City of Angels

An outstanding script from an outstanding musical. When I saw it in London many years ago, the production's days were already numbered, even though the house was packed and the audience in raptures. I could not understand why it was not a massive hit. I still can't. I already had a cd of the music; it's good to relive the twists and turns of the plot and the hard-boiled wisecracks. If you never saw it on stage, you really missed out. A must for fans of detective fiction, film noir or just good music.

I first heard of City of Angels after hearing Anthony Warlow's recoridng of 'You're Nothing Without Me'. I bought the CD to hear more from the musical. I instantly fell in love with the soundtrack, then sought the libretto to find out what happens in between.As soon as I started reading this, i couldn't put it down. I had no idea what to really expect, and it's the first book that i've laughed out loud while reading.In this book, you get Larry Gelbart's words and David Zippel's lyrics. The best way to compliment this book is to also get the OB Cast Recording to really get a feel for Cy Coleman's wonderful music.

When City of Angels premiered on Broadway in 1989, it ran for fewer than 1000 performances. When you read this libretto, which you absolutely must do if you like musical theatre at all, you'll wonder why it isn't running today. The book is full of wit, and is incredibly funny and biting as it satirizes Hollywood movie-making. The stage directions keep you fully abreast of what's going on (even if you've never seen a show), and they allow you to easily keep track of where the action is happening. The only thing missing from this wonderful volume is, of course, the great music that goes with the song. All the more reason to buy the OCR of the show and listen to it at the same time! City of Angels is a great musical, and one you'll enjoy reading (and listening to!) time and time again.

Not to be confused with the recent Cage/Ryan flick, this book is the libretto of a little-known musical with music by Cy Coleman ("Sweet Charity", "The Life"), book by Larry Gelbart ("A Funny Thing...", "Tootsie"), and lyrics by David Zippel (Disney's "Hercules" and "Mulan"). "City of Angels" won the 1989 Tony Award for Best Musical and is the story of a detective novelist named Stine and the perils he encounters while trying to adapt his novels for the silver screen. In the play, scenes about Stine (in color) are juxtaposed with scenes about his private-eye creation, Stone (in black and white). Besides building some genuine film noir detective-mystery suspense, the musical offers an insightful commentary on how art imitates life, and vice versa. Unfortunately, one misses out on the marvelous jazz-infected music that accompanies the adventures of Stine and Stone if one merely reads the libretto, so grab a copy of one of the cast recordings (Broadway or London) as well!