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FIZ: and some Theatre Giants
"Tell the truth," her friend the director Lindsay Anderson urged Eleanor Fazan. "It's seldom heard." Nor is it easy to tell.
But that's what "Fiz" has delivering frank and intimate accounts of her not-always-peaceful collaborations with the brilliant figures she has worked with over the decades - on stage in London's West End, on screen, and in opera.
It's an amazing among performers, from Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and George Formby to Barry Humphries, Alec Guinness, Laurence Olivier; among directors, Tony Richardson, John Schlesinger, and Stephen Frears; among writers, John Osborne and the legendary Beyond the Fringe team - Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore. Along the way we get musicians her husband Stanley Myers, composer of "Cavatina," the haunting theme from The Deerhunter, and the god-like maestro Herbert von Karajan.
Fiz's memoir offers a modest, frank, and often startlingly perceptive account of the delights and difficulties of working with some of the most brilliant - and utterly impossible - writers, directors, and performers of the last sixty years. Her true stories of professional relationships are funny, affectionate, sometimes searing; always enlightening about the agonies and ecstasies of what goes on behind the scenes.
But that's what "Fiz" has delivering frank and intimate accounts of her not-always-peaceful collaborations with the brilliant figures she has worked with over the decades - on stage in London's West End, on screen, and in opera.
It's an amazing among performers, from Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and George Formby to Barry Humphries, Alec Guinness, Laurence Olivier; among directors, Tony Richardson, John Schlesinger, and Stephen Frears; among writers, John Osborne and the legendary Beyond the Fringe team - Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore. Along the way we get musicians her husband Stanley Myers, composer of "Cavatina," the haunting theme from The Deerhunter, and the god-like maestro Herbert von Karajan.
Fiz's memoir offers a modest, frank, and often startlingly perceptive account of the delights and difficulties of working with some of the most brilliant - and utterly impossible - writers, directors, and performers of the last sixty years. Her true stories of professional relationships are funny, affectionate, sometimes searing; always enlightening about the agonies and ecstasies of what goes on behind the scenes.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2013
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October 28, 2015
Interesting anecdotes and insights from a woman whose fascinating career as dancer, choreographer, and director allowed her to work with a large cast of theater giants, both on screen and stage. Her book is quite entertaining, especially for those with an appreciation for the theater arts and for memoirs.
Displaying 1 of 1 review