking to read. It’s still very accessibly written too, so although I didn’t know much of the references to musicals I still followed what was being said about them. I read this in the same week I’ll see The Book of Mormon, so timing couldn’t have been more perfect!