Pamela's First Musical

by Wendy Wasserstein

Pamela has the best birthday even when her glamorous Aunt Louise takes her to see a Broadway musical

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Childrens, Theatre

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Wendy Wasserstein was an award-winning American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She was the recipient of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because I recently read Wendy Wasserstein's biography: Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein and noticed this was something she’d written, a book I’d never heard of before. I’m still depressed from that book, and that might have influenced my experience of this book.

My first musical was Bye Bye Birdie when I was eight. I went with my parents on a very, very, very unusually cold summer Sacramento night to a tent (basically outdoors) play. Loved the play! Suffered through the cold. Another mini story. (My first musical record album (yes, I am that old) was the Broadway production of The Sound of Music. Why that wasn’t my first musical is a tragic ;-) story in its own right. The summer I was 10 I lived in Manhattan and got to go to 36 plays, many of them musicals. But Bye Bye Birdie and especially The Sound of Music have particularly dear places in my heart.) I’ve seen many since. I love musicals. So, I had another special interest in this particular book.

This book relates the first musical for the ninth birthday of a girl, who goes with her glamorous aunt. (Wendy Wasserstein dedicated the book to her niece Pamela.) This is the wealthy and “in people” version of a first musical.

I liked the illustrations. They had quite a bit of charm, and the way they showed movement was particularly wonderful. I loved the names of the dogs. I appreciated how all those who make a musical were incorporated into a story. I liked how imagination was sparked in Pamela.

I wasn’t a fan of the musical in the book though.

This is a fine introduction to musicals for kids who might be about to attend their first musical, as long as they don’t expect to also have a fancy lunch and meet everyone associated with the production.

3 ½ stars

[Katarina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book deserves the subtitle: a child's introduction to all things theatre. The story-line is fairly simple: an aunt takes her niece to see a show on Broadway; but the concepts are big and exciting, and the illustrating just explode with color and energy. Love this book!